I put a lot of effort into researching each schoolhouse I feature here, but sometimes my sources only take me so far. In places like Grant, Hamilton, Henry, and Jay counties, I’ve come across several schoolhouses that remain a mystery- I haven’t been able to find any info! Usually, I put them aside and hope to uncover more details later, but today, I’m turning to the power of the internet. Maybe, with your help, we can finally uncover the stories behind these forgotten buildings.
This first schoolhouse sits in Henry County’s Fall Creek Township, just south of Middletown at the southeast corner of Raider Road and County Road 700-North. I’ve never stopped and read the date block above its sliding barn door, but I imagine the building dates to the late 1870s or early 1880s.
A schoolhouse stood on this site as early as 1875, on a parcel of land probably donated by the Sherman family1. I’d bet it served students from District 3 until it consolidated into Middletown, but I’m not a gambling man. Unfortunately, educated guesses are all I can make about the forlorn old structure.
I know a little more about this schoolhouse, which looks to be in relatively fine fettle despite its use as a barn. In Jay County, it sits on County Road 600-South about a quarter-mile west of County Road 250-West. Two miles east of New Mt. Pleasant, the building once served the students of Jefferson Township’s District 7.
The District 7 schoolhouse hadn’t been built when atlases of Jay County were published in 1881 and 18872. Nevertheless, the schoolhouse stood on land owned by Elias Bost3 in 1900. The brick structure likely continued to serve students until around 1912, when the consolidated Governor I.P. Gray school opened nearby.
Here’s another Jay County school, this time in Greene Township. Known as Walnut Corner4, it served students in the township’s District 2. The school sits at the northeast corner of County Roads 200-North and 500-West.
An earlier version of this school stood on Conner land in 18815, but the present structure was almost certainly built in the late 1880s or early 1890s given its T-shaped layout. Sadly, that’s about all I can surmise. I don’t think Greene Township ever operated a consolidated school, so it’s hard to know when the Walnut Corner schoolhouse closed for good.
In Hamilton County, a version of Noblesville Township’s District 10 schoolhouse stood on Clarksville Road as early as 18666. Today, it’s located on a truncated segment of East Conner Street just south of State Road 38’s intersection with Promise Road.
In the 1860s, the schoolhouse stood on land probably donated by P.S. Wheeler. It may have been known as the Wheeler school! Unfortunately, I haven’t found out for certain. Period newspaper articles have been of little help. So, too, have been countywide schoolhouse directories. Despite its location in a county that maintains some of the heartiest historical databases, this old schoolhouse continues to stymie me.
Today’s final schoolhouse served Henry County students in Stoney Creek Township. Somewhere, I learned that it stood in District 3. I assume the institution was known as the Buck Creek schoolhouse since it sits catty-corner from Buck Creek Church on Buck Creek Pike.
Given its shape, I imagine the District 3 schoolhouse was built in the 1890s, as schools from that timeframe often featured projecting entryways with cloakrooms that formed a T-shape. I suspect it consolidated into the Stoney Creek Township school at nearby Blountsville when it was built sometime after the turn of the twentieth century.
The bits of information I’ve pieced together from my photos of these five schoolhouses just aren’t enough—I’m hungry for more! Do you know anything about them? If so, reach out! I’d love to expand my knowledge and help better preserve the memories of these places.
Sources Cited
1 An illustrated historical atlas of Henry Co., Indiana / compiled, drawn & published from personal examinations & surveys by Higgins Belden & Co. (1875). Hidggins, Belden, & Co. [Chicago]. Map.
2 Hardesty, H.H. (1881). Historical Hand Atlas Illustrated. H.H. Hardesty [Chicago]. Map.
3 Jay Co., Indiana (1900). Atlas. Indiana Memory. Web. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
4 McBride, M. (1998, April 6). Center of it all. The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
5 (See footnote 2).
6 Warner, C.S. (1866). Map of Hamilton County, Indiana. Worley & Bracher [Philadelphia]. Map.
