Lafayette Township’s District 5 Schoolhouse was built around 1882¹ at a crossroads originally called Mt. Herman. The District 5 schoolhouse, most often called Keller, was also known to those who lived nearby as the Buttermilk school.

Like the community of Florida Station, “Buttermilk Station” was an early stop on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, & St. Louis Railroad³. Also known as Keller Station after the family that deeded the land for the schoolhouse, the community appears not to have been platted or officially established.

Along with the Elm Grove, Prairie, Closser, Beech Grove, Florida, and Salem schools, the Keller school was abandoned in 1932 after Lafayette Township erected the six-room, consolidated Leach school near the center of the township⁴.

Its successor, Leach Elementary School, closed at the end of the 1999-2000 school year. Its students were sent to Frankton Elementary the following year⁶ and the building was demolished shortly afterward.

After it was abandoned, J.D. Sargent converted the District 5 schoolhouse into a dwelling⁵. It remains a home today.

Sources Cited
1 Jackson, S.T. (2009, November 14). In History: Township schools set by districts. The Anderson Herald Bulletin. Web. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
2 ‘Buttermilk Station’ in Florida Area Recalled (1967, March 4). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 4.
3 Jackson, S.T. (2019, September 10). What’s in a Name: Lafayette only township in county named for foreign-born person. The Anderson Herald Bulletin. Web. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
4 Leach School to be Dedicated Next Tuesday (1932, August 19). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.
5 (See footnote 2).
6 Leach school closes (2000, June 9). The Elwood Call-Leader. p. 1.