I know of a handful of old schoolhouses scattered around Fort Wayne, but one that stands out in my mind is Fox1. Tucked away at the corner of Sand Point Road and Ardmore Avenue just a stone’s throw from the old Elmhurst High School site, it once served the students of Wayne Township’s District 52. Beyond that, though, the building keeps its secrets. I wish I knew more about its story.
I do know that the Fox schoolhouse was built in 19143. As first constructed, it appears to have featured two entrances -one for girls and one for boys- with five window bays between them. An arched roof surmounted by an octagonal cupola capped the structure4. As it stands today, the old schoolhouse hardly resembles its original configuration! Bricked-in windows at its northeast and southwest walls are about all that give away its former history.
The need for a high school to serve the unincorporated areas southwest of Fort Wayne in Wayne Township became apparent by the 1920s. Work on Elmhurst High School and a similar elementary, Hillcrest, commenced in 1929.
Hillcrest was completed on time for $120,000. Unfortunately, construction paused at the eleven-room Elmhurst building after workers found crumbling mortar between its bricks. Students scheduled to attend classes at the $175,000 structure enrolled at Hillcrest until Elmhurst opened in time for the 1931 school year5.
I don’t know for certain, but I imagine the old Fox schoolhouse closed shortly after Elmhurst and Hillcrest opened. Today, the old building has been remodeled into a home. In 2025, it’s the only one of the three buildings -Fox, Elmhurst, and Hillcrest- that remains standing.
Sources Cited
1 Standard atlas of Allen County, Indiana (1898). George A. Ogle & Co. [Chicago]. Map.
2 Four Principals Are Announced (1929, August 28). The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. p. 13.
3 Allen County Township Schools – Wayne Township (n.d.). The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Web. Retrieved may 4, 2025.
4 (See footnote 3).
5 Work Resumed On School (1930, August 28). The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. p. 3.
I don’t know why, but I love it when the little buildings that everyone said were obsolete remain standing long after the grand things that replaced them.
Same. I may write about hillcrest someday. It was only demolished last year. I took some photos maybe ten years ago, but they suck.