Langston Middle School was orginially Oberlin High School, housing grades 7-12. It was first opened to students on Monday, September 17,1923 with classrooms for home economics and phyiscal eduaction. The new Oberlin High School was needed because the older one was overcrowded and had inadequate classroom equiptment and facilities. (Link to newspaper article from Oberlin News Tribune, April 27, 1923)This building became a Junior High School in 1962, when Oberlin High School on N. Pleasent Street was opened. Run down and in disrepair, the Junior High School was closed in the 1982-1983 school year for renovations. After 4.2 million dollars of repair, the building was re-opened as Langston Middle School in September for the 1983 school year. The school was named after John Mercer Langston, (more on Langston) a prominent African American from Oberlin.

To look further at the history of the building, Mrs. McDaniel's seventh grade class did a series of interviews to collect the oral histories about what it was like to go to school here in other decades. Each student interviewed a person who was a student at the school in another decade, one for each decade the school was open. This webpage and links should provide a clearer history about what is was like to go to school here thoughout its existance.