Madison County was home to three schoolhouses commonly known as “College Corner” in Duck Creek, Richfield, and Boone Townships. Their shared names make it difficult to find a lot of information that pertains to the Boone Township’s, which was the District 8 schoolhouse there.

A school existed on the land of Mary J. Sinks in 1880, not far northwest from the first frame schoolhouse in the township, which was erected in Section 35¹. 

The extant school’s date of construction is unknown, but it was likely built during the late 1880s or 1890s when the T-shaped design, featuring a front-facing entry hall flanked by two cloakrooms that lead into a main classroom, was first popularized. It was certainly built prior to 1912, since county histories indicate that all of Boone Township’s schools were brick by that point². 

In 1920, Marian Long was the teacher³ at Boone Township’s College Corner school. 

Information online confuses the College Corner schools of Boone and Duck Creek Townships. This College Corner school, Boone Township’s District 8, was active at least through 1939⁴. The other College Corner School nearby -Duck Creek Township’s District 2⁵– was open until 1950 when the consolidated Duck Creek-Boone Township Consolidated School was completed. At that point, this specific College Corner school was ancient history, as only three schoolhouses in Boone Township -Townsend, Center, and Union- consolidated into the new joint building⁶. 

Today, Boone Township’s old District 8 schoolhouse is abandoned and overgrown.

Sources Cited
1 Kingman Brothers. (1880). History of Madison County, Indiana with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. Chicago, IL.
2 Forkner, J. (1914). History of Madison County Indiana. A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests, Volume 1. book, The Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago, IL.
3 Programs at some of the Township Schools (1920, March 28). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.
4 Resumes Teaching. (1939, October 12) The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 2. 
5 Bremer, H. & Jackson, S. (2019, March 25). Historic Hidden Treasures 1. The Herald Bulletin. WEb. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
6 New School For Duck Creek And Boone Townships. (1949, September 7). The Elwood Call-Leader. p.