In 1833, a farmer named Peace Maker purchased a piece of land in the rural area of Noblesville Township miles away from any nearby settlement. He built a schoolhouse, initially called Kirkindoll1, sometime before 18662. Today, an 1896 version of that school, later known as Hazel Dell, sits just southwest of the original site near a Dairy Queen, Meijer, and CVS.
The Hazel Dell schoolhouse was designed in the familiar T-shaped plan that was popular in the 1890s. It was big enough to house sixty kids from Noblesville Township’s District 3, but closed in 19353. The Maker family sold the structure to the Hazel Dell Community Club two years later.
After the community club was through with the building, the school was used as a private residence. Unfortunately, the structure was crumbling by 1996, when the Noblesville Preservation Alliance listed it on its second annual list of most-endangered buildings4. Two years later, the organization declared the building a lost cause5.
Fortunately, the area surrounding the old school wasn’t all that has seen a transformation. In 2002, Mary Ann Huffman bought the dilapidated building and renovated it into an interior design shop6. Today, the second Hazel Dell School remains in fine fettle! I wish more of our old schoolhouses could be reused in similar ways.
Sources Cited
1 Lewis, K. (2002, March 7). School finds its Friends. The Noblelsville Ledger. p. 1.
2 Warner, C.S. (1866). Map of Hamilton County, Indiana. Worley & Bracher [Philadelphia]. Map.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 Montgomery, G. (1996, March 19). Take one last look – quick. The Noblesville Ledger. p. 4.
5 We’re positive (2002, March 29). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 4.
6 (See footnote 1).
