Delaware County’s Union Township was divided into unique school districts in 18371 in an arrangement made fourteen years before Indiana established funding for a system of common schools2. In 1882, William Cox granted the township a portion of his land at the corner of Center and Eaton-Wheeling Pike to build a schoolhouse3.
The District 4 school served an area in need: in 1874, the closest schoolhouses were miles away4. None of those early buildings stand today, but Union Township’s schoolhouses were realigned to new districts around 1880. John R. Mansfield taught early classes at the District 4 schoolhouse, which later became District 85.
The extant Center schoolhouse seems to have been built in 1900, just before the rural schools of Delaware County began to centralize into larger buildings6. Union Township’s District 8 school was closed in 18997, but it took locals a few years to warm up to the concept of consolidation.
A redistricting makes the facts unclear, but it appears that Union Township’s Center School closed after the 1917-1918 school year in order for its students to attend classes at the larger Union School at Eaton8. The last teacher at the Center School was Mary B. Benadum of Eaton9.Â
Today, the Center School sits on the Wise farm. It’s a home, and one of a handful I remember from riding around the county with my mom and grandma as they catalogued Delaware County’s old schoolhouses on floppy disks when I was twelve. Back then, the building was painted yellow. I wish I had a copy of those photos!
Sources Cited
1 Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (pp. 268–269). book, Kingman Brothers.
2 Natali, B. L. (2007). The Impact of Caleb Mills on the Hoosier Education Debate: An Edition of Two Unpublished Addresses (thesis). University Graduate School, Indianapolis.
3 Delaware County, Indiana. (1882, October 23). Deed Book 52. p. 158.
4 Kingman Brothers. (1874). Map of Delaware County, Indiana. Chicago, IL.
5 (See footnote 1).
6 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 0321200001000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
7 Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). Education in Delaware County. In A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1. book, Lewis Publishing Company.
8 Delaware County Public Schools. (1917). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1917-1918. Muncie, IN.
9 Delaware County Public Schools. (1916). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1916-1917. Muncie, IN.
10 Family finds new uses for old barns.(2006, July 20). The Muncie Star Press. p. 5C.
