Blue River Township’s District 9 school has stood at the corner of County Roads 500 South and 500 East since at least 18741. The extant building, just west of Shiloh Christian Church, was built in 1898.
The District 9 school, known as Shiloh, was a popular place to congregate. In 1889, it played host to a railroad meeting where most in attendance were supportive of the new mode of transportation2. In 1911, the schoolhouse began hosting annual meetings and picnics for the Prairie Branch and Shiloh Thrashing Companies3.
The school was home to other events like box socials and political rallies over the years. I haven’t been able to find out what year it closed, but the schoolhouse hosted the first annual Shiloh School reunion in 19214.
Shiloh School certainly closed by 1923, when all of Blue River Township’s rural students in grades one through eight began attending classes at a brand-new consolidated building in nearby Westland5.
Today, the old District 9 schoolhouse is abandoned and in rough shape. Remnants of the building’s belfry drunkenly splay out over its gable.
Sources Cited
1 King, J.K. (1875). Map of Hancock County, Indiana from recent & original surveys. Worley and Bracher [Philadelphia]. Map.
2 Ohio and Iowa have been heard from (1889, November 8). The Greenfield Republican. p. 4.
3 Second Annual Threshing Picnic (1912, September 12). The Greenfield Republican. p. 1.
4 Shiloh School (1929, July 30). The Greenfield Daily Reporter. p. 3.
5 Now Occupy The New Building (1923, January 18). The Greenfield Republican. p. 2.
