I had a lot of fun proposing a 160-foot Garfield statue for downtown Muncie. Unfortunately, many of the people I shared it with on Facebook didn’t enjoy my concept so much. People on Facebook don’t have a sense of humor? That’s news to me! Still, Delaware County’s impeccable fiscal condition, immaculate infrastructure, and famous lack of corruption lead me to continue past Garfield. Surely the boomtowns of Yorktown, Selma, Gaston, Daleville, Eaton, and Albany deserve monumental landmarks of their own. 

The intersection of US-36 and Raider Road in northwestern Henry County is a study in educational contrasts. The campus of Shenandoah School Corporation -and the massive wind turbine that helps power it- stands on the northeastern corner, while a home that was once a schoolhouse sits just across the road. I’ve driven past it for years without finding much out about it. Until yesterday. 

I was driving through rural LaGrange County when I saw a schoolhouse. As I pulled over for a closer look, I wondered if I’d have any luck researching the school and it’s history since its so far from where I usually roam. Fortunately, I have the archives of the old Topeka Journal on hand! They filled in much of the story. 

A schoolhouse has anchored what’s now the southwest corner of County Road 200 South and State Road 5 in rural Grant County for well over a century. As early as the 1860s, an institution serving Monroe Township’s District 7 stood there on land owned by James Hults¹.