In 1893, the Albany Land Company capitalized on the prosperity that the natural gas boom brought to the town in northeastern Delaware County and laid out an addition to the community. It sat east of Halfway Creek¹. The following year, the Lake Erie & Western railroad moved the town’s depot to the site of East Albany, a change that infuriated many of the town’s established residents².

Albany’s East Side public schoolhouse was erected between 1894 and 1899³ in order to serve students from the town’s new addition. Unfortunately, the building was no longer needed once the gas boom fizzled out: by 1910, the building was vacant⁴. A decade later, the old schoolhouse was being used for “odd storage⁵,” and it even served as a home during the 1940s⁶.

In 1942, Ralph Thomas turned the former schoolhouse into an auto-body repair shop⁷ that operated until 1970⁸. Later, Jim Kreps -a former employee of Thomas’- operated the business before selling it to his son in 1992⁹.

Sources Cited
1 Power, C.J. (1893, April 19). Albany Land Co. ’s Subdivision at Albany Indiana. map, Muncie, IN; Delaware County.
2 Trouble at Albany. (1894, August 10). The Muncie Daily Times. p. 1.43.
3  (1899) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Albany, Delaware County, Indiana. Sanborn Map Company. map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
4 (1910) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Albany, Delaware County, Indiana. Sanborn Map Company. map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
5 (1920) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Albany, Delaware County, Indiana. Sanborn Map Company. map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
6 (1943) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Albany, Delaware County, Indiana. Sanborn Map Company. map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
7 McBride, M. (2007, August 31). Love of hot rods keeps him busy. The Star Press. p. 31.
8 Ralph Thomas, former Albany town clerk, dies (1976, March 2). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 5.
9 (See footnote 7).