Salem Township’s old District 12 schoolhouse stands in the far-southwestern corner of Delaware County. Elias Warner provided land for the school in 18581, six years after an amended state constitution provided resources for the operation of a free, common school system2. Before the Warner school was built, students in the area received no formal education.
The extant school was built in 18753 to serve students in District 9. In those days, the District 12 school stood near Daleville, where the Goodpasture schoolhouse was later built4. Salem Township’s schools were redistricted around 1880.
A state law that came into effect in 1907 required the abandonment of any township school with an enrollment of fewer than twelve students. Unfortunately, the Warner schoolhouse met those conditions. The school closed that year, and its students were sent to Daleville5. The last teacher was Melborn Grigsby6.
Like many schoolhouses still standing, the District 12 building was converted into a dwelling in the years after its closure. Today, it sits about six hundred feet east of I-69 on the approach of the West County Road 700-South overpass.
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County, Indiana. (1858, March 17). Deed Book 20. p. 348.
2 Natali, B. L. (2007). The Impact of Caleb Mills on the Hoosier Education Debate: An Edition of Two Unpublished Addresses (thesis). University Graduate School, Indianapolis.
3 3 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 1313300013000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
4 Griffing, B. N. (1887). Mt. Pleasant Township. An atlas of Delaware County, Indiana . map, Philadelphia, PA; Griffing, Gordon, & Company.
5 Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). Education in Delaware County. In A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1 (Vol. 1, p. 252). book, Lewis Publishing Company
6 Delaware County Public Schools. (1905). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1905-1906. Muncie, IN.
