Read time: 7 min.

I recently wrote about my attempts to correct the Muncie Star Press after a reporter and several interviewees repeated a series of false claims about the old Corinth schoolhouse. The problem cropped up again yesterday, from no less an authority than the “Muncie Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission.” It described the Forest Park Elementary as “the city’s oldest existing public school building. The trouble is, it isn’t. Once again, I’m here to set the record straight.

Forest Park is a cool old building. I’ve written about it once and even got a chance to present in its gym a few months back. Still, it’s nowhere near the oldest school in Muncie. I hate to harp on this, but I’ve spent more than a decade researching, photographing, and documenting old schoolhouses across East-Central Indiana. If there’s such a thing as an expert on the obscure subject of surviving rural schoolhouses in this corner of the state, I’m humbly where it starts and ends.

Back in the 1880s and 1890s, Center Township was divided into at least fourteen separate school districts. As Muncie expanded over the following century -today, 98.7% of the city’s residents live within Center Township’s boundaries¹– it gradually absorbed those rural schools. Most of the buildings disappeared along the way, but three or four of the old district schoolhouses are still standing.

The oldest appears to be a home at 3604 East Jackson Street that SHAARD -the State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database- refers to as a schoolhouse that dates to around 1850. Here’s what it says, verbatim: “Brick 1/2 story L plan gable roof composition was a 2 story school house originally fire plan T addition to add K and DR owner says full basement plus floors of brick original portion brick laid common bond on stone foundation veranda porch w/5 sq wooden pillars porch has shed roof windows plain surround with stone sills on original portion².” 

The school on East Jackson must have closed by 1874³, but otherwise remains a mystery to me. Fortunately, I know a lot more about Center Township’s District 5 schoolhouse, called Moore or Waterworks. The four-room school was built after its predecessor burned in November 1901⁴. Today used as a home, it sits comfortably within Muncie’s city limits at 1526 South Burlington. 

Center Township’s District 12 schoolhouse was known as Orphans’ Home because it served children living at Muncie’s orphanage, typically no more than about twenty-five students in a given term⁵. The institution appears to have been established sometime after 1885⁶, while the surviving schoolhouse itself was built in 1898⁷. Unfortunately, its educational career was brief: in 1904, a new owner moved the shuttered structure to 114 East Highland Street to serve as his home⁸. It’s still standing there today. 

The most fascinating surviving Center Township schoolhouse within Muncie is the old Whitely School. Built around 1893, it served students for only about a dozen years before being replaced by a larger school building, Longfellow, that’s since vanished. The old Whitely school found a new purpose as Shaffer Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church when it was purchased in 1928⁹. Unfortunately, it occupies a place in one of Indiana’s darkest chapters: in 1930, the bodies of two African American men lynched in the nearby city of Marion were brought to Shaffer Chapel to be embalmed¹⁰. The old Whitely building was both a witness to local education and a significant moment in Indiana history.

You could argue that comparing former township schoolhouses absorbed by Muncie to Forest Park is a bit pedantic. Fair enough. But even if we limit the discussion to buildings that always served as Muncie schools, the claim of Muncie’s Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission still falls apart-  Harrison Elementary School sits just a mile and a half away. Built at the corner of West Seventh and Liberty Streets in 1909, Harrison predates Forest Park by five years¹¹. The school closed in 1971, later served as the home of Ivy Tech Community College, and then spent nearly half a century as the educational wing of Full Gospel Temple. Now, the historic building is preparing for yet another chapter as an apartment complex.

What is going on these days? I gave up expecting historical rigor from the Star Press a long time ago, but what surprises me more is seeing the same kinds of errors repeated by organizations whose very purpose is preserving local history. The Muncie Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission states that it “oversees local designated landmarks and local historic districts¹².” If any group should be able to confidently identify the age and significance of historic buildings, it ought to be the one charged with protecting them!

I’m miffed. The issue isn’t that someone made a mistake. We all do. The problem is how often these claims are repeated before anyone internal stops to ask whether they’re true. Once an inaccurate fact makes its way into a news article, nomination form, social media post, or public presentation, it tends to take on a life of its own. Before long, it becomes accepted history simply because it’s been repeated enough times. 

That’s frustrating because Muncie’s real history is fascinating enough without embellishment or unfamiliarity. Forest Park Elementary is an important building. It doesn’t need to be the oldest surviving public school in the city to matter. The truth is interesting on its own, and getting it right should be the bare minimum. At any rate, maybe I should stop complaining and look into getting appointed to the commission myself. After all, the Berenstain Bears figured out years ago: if you want something done, just do it yourself.

Last night, news broke that Muncie/Delaware County Senior Center’s Board of Directors sold Forest Park to an organization called DCRT, LLC- a business that filed on March 6, 2026¹³. A release on social media indicated that the sale would deliver three benefits for the structure: strengthening the Senior Center, preserving the historic portion of the school, and bringing new programming to Muncie¹⁴. Here’s hoping that the NRHP-listed building finally gets restored!

Update: as of 9:00 this morning, the Muncie’s Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission has updated their post and credited me. Thank you letting me help set the record straight!

Sources Cited
1 Center township, Delaware County, IN (2024). Census Reporter. Data from US Census Bureau. Web. Retrieved May 28, 2026. 
2 Survey Number 035-441-45225 (1985). IHSSI (County Survey). SHAARD. Indiana Department of Natural Resources [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved April 20, 2026. 
3 Map of Delaware County, Indiana (1874). A.L. Kingman [Philadelphia]. Map. 
4 Temporary School House (1901, November 23). The Muncie Times. p. 2.
5 Center Township school census outside Muncie. (1903, May 15). The Muncie Morning Star. p. 2.
6 Commissioners’ Record (1883, January-1885, December). Delaware County Building. “Orphans Home School Matter”
7 50 and 25 Years Ago. (1948, August 11). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 4.
8 Taylor, H.B. (1988). Delaware County Children’s Home Schoolhouse 1883-1901. Prepared for Lanny D. Carmichael.
9 Satterfield, Ed. (1992, September 6). African Americans have long history in religious community. The Muncie Star. p. 5D.
10 Shaffer Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (n.d.). Find a Marker. Indiana Historical Bureau [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved May 28, 2026. 
11 Loy, B. (1971, June 11). Closing of Harrison School Is Ordered. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 13. 
12 Bio (n.d.). Muncie Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission [Muncie]. Facebook. Web. Retrieved May 28, 2026. 
13 DCRT LLC (May 21, 2026). Bizapedia. Muncie [Muncie]. Web. Retrieved May 28, 2026. 
14 Muncie Delaware County Senior Center (2026, May 28). Muncie, Indiana — Muncie/Delaware County Senior Center’s Board of Directors (the Senior Center) is pleased to announce the sale of the former. Muncie Delaware County Senior Center [Muncie]. Facebook. Web. Retrieved May 28, 2026.