BACKGROUND
Home to the Lehman Polar Bears, John H. Lehman High School was a public school that was a part of the Canton City School District. The school was built in 1920 on the site of the old North High School, and was named after John House Lehman in honor of his extensive, untiring, and unselfish efforts to the public school system. Unlike other schools at the time, the football field sat directly in front of the school which made Lehman a unique and recognizable place. The school opened in 1923, and originally served as a junior high school up until 1932 when it began implementing grades above 9th grade and became a high school. From 1920 to 1937, Lehman served as a feeder school to Canton McKinley High School, and the first senior class graduated in 1938. Lehman continued to serve as a high school for another 44 years until the high school closed during the 1975-76 school year due to projections for declining enrollment in Canton City Schools, and continued as a junior high school.
In 2004, a new Lehman Middle School located on 13th St. and Broad Ave. NW was opened, only a few miles away from the old John H. Lehman High School. The Lehman High School building began to be threatened from the construction of other new schools, leaving the old building to be empty for the most part. It was temporarily used to house students while several other elementary schools were constructed and rebuilt in Canton. With new elementary schools and the Lehman Middle School, there seemed to be no use for the John H. Lehman High School building, and the building was finally closed by the Canton City school board in 2006.
The city of Canton has never talked about possible demolition and over the years, the building has become vandalized and severely damaged. It also has contracted severe levels of asbestos. Due to the vandalism and several health hazards, the city of Canton boarded up all the windows to the school building to keep the curious out. In June of 2017, the old Lehman property was in negotiations to be purchased and renovated to began development of a senior housing facility. On August 24, 2017, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Source(s): Wikipedia, Tim W. Elder, Canton Repository
In 2004, a new Lehman Middle School located on 13th St. and Broad Ave. NW was opened, only a few miles away from the old John H. Lehman High School. The Lehman High School building began to be threatened from the construction of other new schools, leaving the old building to be empty for the most part. It was temporarily used to house students while several other elementary schools were constructed and rebuilt in Canton. With new elementary schools and the Lehman Middle School, there seemed to be no use for the John H. Lehman High School building, and the building was finally closed by the Canton City school board in 2006.
The city of Canton has never talked about possible demolition and over the years, the building has become vandalized and severely damaged. It also has contracted severe levels of asbestos. Due to the vandalism and several health hazards, the city of Canton boarded up all the windows to the school building to keep the curious out. In June of 2017, the old Lehman property was in negotiations to be purchased and renovated to began development of a senior housing facility. On August 24, 2017, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Source(s): Wikipedia, Tim W. Elder, Canton Repository
THE MISSION
Date: February 12-13, 2017
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm
Report: On the late night of February 12th, 2017, the Malvern EPS visited the John H. Lehman High School in Canton, Ohio. After an uneventful yet successful visit to the Bezaleel Wells School, we traveled across the city of Canton and arrived in the area home to Lehman High School. We parked at the Cavalry Presbyterian Church at roughly midnight and walked about 400 feet from the church down 15th Street until we came upon the large structure of the once flourishing Lehman High School. Upon first inspection, we noticed that the first and second story windows were boarded up and knew that the school was going to be very secure to keep out the curious. However, we were determined to get inside, so we began walking around the building attempting to find a way in. We tried several ways to get in, attempting to pry off the window boards, open the doors that were chained up with locks and steel chains, and even scaling parts of the building. But every attempt proved useless as the school seemed impossible to get into.
We tried to get in for about half an hour and walked around the school several times, until we finally decided to give the main door on the south side (according to the map below) one last try before leaving and heading back to the car. As we approached the door, we found three strangers — one guy and two girls — sitting on the steps smoking some cigarettes. Our initial thoughts were that they were police officers until we realized they were just like us — some hopeless explorers trying to get inside. They were significantly older than us and were clearly drunk, but were still very friendly and light-spirited. We spoke to them until another member of their group came around the side of the school with a giant tree branch to use to pry off a window board. Instead, we offered them our crowbar and the one guy said "Do you mind if we make a little bit of noise?" We said no, and the man proceeded to smash the window board with the crowbar violently, with the bangs echoing throughout the entire suburb. Even though it was extremely loud, it eventually worked. Feeling accomplished with our new group of friends, the eight of us quickly climbed inside the long abandoned Lehman High School.
Once inside, we split from the other group of explorers to do our own thing. We began exploring the empty and cluttered hallways and classrooms, all the while we could always hear the other group from across the school. Unlike our other missions, we took this one less serious as we felt more at ease with another group with us, and we just decided to have some fun, occasionally meeting up with the other group. We found the school's gym and found a Polar Bears basketball banner to keep as a memento. We continued on into the giant auditorium where we found a box of props and began goofing around and climbing on ropes. We made our way up to the roof where we stood at the ledge and admired the suburbs of inner Canton. Finally, we descended into the basement where we found an old locker room with basketball jerseys and everyone was trying them on. We finished the night by having the other group take a picture of us to remind us of the memorable night we had. After countless hours and exploring and having fun, we bid the other group goodbye and left Lehman High School around 3 a.m. and made our way back to the car. While we didn't experience anything paranormal, this was the most fun mission the Malvern EPS have had to date.
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm
Report: On the late night of February 12th, 2017, the Malvern EPS visited the John H. Lehman High School in Canton, Ohio. After an uneventful yet successful visit to the Bezaleel Wells School, we traveled across the city of Canton and arrived in the area home to Lehman High School. We parked at the Cavalry Presbyterian Church at roughly midnight and walked about 400 feet from the church down 15th Street until we came upon the large structure of the once flourishing Lehman High School. Upon first inspection, we noticed that the first and second story windows were boarded up and knew that the school was going to be very secure to keep out the curious. However, we were determined to get inside, so we began walking around the building attempting to find a way in. We tried several ways to get in, attempting to pry off the window boards, open the doors that were chained up with locks and steel chains, and even scaling parts of the building. But every attempt proved useless as the school seemed impossible to get into.
We tried to get in for about half an hour and walked around the school several times, until we finally decided to give the main door on the south side (according to the map below) one last try before leaving and heading back to the car. As we approached the door, we found three strangers — one guy and two girls — sitting on the steps smoking some cigarettes. Our initial thoughts were that they were police officers until we realized they were just like us — some hopeless explorers trying to get inside. They were significantly older than us and were clearly drunk, but were still very friendly and light-spirited. We spoke to them until another member of their group came around the side of the school with a giant tree branch to use to pry off a window board. Instead, we offered them our crowbar and the one guy said "Do you mind if we make a little bit of noise?" We said no, and the man proceeded to smash the window board with the crowbar violently, with the bangs echoing throughout the entire suburb. Even though it was extremely loud, it eventually worked. Feeling accomplished with our new group of friends, the eight of us quickly climbed inside the long abandoned Lehman High School.
Once inside, we split from the other group of explorers to do our own thing. We began exploring the empty and cluttered hallways and classrooms, all the while we could always hear the other group from across the school. Unlike our other missions, we took this one less serious as we felt more at ease with another group with us, and we just decided to have some fun, occasionally meeting up with the other group. We found the school's gym and found a Polar Bears basketball banner to keep as a memento. We continued on into the giant auditorium where we found a box of props and began goofing around and climbing on ropes. We made our way up to the roof where we stood at the ledge and admired the suburbs of inner Canton. Finally, we descended into the basement where we found an old locker room with basketball jerseys and everyone was trying them on. We finished the night by having the other group take a picture of us to remind us of the memorable night we had. After countless hours and exploring and having fun, we bid the other group goodbye and left Lehman High School around 3 a.m. and made our way back to the car. While we didn't experience anything paranormal, this was the most fun mission the Malvern EPS have had to date.
LOCATION
Address: 1120 15th St. NW
Canton, Ohio 44703
Coordinates: 40°48'50.3"N 81°22'59.2"W
Status: Abandoned
Canton, Ohio 44703
Coordinates: 40°48'50.3"N 81°22'59.2"W
Status: Abandoned
GALLERY
The pictures displayed below were taken by members of the group during the mission (February 12, 2017).