Brady/Maple Grove

Little is known about Harrison Township’s District 3 schoolhouse. In 1874, there was no school there, nor were there any close by. Perhaps this was due to Harrison Township’s lack of significant, platted communities (Kingman, 1874). At any rate, Sarah Stokes granted Harrison Township a portion of her land for the construction of a school in 1880 in exchange for fifty dollars (Delaware, 1880). The following year, Helm listed the school as serving Harrison Township’s District 3 under the name of Brady with C.W. Rector as the teacher. The land of William Brady was situated three-fifths of a mile to the west, which may have provided the schoolhouse with its common name (Kingman, 1874).

In 1887, the school sat on Sarah Stokes’ land. A brick structure, the school was 1.5 stories tall with a partial basement. At some point, locals began referring to the schoolhouse as Maple Grove (Greene, 1977). 

Though the majority of Harrison Township’s schoolhouses closed after the 1923-24 year when the consolidated township school opened up, District 3 was an anomaly, shuttered after the 1915-16 school year (Delaware, 1916). Harrison H. Summers of Gaston was the final teacher. 

Today, the old District 3 schoolhouse is a home.

References

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

Delaware County, Indiana. (1880, July 19). Deed Book 46. p. 475.

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.

Greene, D. (1977, January 18). Seen and Heard in Our Neighborhood. The Muncie Star. p. 4.

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