Norwalk Seminary was a private, Methodist school in Norwalk, Ohio

Norwalk, Ohio

At the 2000 census, there were 16,238 people, 6,377 households and 4,234 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,950.3 per square mile . There were 6,687 housing units at an average density of 803.1 per square mile...

. Opening in 1838 with Edward Thomson

Edward Thomson

Edward Thomson was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church , elected in 1864.-Early life:Thomson was born in Portsea, part of Portsmouth, England...

 as principal, by 1842 it had an attendance of nearly four hundred. Nonetheless, the school was unsuccessful financially, and it was forced to close in 1844. In 1846, a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 church purchased the building and re-opened it under the name Norwalk Institute. There were about three hundred students when, in 1855, the school was transferred to the Ohio public school system. Renamed again as Central High School, the building continued to be used as a public school until 1868, when a new structure replaced it.

Famous students include Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...

, William Logan Harris

William Logan Harris

William Logan Harris was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1872.-Birth and family:...

, and George E. Seney

George E. Seney

George Ebbert Seney was a nineteenth century politician, lawyer and judge from Ohio.-Biography:Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he was grandson of Joshua Seney, and was also descended from colonial Governor of Maryland Francis Nicholson. Seney moved to Tiffin, Ohio with his parents in 1832...

.