Shideler

The communities of Shideler and Royerton sprung up around 1870 when the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad was extended through the area (Kemper, 1908). Isaac Shideler, a railroad promotor, opened a store and post office near the Shideler station, but there was no school in the village: As of 1874, the closest Hamilton Township schoolhouses to Shideler were the District 2: Stafford schoolhouse and a schoolhouse on the land of Anders Cates, while the closest in neighboring Union Township were the districts 9 and 10 schoolhouses, Yount’s or Younce and Rocky Branch, respectively.

In 1880, a schoolhouse at Shideler -straddling the Hamilton and Union township line- was established in order to serve students from both areas (A view, 1880). The following year, Sarah Shideler deeded the land for the school at Lot 4 in Block 6 to the Hamilton School Township (Delaware, 1881). A schoolhouse was quickly built and organized as District 11 with Robert Stafford served as its first teacher. (Helm, 1881). In 1885, a brick school immediately east on lot 3 (Truitt, 1871) was erected (Delaware, 2021). It still stands today. 

By 1898 the school at Shideler was graded and known as Hamilton Township District 9 (Ellis, 1898). The following year, Hamilton Township began consolidating its schools, intending to combine all of them aside from District 3 and Shideler into Royerton (The Consolidating, 1903).

After the District 3 Gerrard school closed at the end of the 1915-16 school year (Delaware, 1916), Shideler was the only schoolhouse yet to consolidate into Royerton. It eventually did, though, at the end of the 1922-23 school year. James Dragstrem of Eaton was the last teacher there (Delaware, 1923). 

In 1946, Muncie Star columnist Dick Greene solicited his readers to compile a list of all of the old schoolhouses. Arlie Beeler of Shideler reported one, the “Quaker school building next door to his home,” then the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Shaffer and family (Greene, 1946). It is unclear as to whether that structure is the old District 11 schoolhouse that’s still standing or a different building. 

References

Kemper, G. W. H. (1908). Education in Delaware County. In A Twentieth Century History of Delaware County, Indiana, Volume 1 (Vol. 1, p. 252). book, Lewis Publishing Company.

A view of the schools. (1880, March 30). The Muncie Daily Times. p. 2.

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.

Delaware County, Indiana. (1881 October 23). Deed Book 49. p. 255.

Truitt, W. (1871, December 29). Shideler. Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. plat map, Muncie, IN. 

The consolidating of Delaware County schools progresses (1903, June 28). The Muncie Morning Star. P. 9.

Delaware County Public Schools. (1916). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1916-1917. Muncie, IN. 

Delaware County Public Schools. (1923). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1923-1924. Muncie, IN. 

Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 0702201001000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.

Ellis, J. (1898, July 13). Our County. The Muncie Morning News. p. 6.

Greene, D. (1946, March 27). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star Press. p. 6.