If you’ve ever driven through Gas City and happened to turn off the highway towards Vine Street, you may have caught a glimpse of a stately building peeking through the trees. With its turrets, arches, and enormous inscription carved into the stone above its doors, it feels more like a castle than a set of classrooms. For generations of Gas City kids, though, this was exactly that- a place of learning tucked in the heart of a town that practically exploded into being.
Gas City was originally known as Harrisburg when it was founded in 1867, but the Indiana gas boom changed everything. By 1892, the newly formed Gas City Land Company inspired officials to rename the town1! The transformation didn’t stop there: fifteen factories popped up within a year2, and the Gas City’s population skyrocketed by nearly 2,400%.
A new high school was built in 1895. As it turned out, though, the building wasn’t big enough for all of the burgeoning community’s students. Between 1900 and 1902, its architect designed a new West Ward School3 to replace a three-room structure that once sat at the corner of Vine and Grant4. The rectangular Richardson Romanesque structure stood two and a half stories tall. Round towers with conical roofs rose from each of its corners. The building’s primary facade looks south.
It’s difficult to see from that vantage point thanks to several prominent trees, but the West Ward School is symmetrical, with similar features surrounding a central, gabled pavilion. The main entrance is the focal point and features a large, round arch over original entry doors. Above the arch, a wide entablature declares the building as the “WEST SCHOOL.” Four windows on the second floor rest above the entablature, while the attic level of the structure features two more round-arched windows in a central gable.
Inside, the building features nine classrooms5. The first and second floors are home to four each, while the basement holds another. Offices are on the second floor, while restrooms, a furnace room, and storage areas sit underground.
Originally, the West Ward School was used as an elementary school for students in grades 1-8. In 1948, the building transitioned to house classes from kindergarten to sixth grade after Gas City, Jonesboro, and Mill Township consolidated into a unified school district. In 1967, two single-story additions were added to the building to serve as a library and kitchen6. As of the structure’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, Mississinewa Community Schools used it for overflow classrooms7.
Gas City purchased the old West Ward School in 1988 and renovated the building thanks to an Indiana Department of Commerce Challenge Grant8. That year, it was home to the Dancer School of Dance, the Gas City Historical Society, and a Pee Wee basketball program9. In 2000, the historical society formally opened two rooms of Gas City exhibits10. Today, the original portion of the building is still home to the Gas City Historical Society. Later additions are home to The Well Food Pantry.
Much like Gas City’s old high school, the West Ward School stands as more than just a relic of the gas boom. Today, it remains a testament to how a community can adapt, preserve, and repurpose its biggest landmarks. It’s easy to drive past without noticing the turrets above the treetops, but for those who stop and look, the West School still has stories to tell.
Sources Cited
1 Gas City History (n.d.). City of Gas City, Indiana [Gas City]. Web. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
2 National Register of Historic Places, Gas City High School, Gas City, Grant County, Indiana, National Register # 03001316.
3 West School (1985, November 27). The Twin City Journal-Reporter [Gas City]. p. 10.
4 Historical Society Takes Shape Local Group To Organize Tonight (1986, February 4). The Twin City Journal-Reporter. p. 1.
5 (See footnote 3).
6 National Register of Historic Places, West Ward School, Gas City, Grant County, Indiana, National Register # 85003266.
7 (See footnote 5).
8 West Ward (1989, February 22, 1989). The Twin City Journal-Reporter. p. 9.
9 (See footnote 8).
10 Historical Opening (2000, April 12). The Twin City Journal-Reporter. p. 1.
I love those old fire escape tubes, and have always wanted to slide down one.
Tempting, but people I know who had to do it always give mixed reviews.