As an unincorporated village in rural Tipton County away from nearly every highway, Curtisville is the kind of place you don’t venture to unless you’re really looking for stuff. As it happened, I was! I hadn’t given the place a second thought until a stray social media post mentioned an old gym in town. That was enough to send me digging. It took some effort to track down, but once I did, parts of a story started to come into focus.
Curtisville was established by L.B. Colvin around 1859. A post office was quickly founded and lasted until 19511. The vintage plat maps I’ve found don’t indicate an earlier one, but I know a school opened at the far northeastern part of the community in 1912.
The $10,500 Curtisville School featured four rooms and a finished basement. Officials hoped it would be enough to educate kids through at least three years of high school2! Eventually, they settled into use as a building for grades one through eight. In 1955, the township trustee announced plans to add a $50,000 triple-purpose room to the rear of the building.
Designed by Indianapolis architects Moore and Associates, the project provided a gym with bleachers, a stage, and a kitchen3. The addition opened in 19564. Unfortunately, Curtisville School closed in 19675. The academic part of the building was eventually demolished, but the gym remained. In 1972, a local junior high art teacher purchased it to house his collection of antique fire engines6.
I’m not sure what happened from then and now. After all, its been nearly sixty years! Today, the old Curtisville gymnasium appears to be used as storage. Unfortunately, these are probably the best photos anyone can take of it from the road.
Sources Cited
1 “Tipton County”. Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
2 New School Building (1912, May 14). The Tipton Daily Tribune. p. 8.
3 Community Room Planned for Curtisville School Addition With $50,000 Bond Issue (1955, June 23). The Tipton Daily Tribune. p. 1.
4 Tipton Juniors Nip Curtisville (1956, December 18). The Tipton Daily Tribune. p. 4.
5 Doke, P. (2003, July 30). Reunion brings fond memories. The Tipton County Tribune. p. 4.
6 Teacher is Fire Truck Buff (1972, August 16). The Tipton County Tribune. p. 1.
