The first schoolhouse to eventually serve District 6 in Madison County’s Adams Township was a log cabin first located in section 16. It stood as recently as fifty years ago, preserved in a barn at Locust Grove farm operated by Davis and Stella Sullivan1.
A frame building likely replaced the cabin in 1854, when several new structures were erected in response to an 1851 law that prescribed a statewide system of common schools2. In 1875, the school was located at the northwest corner of State Road 36 and South County Road 250-East. At that time, the road continued north and connected with an extension of the modern West County Road 610-South3.
The present structure, a two-story brick school, was built in 1883 on land owned by D.C. Markle half a mile west of its predecessor. The commemoratively-named4 community of Emporia wasn’t established until 18915, so the schoolhouse was known as Walnut Grove6. It and the school at Markleville were the Adams Township’s only two-room schoolhouses7.
In 1922, the state issued orders condemning six schoolhouses, including Walnut Grove, as unsanitary8. In 1927, a fire from an overheated stove damaged the building, which was repaired and opened again after several days of work9. It’s likely that the 1928 construction of the Fall Creek Heights consolidated grade school a mile north of Emporia on Rangeline Road brought the end of the District 6 schoolhouse.
In 1954, the structure was advertised for sale as a good building to turn into a motel10. Today, the old schoolhouse is a dwelling.
Sources Cited
1 Bock, G. (1970, October 29). Adams Township Had Ten School Districts. Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 4.
2 Kingman Brothers. (1880). History of Madison County, Indiana with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. Chicago, IL.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 Baker, R. L. (195). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. book. Bloomington, IN.
5 Towns had different names. (1976, July 3). The Elwood Call-Leader. p. 15.
6 Fox, J. (n.d.). Adams Township Had 10 Schools. Madison County Historical Society. Retrieved September 29, 2021, from http://www.andersonmchs.com/adams-township-schools.php.
7 (See footnote 6).
8 Condemns Six Adams Township School Buildings (1922, April 14). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.
9 Fire at Emporia School. (1927, March 4). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 4.
10 In Emporia. (1954, March 29). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 19.
