Warner

Salem Township’s District 12 school is located in the far-southwestern corner of the county. Elias Warner provided land for the schoolhouse in 1858 (Delaware, 1858), six years after an amended state constitution provided resources for the operation of a free, common school system (Natali, 2007). Prior to the construction of the first Warner schoolhouse, students in the area received no formal education. 

Prior to 1875 the Warner school was listed as District 9 and District 12 was near the site of the later District 3, the Goodpasture school (Griffing, 1887). The present structure was built in 1875 (Delaware, 2021). Around 1880, Salem Township’s schools were redistricted, and in 1881, William Young was the teacher at Warner (Helm, 1881). 

A state law that came into effect in 1907 required the abandonment of any township school with an enrollment of fewer than twelve students, conditions that the Warner schoolhouse met. The school closed that year, and its students were sent to Daleville (Kemper, 1908). The last teacher was Melborn Grigsby (Delaware, 1905). 

Like many schoolhouses that still remain standing, the District 12 building was converted into a dwelling in the years after its closure. The schoolhouse sits about six hundred feet east of I-69 on the approach of the West County Road 700-W overpass. 

References

Delaware County, Indiana. (1858, March 17). Deed Book 20. p. 348.

Natali, B. L. (2007). The Impact of Caleb Mills on the Hoosier Education Debate: An Edition of Two Unpublished Addresses (thesis). University Graduate School, Indianapolis.

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

Delaware County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 1313300013000. Delaware County, Indiana Assessor. map, Muncie, IN.

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.

Salem Township Shows. (1880, March 24). The Muncie Daily Times, p. 2.

Delaware County Public Schools. (1905). School directory, Delaware County public schools, Delaware County, Indiana 1905-1906. Muncie, IN.