Carmen/Miller

Like several others, the Washington Township District 7 schoolhouse has been located in at least two places. In 1874, the building was located on the west side of Gaston-Matthews Pike about half a mile north of West County Road 1000-N (Kingman, 1874) on the land of Samuel S. Carmine. Helm tells us that the schoolhouse here was known as “Carman” (Helm, 1881). It was there in 1887 as well, on land then owned by Mary Milholland (Griffing, 1887). The following year, Catharine Brady deeded a portion of her land at the northeast corner of the pike and 1000-N to the Washington Township trustee for the use of a school, and the extant structure was built shortly after (Delaware, 1888). In 1900, William McCormick owned the land surrounding the schoolhouse (Delaware, 2018).

The schoolhouse closed at the end of the 1918-19 season in order to consolidate into Gaston. Robert Bryant was the last teacher there (Delaware, 1918). Later, the building was converted to a dwelling, a state in which -with some additions- it still remains.

In 1988, Bill Spurgeon listed the schoolhouse as the Miller school but Muncie resident William Cortright corrected him, calling it the “Carmin” school (Spurgeon, 1988). Cortright’s spelling seems to be the correct one based on deed records (Delaware, 1881). 

References

Kingman Brothers. (1874). Map of Delaware County, Indiana. Chicago, IL.

Helm, T. B. (1881). Mount Pleasant Township. In History of Delaware County, Indiana: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (pp. 268–269). book, Kingman Brothers.

Griffing, B. N. (1887). Mt. Pleasant Township. An atlas of Delaware County, Indiana . map, Philadelphia, PA; Griffing, Gordon, & Company.

Delaware County, Indiana. (1888 June 20). Deed Book 62. p. 17.

Delaware County Map, 1900 (2018, October 1). Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library.

Spurgeon, B. (1988, September 21). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.

Delaware County Public Schools. (1918). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1918-1919. Muncie, IN. 

Delaware County, Indiana. (1881 November 25). Deed Book 62. p. 199.