490 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
DR. JACOB ALBRIGHT SHAWAN.
Dr. Jacob A. Shawan, for many years
recognized as
one who had attained high place among
educators of
Ohio, died at his home near DeGraff,
Logan County,
Ohio, May 4, 1927. He was born in
Wapakoneta, June
15, 1850; was reared on a farm;
educated in the public
schools of Urbana, Ohio; and was
graduated from
Oberlin College in 1880. He received
his M. A. degree
from Oberlin College in 1883, and the
honorary degree
of Ph. D. from Muskingum College in
1894.
Dr. Shawan taught in the Pretty Prairie
District,
Urbana Township, before entering
Oberlin College, and
in Mad River Township in Champaign
County. In
1880, he was appointed superintendent
of the schools at
St. Marys, Ohio. In 1833, he became
superintendent of
schools in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. In 1889,
he was called to
the superintendency of the schools of
Columbus, Ohio,
a position which he held for
twenty-seven years and
from which he retired at his own
request in 1916.
Dr. Shawan's long service as
superintendent of the
Columbus schools forms an era in the
educational prog-
ress of the capital city of Ohio. When
this service
began the schools of the city were
conducted in twenty-
three buildings and the pupils numbered
11,000. When
he retired, there were fifty-six
schools with 29,000 pupils
attending.
In the schools of Columbus, Dr. Shawan
inaugu-
rated manual training, domestic
science, the kinder-
garten schools, and the open air
school. The latter was
established in cooperation with the
Columbus Society
for the Prevention and Cure of
Tuberculosis. He was