Just west of the little community of Mount Pleasant, the old Buck Creek Pike cuts a diagonal route through the farmland of Delaware and Henry Counties. It pushes southeast for about ten miles, only to fizzle out at nowhere in particular. A couple of miles down the road, though, the pike passes a crossroads where Buck Creek Church still stands. A brick schoolhouse watches from across the way. For years, I assumed the school took its name from the church’s current name, but it turns out I was wrong.
I don’t know a hill of beans about the old schoolhouse at Buck Creek Road and County Road 500-East. In 1875, It stood on land owned by the Bowman family1. Eighteen years later, it served the students of Stoney Township’s District 3 on land owned by John M. Current2. A recent sign, put up since I last passed by, refers to the building as the Dunkard School, and says it was in service from 1840 to 19203.
Unfortunately, an evening spent digging through local newspapers didn’t turn up anything to back up that detail. Still, I have to believe somebody verified it at some point- after all, a sign like that takes both effort and money to put in place. For now, though, my trail has gone cold.
The schoolhouses of Henry County have been particularly difficult to research. In Stoney Creek Township, where the “Dunkard” schoolhouse sits, I was under the impression that students from kindergarten through eighth grade eventually made their way to consolidated buildings in Blountsville. In 1931, at least, kids wanting to attend high school were shipped off to Center Township in Delaware County or Mooreland High School in nearby Blue River Township4.
Despite the sign out front that says Stoney Creek Township’s old “Dunkard” schoolhouse dates to 1840, the extant building had to have been erected much later. The Henry County assessor puts its construction at 19005, but that’s a placeholder date many counties use for old buildings. I bet the present structure was built in the 1890s given its T-shaped layout.
This is all part of the fun and the frustration of local history: sometimes the record is clear, and other times it slips just out of reach. My hope is that someone who knows the story of Henry County’s old Dunkard schoolhouse will stumble across this post and help fill in the blanks. Every little piece of information brings the past into sharper focus, and maybe together we can connect the building’s new sign to the history it was meant to honor.
Sources Cited
1 An illustrated historical atlas of Henry Co., Indiana (1875). Higgins, Belden & Company [Chicago]. Web. Map.
2 The county of Henry, Indiana : topography, history, art folio : including chronological chart of general, national, state, and county history (1893). Rerick Brothers [RIchmond]. Atlas.
3 Neely, D. Lost Muncie II (2025, September 6). ITook a drive south, I forget if this is Muncie-New Castle Pike, but got some pics of this old [Post]. Facebook.
4 Henry County Schools Highly Complimented (1931, January 16). The Tri-County Banner. p. 3.
5 Henry County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2025). Parcel ID: 013-01707-00. Henry County, Indiana Assessor. map, New Castle, IN.
