The unincorporated Delaware County community of DeSoto was platted in 1881. By 1887, the community featured a rail depot, a grain elevator, and a post office. In 1908, Delaware Township built a four-room school to absorb the rural students of districts 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 111. Forty-eight years later, the township trustee met with officials to purchase new land for a modern elementary2.
The meeting came as local school boards contemplated consolidating the schools of Niles Township, DeSoto, and the town of Albany3. Nothing came from those initial attempts, so Delaware Township opened its new elementary school in 1958. With six classrooms, offices, a nurse’s clinic, and a kitchen, the building cost $182,0004.
Delaware Township’s schools eventually combined with those of nearby Eaton and Royerton to form the Delaware Metropolitan School Corporation in 1967. The new district elected to use the WPA-era building at Royerton as a high school, so DeSoto’s old building was demoted. The old DeSoto building was demolished in 19725 after Delta High School was completed.
In 1970, architects R.W. Clinton and Associates of Richmond completed an open-concept addition to DeSoto Elementary so it could accommodate three classes of each grade level6. The elementary lasted until 2010, when it was closed because of changing enrollment patterns. Nine years later, it briefly reopened as Delaware Christian Academy before the school was shuttered again due to the cost of transportation7.
Unfortunately, there’s not much to see in DeSoto today. Along with the Methodist church and the park where the high school once sat, the vacant DeSoto Elementary School is one of the sleepy hamlet’s only non-residential landmarks.
Sources Cited
1 Patrons Celebrate. (1908, April 11). The Muncie Morning Star. p. 9.
2 1 Would Buy Land for New DeSoto School (1956, October 5). The Muncie Star. p. 1.|
3 School Consolidation Talk Is Being Revived (1956, April 9). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
4 Delaware County Reflects Growth With School Construction (1958, November 30). The Muncie Star. p. A-9.
5 5 Grand Opening. (1972, July 2). The Muncie Star. p. 1.
6 Love, N. (1970, September 10). Groundbreaking Starts New DeSoto Addition. The Muncie Star. p. 16.
7 Slabaugh, S. (2019, March 23). Voucher schools in dire condition. The Muncie Star Press. p. A1.
I went there to the elementary school when it looked original as the 1959 photo.
What was your favorite or least favorite part of going there?
Unfortunately, the building was not closed due to transportation costs when Delaware Christian Academy used it for students. There was an article in the Muncie Star Press regarding the real reason the building was closed. They told a portion of the story anyway.