My mom and I were taking the backroads home from Richmond the other day when a wrong turn north of Centerville sent us on an unexpected detour. We wound up in Green’s Fork, followed Mineral Springs Road to Smoky Row, then veered right onto Sugar Grove. About half a mile later, we passed a house that stopped me in my tracks- it looked exactly like an old schoolhouse! As it turns out, that’s exactly what it was.
A schoolhouse has stood at the southwest corner of what’s now Sugar Grove and Fox Roads since at least 1856, when it served the students of Clay Township’s District 61. The township was redistricted several times over the years, though, so the building stood in District 3 in 18672, then District 2 twenty-six years later3. The Harris family probably donated its land4.
The Sugar Grove schoolhouse operated until 1907, when it fell victim to a new state law requiring that an average of twelve students attend classes each day5. Ellen Wright and Flossie Diehl served as the school’s final teachers6.
In addition to Sugar Grove, a variety of other schoolhouses in Wayne County were forced to close thanks to the new legislation. Some included Lick Creek in Center Township; District 3 in Boston Township; Trotter’s in Green Township; Scott in Harrison Township; Pleasant Plain in New Garden Township; and the Smyrna, Minuteman, and Sycamore Valley schoolhouses in Wayne Township7. I don’t think I’ve been to any of those shuttered schoolhouses.
Today, the Wayne County Assessor’s office says the old Sugar Grove schoolhouse was built in 19308. Perhaps that’s the year the building was converted into a dwelling.
Sources Cited
1 Map of Wayne County, Indiana (1856). Condit, Wright, & Hayden [Indianapolis]. Map.
2 Warner, C.S. (1867). Map of Wayne Co., Indiana. E.B. Gerber [Ligonier]. Map.
3 The county of Wayne, Indiana, an imperial atlas and art folio (1893). Rerick Brothers [Richmond]. Atlas.
4 (See footnote 3).
5 Ingels, P.F. (1982, June 26). 75 years ago. The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 3.
6 Substitute Teacher (1906, November 10). The Richmond Item. p. 3.
7 (See footnote 5).
8 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2025). Parcel ID: 89-06-21-000-208.000-008. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
