Originally called Funk’s Station thanks to its place on the railroad1, the community of Linwood grew enough to necessitate a schoolhouse by 18922. Designated as Lafayette Township’s District 11, the first schoolhouse still stands about a quarter of a mile east of the train tracks that dominate the community.
This building served students until 1920, when a larger, three-room building was built about a quarter of a mile west of the railroad. Despite the erection of the consolidated Leach school nearby in 19323, the 1920 building served students until the end of the 1956-57 term.
Madison County’s Civil Defense organization was set up at the abandoned 1920 school by 19604. Two years later, the school board officially got rid of it. Though it survived for more than fifty years after its designation as Madison County’s Civil Defense headquarters, the old three-room school was demolished between 2015 and 20165.
Today, a gravel turnaround is all that’s left of the 1920 Linwood School. Despite its loss, the original District 11 schoolhouse still stands as a home.
Sources Cited
1 Forkner, J. & Dyson, B. (1897). Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana. book. Anderson, IN.
2 Jackson, S.T. (2009, November 14). In History: Township schools set by districts. The Anderson Herald Bulletin. Web. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
3 Leach School to be Dedicated Next Tuesday (1932, August 19). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.
4 Mock Attack To be Part Of CD Operation Alert, 1960 (1960, May 2). The Anderson Daily Bbulletin. p. 1.
5 Google. (2016, June 16). [Google Maps Linwood school former location]]. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from Google Earth Pro.
