Blackford

The District 3: Blackford school sits three miles east of Montpelier on Indiana Highway 18. It likely took its name from the county whose students it serves. The extant brick structure was built around 1900, and in 1905 it sat on the land of S.S. Norton (Hixson, 1905).

In 1918, Hurley Penrod, the twenty-one-year-old teacher of the Blackford school, was accidentally shot and killed by his adult niece, with whom she was “playing soldier (Playing, 1918).” 

In 1923, the school’s students won the prize for having the best school display in the Harrison Township farmer’s institute (Montpelier, 1923). Unfortunately, it 

The District 3 school closed after the 1922-23 school year, along with District 1: Waugh, District 5: Hoover, and District 9: Pleasantdale. It, along with the rest of those schools, was sold by the township in 1924 (Montpelier, 1924). It was purchased by F.G. Sarber for $175 (Sale, 1924).

Though the schoolhouse appears to have been used as a dwelling for some time, today the structure is abandoned. It is typically obscured by trees.

References

Hixson, W.W. (1905). Blackford County, Ind. map. Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library. 

Playing Soldier Has Fatal Ending At Balbec (1918, February 28). The Fort Wayne Sentinel. p. 13.

Montpelier Briefs (1923, January 5). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 9.

Montpelier (1923, November 15). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.

Sale of Abandoned Schools Bring $1,575 (1924, July 30). The Muncie Star. p. 9.