I’ve driven past Salem Township’s Walnut Grove schoolhouse a thousand times, always from the front along County Road 500-South. From that angle, it’s one of the best-preserved schoolhouses in Delaware County! It wasn’t until I wandered back into nearby Saunders Cemetery that I noticed something I’d never seen before- a garage door cut right into the building’s rear wall. Who cares, right? Still, it was a reminder that sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective to see a familiar landmark in an entirely new way. I suspect there’s a larger lesson to find, as well.
Walnut Grove is old. In 1870, the brick schoolhouse was built on the land of Jonathan Shepp1, whose house just west of the structure was erected the following year2. The building served Salem Township’s District 4 in 1874, but its schools were redistricted six years later. Known as Shepp at first, it eventually catered to students in District 63. William Bowman taught classes there in 18814.
Eventually the schoolhouse became known as Walnut Grove. Despite its location just outside of Daleville, it remained open until 19145 when it consolidated into that community’s newly-enlarged structure6. Aside from its missing cupola, the building is remarkably well-preserved. Spotting that garage door on the back of the old schoolhouse might not seem like a big revelation, but it demonstrated how even a small, practical change can rewrite the story of a building! It’s been more than a century since the Walnut Grove schoolhouse served its original purpose, but its walls are still standing because someone found a new use for it.
That kind of preservation is what keeps so many historic structures alive. Every alteration, even something as ordinary as a garage door, becomes part of the building’s layered history. I look at my life the same way. Like Walnut Grove, I’ve gone through changes that weren’t part of my original blueprint. Some have felt out of place at first, but in hindsight, they’ve given me new ways to keep going. The core of who I am is still there, and those changes are what allow me to keep standing through different seasons and uses.
I need to do a better job of keeping that in mind as my own perspective continues to unfold.
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 1405300002000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.
2 Kingman Brothers. (1874). Map of Delaware County, Indiana. Chicago, IL.
3 Salem Township Shows. (1880, March 24). The Muncie Daily Times. p. 2.
4 Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (pp. 268–269). book, Kingman Brothers.
5 Delaware County Public Schools. (1913). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1913-1914. Muncie, IN.
6 New Daleville School. (1910, June 25). The Muncie Morning Star. p. 3.
