A house on Wheeling Avenue near the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Muncie has piqued my interest for years. It doesn’t take much imagination to see it as an old schoolhouse, and it sits just a few blocks north of where Center Township’s old District 9 building once stood. Could it be the old structure? I’m not so sure.
In 1876, Jacob Wysor sold a portion of his land adjoining the western boundary of the Hackley Reserve and the southern border of the Delaware County Fairgrounds to the “Centre” Township School Corporation for $3751. The earliest newspaper reference to the schoolhouse I could find came in 1881, when its students enthralled an audience with some sort of scholarly debate2.
The school appears on an 1887 plat map of Delaware County as District 93 and was commonly known as either the Mound4 or Fairground5. The origin of the latter name is obvious given how close it sat to the Delaware County Fairgrounds, but the source of the “Mound” designation is less clear to me. One possibility is the nearby site of Munsee Town, a Lenape village that once stood along the north bank of the White River6. Whether the name commemorated that Native settlement, some other local landmark, or even a name is something I’ve yet to uncover.
The unincorporated areas north and west of Muncie exploded in population as several new suburbs, such as Riverside, were established. To serve students there, a two-story, four-room, brick Riverside School was completed in 19007 at Ashland and Pauline Avenues. The following year, the township trustee tried to convince constituents in District 9 to close the overcrowded Mound or Fairground schoolhouse and send their students to uncluttered Riverside. The concept was voted down unanimously! Instead, grades 5-8 were transferred to Riverside while Mound continued on serving students in first through fourth grades8.
In 1902, a group led by Henry C. Marsh organized a Sabbath School at the Mound schoolhouse9. That congregation quickly moved elsewhere and eventually built a sanctuary -Riverside United Brethren in Christ- across from the school. As Riverside United Methodist, the building hosted me occasionally in the late nineties and early 2000s since my stepdad was a member. It’s now home to Berea Church.
I’ve never seen a photo of the Mound/Fairground schoolhouse, but it appears via diagram in several Sanborn fire insurance maps. The 1902 edition shows a single-story brick building with a hipped roof, wooden belfry, and natural gas stove10. So does a map from 1911, which also shows a wooden outbuilding -possibly an outhouse- and notes that the school lacked electric wiring for light11.
Despite its patrons’ success in saving the schoolhouse back in 1901, the Mound/Fairgrounds school only remained in use for thirteen more years. It closed after the 1913-1914 school term, along with the old-fashioned District 2 schoolhouse at the present corner of McGalliard and Walnut. Students from both institutions were sent to Riley, a brand-new two-story building that stood at what’s now West Cromer Avenue and North Walnut Street12.
Both the Mound and Conn schoolhouses, along with a third, were auctioned off on May 29, 191413. Fifty-one years after the District 9 school closed, a student named Russell Mader wrote to Muncie Star newspaperman Dick Greene for assistance in finding a photo of the place. Mader believed the school had been demolished in 191414.
Unfortunately, “demolished” can mean a lot of things. Is it possible that District 9’s schoolhouse was simply taken apart and moved several blocks north to be rebuilt as the home that’s intrigued me for years? Maybe, but complications arise. For one, the Delaware County Assessor says that the house at 1500 N. Wheeling was built in 1909, five years before the Mound/Fairgrounds school was sold15. Adding to the confusion, the Emma C. Wills Addition where the house stands today wasn’t platted until 191316.
If what the assessor says is true, the 1911 Sanborn map could potentially settle the question. Unfortunately, its coverage stops short of the area, which was still rural Center Township outside of Muncie. A 1955 Sanborn update shows the house in its present location, but identifies the structure as brick veneer rather than the solid brick construction of a schoolhouse17.
Although it shares the same general shape, a couple of other factors may rule out the home on North Wheeling as the old Mound school. According to assessor records, the house is 888 square feet. Comparable schools with nearly identical rooflines and proportions like Salem Township’s Walnut Grove, Salem Township’s Mt. Healthy, and Delaware Township’s Sharon were nearly twice as large.
All those aspects -the dates, additions, size, and all other evidence- lead me to believe that the schoolhouse-ish home at 1500 N. Wheeling Avenue isn’t Muncie’s old Mound School. If my investigation wasn’t convincing enough, longtime newspaperman and local historian Bill Spurgeon reached the same conclusion years ago18! I’d love nothing more than to uncover another forgotten schoolhouse within the city limits, but available evidence simply doesn’t point that way. Still, even if it was never a school, this weird little house is worth a second look the next time you drive past.
Sources Cited
1 Delaware County, Indiana. (1876, June 20). Deed Book 50. p. 173.
2 Those of our city (1881, January 14). The Muncie Daily Times. p. 1.
3 Griffing, B. N. (1887). Salem Township. An atlas of Delaware County, Indiana. map, Philadelphia, PA; Griffing, Gordon, & Company.
4 Greene, D. (1965, September 15). Seen and Heard in O ur Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.
5 Democratic Meetings (1910, November 3). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 15.
6 Flook, C. (2018, March 5). Where were the Lenape cemeteries? The Muncie Star Press. p. A2.
7 Return to Books; Schools to Open. (1900, September 3). The Muncie Star. p. 4.
8 Patrons Protest For Children (1901, April 11). The Muncie Daily Times. p. 1.
9 Chuch Directory With Program For The Church Year 1944-1945 (1944). Riverside Church of the United Brethren In Christ [Muncie]. Directory.
10 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1902). Sanborn Map Company, 1954. Web. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
11 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1911). Sanborn Map Company, 1954. Web. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
12 Handsome New Building To Be Used Monday (1914, February 21). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 7.
13 Notice of Trustee’s Sale of Personal Property and Real Estate (1914, May 14). The Muncie Star. p. 11.
14 Greene, D. (1965, September 13). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.
15 Parcel 40.204930, -85.394243 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Delaware County [Muncie]. Web. Retrieved June 6, 2026.
16 Emma C. Will’s Addition (1913). Muncie, Indiana. Plat map.
17 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1911-1955). Sanborn Map Company, 1954. Web. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
18 Spurgeon, B. (2000, August 18). Missing Center Township School No. 9 is found. The Muncie Star Press. p. 27.
