Read time: 4 min.

I was elected to the Delaware County Historical Society board back in October. We call ourselves a working board, and I’ve taken that responsibility seriously by editing our newsletter, The Society Quarterly. I’m also participating in a new discussion series called Lost and Found. My first presentation was last Thursday.

DCHS won the Indiana Historical Society’s 2019 Indiana History Outstanding Event or Project Award for its Remember When series. Spearheaded by Bob and Karen Good, the project invited residents of Delaware County’s twelve townships to share local history and stories in their own domains. 400 attendees brought documents and images throughout the project, and I was one of the volunteers who scanned them. I learned a lot, and I was sorry to see it end.

In 2024, Lost and Found picks up where Remember When left off. Our first discussion last Thursday focused on Center Township. The chapel at Beech Grove Cemetery was full as my colleague, Chris Flook, kicked things off with a great piece focusing on Center Township’s historic settlements, obscure township titles, and the differences between legal and political descriptions. 

I learned a lot. Did you know that Indiana’s Initial Point -the beginning of nearly every legal description in the state- is a physical stone in the Hoosier National Forest? I didn’t either! U.S. Deputy Surveyor Ebenezer Buckingham Jr. established it in 1805. In 1866, the wooden post was replaced by the cornerstone. I didn’t realize I’d taken a photo of the ceremonial marker on the courthouse lawn in Paoli until I wrote this.

My segment came next. Center Township is basically Muncie these days, but a handful of rural schoolhouses still exist if you know where to look. I decided to make them the focus of my presentation and kicked things off with a game: I invited the audience to guess which of three buildings I showed was the old schoolhouse and let them talk amongst themselves for a while. Of course, my query was a trick question. Each was an old schoolhouse more than a century ago.

I’d forgotten that I was the last person to present at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center before the COVID pandemic and a state funding cut forced the facility to temporarily suspend its operations! I hadn’t given a discussion since then, and I was rusty. To make matters worse, a bug had visited the office earlier in the week, and I struggled to project my voice.

I conquered my vocal problems, but some unanticipated issues prevented me from accessing my notes during the presentation. I thought I was done for, but I powered through without them. After all, if there’s one topic I can speak about extemporaneously, it’s schoolhouses! Running through my presentation eight or nine times the previous afternoon certainly helped as well.

The audience was engaged during our presentations, asked myriad questions at the end, and seemed to appreciate our efforts to make history accessible. That’s important to me! I was surprised by the attendance since it was the first run of Lost and Found, but it was fun to connect with so many local history fans. Everyone, including me, was there to learn. That’s my kind of environment.

I hope this series continues to grow. Our next discussion will probably take place in Yorktown in May, and I’m excited. Between flowing wells, schoolhouses, and iron bridges, there’s a lot of obscure history to uncover in Mount Pleasant Township!