Read time: 3 min.

The remains of Perry Township schoolhouse in southeastern Delaware County are a mystery to me. I know that William Felton deeded the land the building sat on to the trustees of Perry Township in 1839¹, two years after the town of Mt. Pleasant was platted to include land set aside for a schoolhouse².

The first school in Mt. Pleasant was probably log. In 1857³ or 1870⁴, a frame schoolhouse was completed on the site of its predecessor. It stood near the southeast corner of US-35 and South County Road 396-East. J.W. Dragoo taught there in 1881⁵.

In 1905, most of Mt. Pleasant Township’s remaining one-room schools consolidated into Center School, a new four-room building with an auditorium on the site of the former District 9 schoolhouse⁶. In 1912, Mt. Pleasant’s District 5 school was reassigned to Perry Township’s District 6⁷.

The schoolhouse at Mt. Pleasant finally closed after the 1920-21 term, when Mildred Woods of Muncie was teacher⁸. In 1923, the building was purchased by Grace K. Muring in public auction. She bought it to be a home for Elijah and Addie Hiatt⁹.

Here’s where the mystery begins: in 1970, Muncie Star columnist Dick Greene wrote that the original portion of Mrs. Hiatt’s home, the schoolhouse, had been demolished several years earlier^10. Two years later, however, Greene said that “the structure, for years a dwelling, still stands… Mrs. Addie Hiatt, who also attended school in the building, lived there for some years¹¹.” 

From there, I know a few more facts: according to the building’s longtime owner, her father added wood-frame second story to the building in 1985¹². Inside, the oldest part of the building features a puncheon floor. I’ve chatted with her before, but it’s been a while.

I’m still hoping for a chance to see what seems to be Perry Township’s old District 5 schoolhouse in Mt. Pleasant up close! I’d imagine hundreds, if not thousands, of people pass the building every day on their way from Muncie to Richmond.

Sources Cited
1 Delaware County, Indiana. (1839, May 18). Deed Book 4. p. 177.
2 Lewis, J., Heaton, W., Goff, S. (1837). Mount Pleasant In Delaware County Indiana. Map, Muncie, IN; Delaware County. 
3 Shideler, T., & Teal, K. (2019, July 17). Lost Selma. Facebook. 
4 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 1620102001000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
5 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. book, Kingman Brothers.
6 Spath, C. (2006, February 4). Past times. The Muncie Star Press. p. 3C.
7 Delaware County Public Schools. (1905). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1905-1906. Muncie, IN.
8 Delaware County Public Schools. (1911). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1911-1912. Muncie, IN. 
9 Teal, K. (2012, April 17). First of all let me tell you a little about my project. Group update. Facebook.
10 Greene, D. (1970, January 2). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 6.
11 Greene, D. (1972, October 5). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 6.
12 (See footnote 3).