My mom and I had just pulled up to Christopher Long’s roadside obelisk the other day when she pointed at the home across the road. “That looks like an old schoolhouse,” she said. Poppycock! I was convinced I’d tracked down every old schoolhouse in Henry County; that there was no way I’d missed one. Of course, it wasn’t until I got home that I realized she was right. As it turns out, the Long marker sits within spitting distance of what was known as the Boyd or Devon schoolhouse.
I’m not completely sure which of Liberty Township’s districts the Boyd or Devon schoolhouse served, but I bet it was District 6 based on its location. The school is said to have been one of the oldest in Henry County1, but it doesn’t appear on an 1857 plat map of Liberty Township2. The institution is represented on an 1875 map, which shows it on land owned by William Boyd3. I’m certain that connection led to the building’s early common name4.
At some point, people started calling the school “Devon5,” after a small community that briefly sprung up nearby with a post office6, church, and cemetery7. The building is clearly old, but pinning down its construction date is tricky- the county assessor’s office lists it as 19008, but that’s often just a placeholder.
I’m led to believe that the Boyd/Devon school was Liberty Township’s last one-room schoolhouse. In 1938, officials contemplated centralizing their educational facilities by eliminating the schoolhouse, building a grade school in Ashland, and expanding the school in MIllville9. The school at Ashland was eventually erected and the Millville project was completed in 194010. It seems certain that the old Devon school closed that year. The building was sold for $650 in 194111.
Today, the old Boyd or Devon schoolhouse is a home.
Sources Cited
1 Devon School Affairs (1911, June 19). The Muncie Star. p. 3.
2 Map of Henry County, Indiana (1857). Harwood & Watson [New Castle]. Map.
3 An illustrated historical atlas of Henry Co., Indiana (1875). Higgins, Belden, & Company [Chicago]. Map.
4 Padgett, J. (2002, June 30). Gravesite of Revolutionary War soldier damaged by semi truck. The Muncie Star Press. p. 8.
5 D.A.R. Publication of Hoosier History Interest (1938, December 30). The Knightstown Banner. p. 1.
6 “Henry County”. Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
7 Hazzard, G. (1906). Hazzard’s History of Henry County Indiana, Volume II. 3 George Hazzard [New Castle]. Book.
8 Parcel 010-03909-00 (2025). Office of the Assessor. Henry County [New Castle]. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
9 School Building Plan Is Stopped (1938, May 7). The Muncie Star. p. 7.
10 Reminiscing with Millville The First One Hundred Years (1954). Indiana Genealogical Society. Web. Retrieved December 10, 2023
11 Special School Fund Receipts (1941, January 17). The Knightstown Banner. p. 7.
