Tracks of the Richwood Tiger, 1 of 12

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Tracks of the Richwood Tiger
Introduction (March 2010)

In north central Ohio, on the plains of Union County, you'll find the burg they're all whispering about, called Tigertown!

No, actually, it's the village of Richwood. On the east side once stood a three-story yellow brick building. It was known to me as Richwood High School, and I've colorized it in the yearbook photo below.

1963, page 62

In 1939, when it was built, it was designed to accommodate 520 students. From 1961 through 1965, I was one of those students, a member of the last class to graduate from Richwood High School before the school district was consolidated into North Union.

In 1969, the building became the North Union Middle School. This was because a new North Union High School had been constructed on the north side of town. (Click here for a speech that I had written five years before about the need for it.)

Finally in 2009, once a new North Union Middle School had been constructed, the yellow brick building was torn down. It had served 30 years as a high school and 40 as a middle school.

I took the above picture in 2000. But many more photos exist from my school days, often staged by the yearbook photographer.

That yearbook was called Tigrtrax. I have five of them: the 1954 edition for which Vernon M. Thomas Chevrolet purchased a full-page advertisement, plus the four from 1962 through 1965, my high school years.

1962, page 105

I've cropped some of the pictures in those volumes, enhanced others, and placed about five of them on each of the 12 pages of this article. Some additional information comes from the 1963-64 Student Handbook. There are occasional links to other articles, including photos that I took myself in 1965. And I ran across some more recent photos, I don't remember from where, that were taken before the building was demolished in 2009.

As part of this project, I also found other yearbook pictures that I’ve added to existing articles that mention:

the Latin Club and its Roman Banquet,

Carl Martin as an actor,

the Brahms Rhapsody,

and the election of ’64.

All of these photos serve to remind us of that yellow brick building, a place that was once the center of our lives but now is there no more.

1964, page 89

So make yourself comfortable.

Put your hair up in curlers, if that’s your thing.

Stretch out on the floor.

Let’s look through the yearbook!

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