Brett Yoder of Hoosier Gym Journey is on an insane quest- he’s determined to visit every high school gymnasium in Indiana! Not just the ones still in use, mind you, but even those long lost to time. Whenever I can, I like to pitch in and help him track them down. It’s a straightforward process when a gym is tied to a town, but things get trickier with schools that once represented entire townships. After all, Indiana has what feels like eight hundred Jackson Townships, and most of them had their own high school! Pinpointing Decatur County’s took some serious sleuthing, but I finally uncovered it. Here’s how.

I was busy trying to figure out why my car stalls every time I turn left when Brett pinged me with a challenge: could we track down the old Jackson Township high schools in Boone, Clinton, Decatur, Howard, and Porter Counties? Most of them fell into place quickly since Google Maps gave us easy clues. Then, a trip to Historic Aerials helped confirm we were in the right spots. Unfortunately, the Jackson Township School in Decatur County refused to give up its location without a fight.

Here’s the thing: I could have easily gotten on some Facebook group dedicated to Decatur County history and crowdsourced our efforts, but it probably would have taken days for a response. I’m impatient, so I started my research like I usually do- by pulling up Google Maps, plugging in “Jackson Township, Decatur County, Indiana,” and zooming to the middle of the outlined area. That helps me find the site of an old consolidated township school something like 99% of the time, especially if there aren’t any nearby communities to get in the way of things. 

Unfortunately, Jackson Township in Decatur County is home to communities that get in the way of research, places like Alert, Forest Hill, Sardinia, and Waynesburg. None of them sits near the center of the township, though, and given their size, I doubted a high school ever stood in one. With that in mind, I got on Historic Aerials and started searching within a mile or so of the center of the township. Sadly, my efforts were for naught. 

I spent maybe half an hour poking around aerial imagery until I remembered my subscription to newspapers.com. I got on, plugged in “Jackson Township Consolidated School,” and set my search parameters for Decatur County. A few scrolls later, I came across an advertisement for a farm auction. The property belonged to the late Elisabeth F. Shirk and sat a half mile north of the Jackson Township consolidated grade and high school.

Jackpot! Fortunately, I knew where to expand upon the information I’d just received. The Indiana State Library maintains online archives of county plat maps, and I’d become familiar with a series that was published sometime between 1925 and 1941. I went back to Google and searched “Decatur County Indiana plat maps library” and found the link I was looking for. Fortunately, Sidwell studio of Lombard, Illinois, had diligently mapped the area out. I clicked through, found Jackson Township, and started looking for Shirk land. 

It didn’t take long to find the farm- a whopping 326 acres owned by “Eliz. Shir” on the map. Half a mile south, on land owned by J.W. Donaker, stood a schoolhouse. I went back to my Google Maps tab, compared the township roads, and found the intersection of County Roads 1000-South and 800-West. The school stood on the northeast corner, where Friedersdorf Farms sits today. 

I clicked in the middle of the intersection to pull up its coordinates and plugged them into Historic Aerials. Then, I set the date to 1956. Sure enough, there was the school- complete with a track and baseball field behind it! I relished the thrill of discovery, but it quickly abated once I remembered that the school and gym were no longer standing. Today, there’s nothing left. At least it was another old high school gym for Brett to cross off his list.