It had been four years since I last drove past the old District 3 schoolhouse in Niles Township. On that earlier visit, the building still wore its original bell, perched proudly in its cupola¹. More recently, though, the sight stopped me short- the cupola is gone, replaced by a new roof! I’m glad the schoolhouse has survived, but a meaningful piece of its character has slipped away. I hope it’s only temporary. 

Just after I hit publish on a post mapping the tunnels below Ball State University’s Old Quad as they existed around 1950, a friend messaged me with something even better: a newer map showing an expanded underground network as it appeared in 1982. Naturally, I dropped everything and started mapping again! Here’s what I found. 

If you’re anything like me, you find tunnels irresistible. There’s something about hidden spaces -places I’m not really supposed to see- that flips a switch in my brain. Stumbling across Ball State University’s tunnels on a seventy-six-year-old Sanborn fire insurance map last night felt like rediscovering a secret! In a way, they hide in plain sight. 

I’ve been to Terre Haute maybe five times in my life, most recently to take photos of a Long Line tower and snarf down a wet plate at Taco Casita. Still, I recently got a chance to do some virtual globetrotting there when my friend Brett reached out with a question about a mysterious old school. Here’s what we discovered.

It’s almost unthinkable today when cities the size of Anderson, Elkhart, and Marion no longer have a movie theater to call their own, but once upon a time, even the smallest towns could boast a cinema. Albany, Indiana, was one of them. For a time, it had its own little window into Hollywood.

It’s hard to believe nearly a year and a half has passed since officials floated the idea of converting Muncie’s old Harrison Elementary School into apartments. Progress on the site has been slow, but the news brought back memories of the time I slipped inside the historic building to take a few photos before its next chapter -whatever that may be- finally begins.

Recently, a fellow fan posted photos of the old College Corner schoolhouse in a Facebook group we share. The images stopped me cold. College Corner had been a ruin for as long as I’ve known it, but the latest pictures showed just how far it’s slipped since my last visit a few years ago. Knowing its time is running out, I was determined to document it before the schoolhouse disappears for good.

I cruise State Road 26 in rural Grant County, Indiana, every so often. When I’m out in the area, there’s one landmark that never fails to snag my attention: an old schoolhouse-turned-home three miles south of Upland. I’ve snapped photos of several former Grant County schools over the years, but tracking down their histories has been surprisingly tricky. Still, after a little digging, I finally uncovered a little bit about the neat, tidy building I’ve been noticing for years.