Brian Garverick displays the 1906 postcard of the old Mansfield High School that arrived in his mail recently.
When Mansfield City Schools Superintendent Brian Garverick went through his mail one recent morning he found a surprise from an elderly Stockton, Calif., man.
Inside a neatly typed one-page letter was a 1906 postcard made from a photo of the Mansfield High School that once stood on the northwest corner of West Fourth and Bowman streets.
“I sure hope this letter brightens your day,” wrote Lowell Joerg, 87. “I was at an antique shop here and found this old circa 1906 picture card of your beautiful school. It’s an old-time classic for sure. So I thought to myself, ‘By golly, I’ll send it back home where it can be appreciated.’
“Our heritage is important to all of us. Lots of changes too over the years, I suppose. Enlarged and posted, it will cause some nice conversation.”
The high school building served the community from the 1890s until it was demolished in 1939 to make way for John Simpson Junior High School. Garverick has other postcard photos of the old high school and there is an enlarged picture of it in the treasurer’s office in the Raemelton administration building. Still, he appreciated Joerg’s thoughtfulness.
“It was very considerate of him to take the time to do this,” Garverick said. “My grandparents graduated in that building.”
Garverick chuckled when he read Joerg’s suggestion that maybe the Californian could make a couple of dollars for his effort in sending the card.
“Well, I gave $6 for it, so if you want it for $7 or $8 or so, why that’s sure OK,” Joerg wrote. “Throw in a little postage if you want too. My wife says if I hear from you I will have to take her to lunch. I am 87 years old and still going strong.”
Apparently so. The letter was sent to the district’s correct mailing address, Joerg explaining, “I found you folks on the net.”
Joerg hinted that it wasn’t the first time he had returned an old postcard to its home community.
“I like to call my little hobby a ‘redistribution of happiness.’ Our world sure needs it,” he wrote. “Thank you, Godspeed in your work and enjoy what’s left of the fall season before winter sets in.”
Garverick, a 1976 Senior High graduate, responded to Joerg in a letter of thanks which noted the history of the high school on the postcard.
“We have had two other high school buildings since that one,” Garverick wrote. “Mansfield Senior High School was built in 1925 and served until our current high school, which you can see on Tygerpride.com, opened in 2004.
“Enclosed please find $10 to cover the cost of the postcard and help with your ‘redistribution of happiness’ hobby. I wish you the very best during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.”
By the way, the postcard, which bears a one-cent stamp, was postmarked in Mansfield on Aug. 11, 1906, and addressed to Miss Gladys Hahn, Greenspring, Ohio. A message written below the photo of the school said, “Dear Cousin Gladys, I will answer your letter soon. Esther.”