A schoolhouse has sat at the corner of County Road 700-North and Fortville Pike in Hancock County for more than a hundred and fifty years1. In 1852, Alfred Denney was among several people who organized German Baptist services in the first log structure. A frame replacement was destroyed by fire in 1884, and the extant brick schoolhouse was erected the following year2.
The Denney family was one of Hancock County’s most prominent. Eventually, the area surrounding their land became known as Denney’s Corner. It consisted of the schoolhouse, the family farm, and a brick Dunkard church3.
The schoolhouse served students in grades 1-8 who lived in Vernon Township’s District 4. Those who wanted to pursue higher education most likely attended classes in McCordsville or Fortville4. The venerable Denney schoolhouse appears to have closed after the 1909-10 term when its students were sent to the larger Jackson school5.
By 1946, Vernon Township’s abandoned Denney schoolhouse had been converted to a residence6. Somewhere along the way, its front gable was ripped off in a tornado! Nevertheless, the building’s date block sits, recovered, on the front porch of the old school7.
Sources Cited
1 Binford, J. (1882). History of Hancock County, Indiana. King & Binford [Greenfield]. Book.
2 Glimpses Into Past Years (1909, November 10). The Greenfield Daily Reporter. p. 1.
3 Crowe, R. (2015, May 21). Dennys made mark on business, religion fronts. The Greenfield Daily Reporter. p. 18.
4 Denny School (1983, August 10). The Fortville tribune. p. 20.
5 Mt. Vernon (1910, September 7). The Greenfield Daily Reporter. Rp. 2.
6 (See footnote 3).
7 (See footnote 3).
