The village of Bartonia was recorded in 1849 at the intersection of the Richmond Pike and the Greenville & Winchester Road1. At one time, the town was home to two stores, a smithery, a cabinet shop, a turning shop, a post office, a church, and two doctors! Unfortunately, the settlement started declining as early as 18822. Today, there’s not much left.
There was no schoolhouse at Bartonia in 1865, so nearby students were served by early schoolhouses in Districts 7 and 93. A new District 12 school was built in 18814 on land owned by T.S. Kenyon5, just south of Bartonia’s cemetery.
The schoolhouse closed in 1913 and its students were sent to the consolidated Wayne Township School which opened about two and a half miles northwest on South Boundary Pike that January5.
The old building is still standing as one of the best preserved examples of an old schoolhouse I’ve come across! It’s served as a home for many years, and its stone foundation is still intact.
Sources Cited
1 Tucker, E. (1882). History of Randolph County, Indiana. book. Chicago, IL; A.L. Kingman.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Warner, C.S (1865). 1865 Wall-Map of Randolph County. C.A.O. McClellan & C.S. Warner. Waterloo, Indiana. map.
4 Hinshaw, G. (2008). A History of Education in Randolph County, Indiana. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
5 (See footnote 1).
6 School To Be Dedicated (1913, January 3). The Muncie Morning Star. p. 6.
