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Foulke - Haas - Robbins - Worthen  Families

  Poor Schoolhouse
Union Township, Delaware County, Indiana

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[001] School Information -
Location:
-  Union Township, Delaware County, Indiana
-  Monument Location:  Northwest corner of Delaware County Rd 1200N and CR200E - See Photos below 
1887 Plat Map:
1.  Shows location of 26 acre farm in 1887 next to railroad tracks running North and South through Eaton. The property at that time belonged to Cath Haynes and it was listed as 25.89 acres.
2.  Going east of that property there is a school shown in the SE corner of the farm sitting on the NE corner of the two roads. According to the historic marker there today this was referred to as "Poor School" (School No. 2)
3.  On this map there is a house shown approximately where the house on the 26 acre farm stood. [S1, p 18]
Memorial Markers:
Located on the northwest corner of CR1200N and CR200E sits an historical marker celebrating the Poor School House.  Coordinates:  40364034, -85.350811   I3,
1.  Original Marker:  ""In Memory of Poor School House - Founded on this site 1858" I2,
2.  1949 Marker:  "In Memory of Poor School House - Founded on this site 1858" - "Erected by Pupils 1949"  I1, (Photo taken by me, 2009)
Francis Wagner was the teacher of the Poor School House, District 2 in Union Twp. The Union Township Trustee's report dated 31 Aug 1880 stated there were 3 brick schoolhouses and 8 frame schoolhouses in the township.
"The teachers of the various schools in the township are as follows:  C. W. Smith, Eaton; Francis Wagner, Poor Schoolhouse, District No. 2; ..."

"The Trustee's report for the year ending August 31, 1880, contains the following information regarding the schools in the township:
Number of white pupils admitted within the year, 378;
average attendance, 227;
length of school term, 104 days;
number of white teachers employed - Male, 6; female, 5;
average compensation per day - male, $1.83; female, $1.56;
number of brick schoolhouses in township, 3;
number of frame schoolhouses in township, 8;
estimated value of schoolhouses, grounds, etc., $3,000;
estimated value of school apparatus, $200."


[S2, p 290]
Deed for School property from Thomas C. and Martha Poor, 13 Aug 1858

 506
Title: Thomas C. Poor to Trustees Union Township
1. #471 Thomas C. Poor and Martha Poor of Delaware County in the State of
2. Indiana Convey and warrant and lease to the Trustees of Union Township
3. $2 and their succefsors in office for ninety five years or so long as the same is
4. used for school purposes of Delaware County in the State of Indiana for
5. the sum of Two dollars the following real estate in Delaware County in
6. the State of Indiana towit: Commencing at the South East corner of Sec=
7. tion No Eleven (11) thence running North thirteen (13) rods with said line
8. thence West six Rods and 12 feet, thence South thirteen (13) rods to the line
9. thence East six (6) rods and (12) feet to the place of the beginning in Township
10. 22 North of Range ten East in the county aforesaid
11. In witnefs whereof the said Thomas C. Poor and Martha Poor hath herunto
12. set their hands and seals this 13th day of August 1858
13. Benaiah Eshenfelder Thomas C. Poor (seal)
14. Martha Poor (seal)
15. State of Indiana, Delaware County, S.S.
16. Before me Calvin Keenan a Justice of the Peace in and for said
17. County this 13th day of August 1858 Thomas C. Poor and Martha Poor
18. his wife and acknowledged the execution of the annexed deed
19. Witnefs my hand and seal
20. Calvin Keenan J. P. (Seal)
21. Received for Record August 18th 1858 at 9 Oclock A.M.
22. Recorded August 19th 1858 at 3 Oclock P.M.
23. Theoph E. Burt
24. R.D.C. Ind

Source:  S3,
Poor School Mentioned - Dick Greene "Our Neighborhood" Articles - Muncie Star, (Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana)

3 Dec 1951:  Link,
20 June 969:  Link,
The house on the N of Eaton Farm was rumored to be the last Poor School House that was moved to the Farm location. 
 
 
 

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Sources
 

Source Citation

Image
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S1 An Atlas of Delaware County, Indiana. Philadelphia: Griffin, Gordon & Co, 1887, reprinted., Knightstown, Indiana: Mayhill Publications, 1971.  Bk1849.

Plat Map, Union Township, page 18:  Doc2234.pdf

PDF Pages:
1 - Title
2 - West half of township
3 - East half of township  Bk1849
 
S2 Book:  Helm, T B, History of Delaware County, Indiana, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches (Chicago: Kingman Brothers, 1881), Bk1595.  
S3 Deed - Thomas C. and Martha Poor to Trustees of Union Township, 13 Aug 1858 - Book 20, page 506.  Doc2236.pdf 
Repository:  Muncie/Delaware County Digital Resource Library, Muncie Public Library - Link,
 
S4 Posted on FaceBoook/ Found Muncie

December 19, 2021 at 4:00 PM ·

Many people have probably seen the stone that marks the land that J̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶b̶u̶i̶l̶t̶ Union Township’s District 2 schoolhouse once sat on. Probably just as many have seen the school itself, though they were less likely to have given the ramshackle old structure second thought. Here’s the story:
The earliest schools in Delaware County were conducted on a basis of subscription: Prior to 1840, each schoolhouse was funded predominantly by tuition paid to the school’s proprietor that also covered a salary for the teacher. Around 1840, revenue from the sale of public real estate was allocated to pay these subscriptions but it often wasn’t enough, with schools returning to the subscription system once the coffers ran dry.
In 1852, an amended state constitution provided resources for the operation of a free, common school system (Natali, 2007) in Indiana. Prior to the new constitution, students in areas without a subscription school either traveled to one or received no formal education.
It took several years for each township to obtain and disburse the funds that the new constitution provided, so the 1850s were a booming period for early one-room schoolhouses. IN 1858, Thomas C. Poor granted officials a portion of his land for use as a schoolhouse near the northeastern corner of Union Township. Poor stipulated a price of $2.00, and insisted that the rights to the land expire after ninety-five years or after the plot was no longer used for a school. Around that time, a schoolhouse of frame construction- was erected. In 1881, Francis Wagner was the teacher at District 2.
The school closed after the 1917-1918 season as the last Union Township school to consolidate into Eaton. Besse Brandt was the last teacher at the Poor schoolhouse.
The marker that sits at the original site of the Poor schoolhouse was erected in 1949, but apparently, the schoolhouse was moved a third of a mile east after its closure to be used as a home, as a resident there, Normas Haas Robbins recalled that the home on their acreage was “an old schoolhouse, not too bad- but the yard looks like a weed patch.” Haas advised that his family “was told when living at this property that the house was originally the Poor School that had been moved to the location on the 26-acre farm.”
The building doesn’t look much like a schoolhouse upon first glance, as it’s got a covered porch added to the front and some additions to the rear.
1874 and 1887 plat maps of Delaware County don’t show any structure at the site of the present wood-frame building thought to be the old schoolhouse, and the Delaware County assessor’s office indicates that the structure was built in 1860, just two years after Poor deeded his land.
 
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Images    Click Thumbnails for larger Images
I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6
       
Poor School Marker
northwest corner of
CR1200N and CR200E
(Taken by me, 2009)
Original Marker
(Sent to me by C. H., ID5641)
Google Maps Street View
July 2014 
Poor School Marker
28 Sept 2014
   
Ph9205-001.tif Ph10420-003.jpg Ph10421.jpg  Ph10492-019.jpg    

 

 

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Email me for more Information  -  Updated 29 September, 2023  -