Photo Provided “READING, ‘RITING and ’rithmetic” were among the subjects taught at Zane Central School, beginning in the 19th century in Martins Ferry. It was demolished in 1979.

By BETTY?POKAS, Times Leader Area Editor
THESE buildings once stood for years in Eastern Ohio with one serving as a home, another as a municipal building and the other as a school.
A fire destroyed the Stringer Stone House, built in Rayland by John Brown Bayless, a wealthy abolitionist from Maryland, and purchased in 1860 by Jefferson D. Stringer.
Tiltonsville resident Robert Richardson described the magnificence of the mansion in his book, “A Time and A Place in Ohio.” He told of the gaiety, grandeur and graciousness at the stone mansion.
Distinguished persons visited the house, including Rutherford B. Hayes when he was serving as Ohio governor in 1876. His term as president was from 1877-81.
The house was destroyed by a fire in 1982 despite the efforts of firefighters from Rayland, Tiltonsville, Yorkville and Dillonvale to save i.