Read time: 3 min.

Mount Pleasant Township’s first schoolhouse, known as Antioch, was built in 1842 as one of the area’s earliest¹ after Belleshazer Dragoo deeded a portion of his property for the purpose of erecting a school at the east half of the south east 1/4 of section 17 Township 20 north of Range 8². Andrew Danner was the first teacher there³. In 1879, lumber dealer David Cammack came to the area, establishing a rail station, saw mill, and post office half a mile east of the school⁴. That year, Sophia Dragoo deeded part of the south quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 3, Township 20, north of Range 9 East to the Mt. Pleasant Township Trustee to establish a schoolhouse⁵.

Here’s where things get confusing. There was, without question, an Antioch school located near what’s now Priest Ford Road starting in 1842⁶. In addition to that, the completely different school at Cammack appears to have first been known as Antioch as well⁷. Maybe the Dragoos just liked the name! At any rate, high winds leveled Cammack’s brick schoolhouse on July 4, 1911⁸ and classes were held in Cammack’s Red Man’s Lodge until a larger, two-room structure was erected on its site in 1912⁹.

Grades 1 through 8 were taught at the new, two-room schoolhouse, which featured a removable partition that allowed the creation of a single, large, room. A portion of the school’s belfry was destroyed during the winter of 1935 when sparks from a nearby chimney ignited the wooden cupola¹⁰. 

Though it was Mt. Pleasant Township’s newest school building, the Cammack School closed in 1936. There were brief discussions towards reopening the schoolhouse in 1938 after township officials refused to take on the debt to build a new facility necessitated by a proposed 125-unit Federal Housing Authority project¹¹, but it did not.

In 1941, the township sold the old schoolhouse to George and Edward Aul for $1,160, high above its appraised value of $400¹². In 1967, an 8,000-square foot addition to the south nearly tripled the building’s total area. In 2021, the old school remained in use by Aul Bros. Tool and Die, Incorporated.

Sources Cited
1 (See footnote 1).
2 Delaware County, Indiana. (1841, June 15). Deed Book 4. p. 311.
3 Bottom Lands An Attraction. (1938, September 16). The Muncie Morning Star, pp. 25.
4 Thanks to David Cammack, this little town got its name. (1993, August 6). The Muncie Star, pp. 5B
5 Delaware County, Indiana. (1879, April 5). Deed Book 44. p. 412.
6 Antioch Cammack Reunion (1936, June 17). The Muncie Star. p. 11. 
7 Antioch Students Will Hold Reunion (1926, June 22). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2. 
8 Celebrate Completion of School Structure. (1912, April 13). The Muncie Morning Star, pp. 2.
9 Cammack Crossroads. (1977, July 3). The Muncie Star, pp. D1.
10 Cammack School is Damaged by Fire. (1935, December 6). The Muncie Evening Press, pp. 9.
11 F.H.A. Project is Blocked. (1938, June 25). The Muncie Evening Press, pp. 1.
12 Old Cammack School is Sold at Auction. (1941, July 24). The Muncie Evening Press, pp. 10.