Architect Peter Cahill was a graduate of nearby Hiram College in 1911 and had previously designed the school for neighboring Hiram Township , which opened in 1913 . In March 1913 , Cahill authored an article in '' The Ohio Architect , Engineer and Builder '' urging the state to develop building codes that would prohibit construction of school buildings using wood since wood was far more prone to damage from floods and fire . Cahill was a proponent of masonry construction and cement walls and had observed the extensive damage caused to buildings as a result of the Great Flood of 1913 , which occurred in late March of that year , while the disastrous Collinwood school fire of 1908 was still a recent memory
Great Flood of 1913
Great Flood of 1913
Mantua Center School