Back when I was in school at IPFW, I took every which way from my parents’ house in Muncie to my crappy apartment in Fort Wayne. I often passed through Petroleum on State Road 1. Once day, I wondered where the east-west crossroads went and passed a boulder marking the site of the old Petroleum school. I was in the area not long ago and went by a second time.
The Wells County community of Petroleum was founded in 1894, the same year a post office was built1. The hamlet’s quirky name came from its location in an oil field2. Petroleum sat about a mile east of Nottingham Township’s District 8 schoolhouse, which may have been known as Risser thanks to the farmer who deeded its land3.
Officials established a high school on the site of the old District 8 schoolhouse in 18994. Eleven years later, three rooms were added to the west side of the building, which made Petroleum the second-largest school in Wells County5! It wouldn’t shock me if that addition included some kind of gymnasium, since Petroleum joined the Indiana High School Athletic Association the same year6.
At some point, the school’s basketball team became known as the Panthers. I’m always a fan of alliteration, but my gym-seeking friend Brett and I agree that Petroleum missed the mark. Something related to Petroleum could have been great! The Pistons? The Phaetons? The Pyréolophores? Even if they’re not directly relevant, God, those would have been some awesome choices! Instead, Petroleum shared its nickname with thirty-four other schools spanning nearly A to Z- Avilla to Western7.
By 1949, Petroleum was home to two groceries, two gas stations, a locker plant, a garage, a hardware store, a church, and the school8. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out much about the school or its Panthers aside from that, in 1957, 150 students attended high school classes there9.
As it turns out, the school at Petroleum wasn’t long for this world. In 1966, it consolidated into Southern Wells along with Jackson, Chester, and Liberty Townships. The old building west of Petroleum stood until 1973 or so, when it was sold at public auction10. Only the marker remains these days.
Petroleum was never some expansive metropolis, but today, it features several helpings of homes, an old commercial building used for storage units right on State Road 1, two other seemingly-empty commercial structures, and a church. The school boulder sits on East County Road 300-South.
I always wondered where that road went. Five miles west, it leads to the modern Southern Wells school complex.
Sources Cited
1 “Wells County”. Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
2 Baker, R. (1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. Indiana University Press [Bloomington]. Book.
3 Kibele, C. (1905). Evening News and Chronicle map of Wells County, Indiana [Bluffton]. Map.
4 THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT (n.d.). Rootsweb. Web. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
5 Enlarge Petroleum School (1910, February 28). The Muncie Star. p. 6.
6 IHSAA Membership History 1903-present (2026, March 5). IHSAA [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
7 Ruff, M. (2007, July 5). Indiana High School Nicknames. Web. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
8 Greene, D. (1949, July 8). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 6.
9 Cage Roundup (1957, November 5). The Muncie Star. p. 11.
10 Public Auction (1973, October 30). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 16.
What a beautiful building! It must have been demolished shortly after its closure, as I can’t come up with any old aerials of it.
It must have. That’s a shame.
Have you read the book about the murder in Petroleum? “The Madness of John Terrell – Revenge and Insanity on Trial in the Heartland” by Stephen Terrell? He spoke at MPL last November about the book.
I haven’t! Sounds intriguing.
I agree – the Petroleum Distillates would have been a great name! 😛
And that was an amazingly impressive school for such a small place.
I agree, at all accounts. Now Petroleum is just another place to slow down in.