John Crawfis, a Fairfield County, Ohio, native, and his wife Sarah Moorehead Crawfis bequeathed two grants of $25,000 and five acres for schools in Fairfield and Putnam counties in Ohio in 1880. Constructed in 1889 in Putnam County, Crawfis College was a two-story, twelve-room brick building with an auditorium, science laboratory, grade and recitation rooms, built for $11,000, along with two frame dormitories that cost $2,087. It provided instruction in common branches, high school, and business training, with courses including German, mathematics, science, elocution, penmanship, shorthand, typing, telegraphy, violin, and piano. Its superintendents were L.L. Harmon, Job Hill, L.S. Lafferty, B.J. Beach, W.S. Wallen, John Hathorn, George R. Miller, F.P. Cummins, Dale Richard, Lyle Burkholder, and C.L. Bard. The building committee consisted of A.C. Hall, N. Conine, and B.O. Robinson, with E. Zoll as architect and A. Faeth as contractor. In 1831, John's brother Otho Crawfis became the first white settler in Blanchard Township, Putnam County; they were sons of Nicholas and Mary McElroy Crawfis.