Olivia Bugh taught Washington Township’s District 9: Watson school when it became the area’s last operating one-room schoolhouse. The six-room Washington School opened in In 19231, leaving the rest of the old, rural structures in the dust. A century later, I think the old Watsons schoolhouse still stands! Unfortunately, I’m not sure. I need your help.
The Watson schoolhouse operated as late as 1927, when its students achieved the highest attendance rate, 99.71%, of any schoolhouse in Blackford County2. In fact, students there were often pace-setters when it came to attendance- their 100% rate in 1922 also contributed to Blackford County’s highest-ever total- 98.36% in all of its rural schools3!
After its closure, it appears that the District 9: Watson school was altered to serve as a home4. That’s what I’ve been told, at least! A home sits on the site today, but it doesn’t look anything like a typical old schoolhouse.
Many schoolhouses underwent substantial changes when they were reconfigured for residential purposes after their trustees auctioned them off as surplus property. Even though this house doesn’t pass my standard visual test for a schoolhouse, it sits on the exact site of the District 9 school, according to J.J. Hixson’s 1905 atlas of Blackford County.
To me, the house that sits a third of a mile north of the home I took photos of gives off stronger schoolhouse vibes! Although the schoolhouse might have relocated to a different building at some point after 1905, it seems unlikely since the Watson school appeared in the same spot on a US Post Office Department map published in 1911.
The Blackford County assessor says the home I zeroed in on was built in 1926, at least a year before the school appears to have closed to students5. If that’s correct, there are several possibilities as to its provenance: perhaps the newspaper was wrong, or maybe the schoolhouse was altered enough for the assessor to consider it a new building. It’s even possible that a brand-new home was built on the foundation of the old structure!
At any rate, I don’t know. Along with scouring the collective consciousness for more information about Licking Township’s Jennings schoolhouse and searching for an old photo of the consolidated Washington School from its early days, whether or not the Watson schoolhouse is still standing on North County Road 300-West is one of Blackford County’s biggest mysteries to me! Maybe someone will find this post and point me in the right direction.
Sources Cited
1 Output Declines In Window Glass (1923, August 13). The Muncie Star Press. p. 5.
2 Hartford City (1927, November 12). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 11.
3 Record Is Broken In Rural Schools (1922, October 26). The Muncie Star Press. p. 6.
4 Hummer, K.T. Remember in Hartford City (2021, August 6). The next house south of this one was the school house not this house. [Comment]. Facebook.
5 Blackford County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2023). Parcel ID: 004-00430-00. Blackford County, Indiana Assessor. map, Hartford City, IN.
