Blue

Delaware Township’s extant District 6 schoolhouse, commonly known as Blue, was built in 1902 (Hamilton, 2022) as a consolidation of three earlier schools. The earlier District 6 schoolhouse, commonly known as “Old Blue” (Memories, 1932) was located just beyond the southeastern corner of the present-day intersection of East 106th Street and Keystone Parkway (Warner, 1866). Its students used the Farley Cemetery grove as a playground. 

The intersection was widely known as Mulberry Corner due to a large tree that stood at the northwestern corner (Seek, 1928). An even older log building that served as the area’s first schoolhouse was further east and across 106th Street (Kinzer, 1937), which was known at the time as Blue School House Road. The frame schoolhouse took its name from the peculiar shade of paint used in its construction.

The old Blue schoolhouse burned in 1871 due to a defective flue. It was repaired shortly after and classes resumed (School, 1871).

 The District 7 schoolhouse, known as White Chapel, was the second to consolidate into the two-room Blue schoolhouse building in 1902. From the mid-1830s to 1850, a log cabin was used as a schoolhouse and sanctuary (White, 1958) before the present-day White Chapel Church was built on what’s now 116th Street nearly opposite Carmel’s Flowing Well Park. The cabin was soon given the name White Chapel after the church. 

A new church was built in 1850 (White, 1964) and it stands to reason that a new schoolhouse was built during a similar timeframe. Along with the District 2: Dawson’s or Hazel Valley school, it closed in 1902 (Hamilton, 1905) upon the opening of the new structure, which is located south of the St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church.

In 1915, the “New” Blue schoolhouse was one of only two serving Delaware Township, which sent most of its students to the graded schools at Carmel and Fishers (Haines, 1915). The school closed after the 1920-21 school year (Blue, n.d.) and was sold at auction on May 11, 1941 (Will, 1941). Reunions of both of the Blue schools along with the White Chapel schoolhouse were common throughout the first half of the twentieth century.

Today the building is a home. 

References

Hamilton County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2022). Parcel ID: 29-14-05-000-011.000-018. Hamilton County, Indiana Assessor. map, Noblesville, IN.

Memories That Cluster About Blue School (1932, June 29). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 1.

Warner, C. S. (1866). Map of Hamilton county, Indiana. atlas. C.A.O. McClellen & C.S. Warner. 

Kinzer, M. (1937, July 28). Who’s Who. The Noblesville Ledger. p. 1.

Seek to Preserve Mulberry Corner (1928, March 1). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 4.

School Items (1871, February 8). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 3.

White Chapel Methodist Church Celebrating 105th Anniversary. The Noblesville Ledger. p. 6.

White Chapel Church Was Built in 1850 (1964, December 22). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 10.

Haines, J.F. (1915). History of Hamilton County, Indiana: Her People, Industries, and Institutions. book. B.F. Bowen & Company. 

Hamilton County’s Out-Going Township Trustees (1905, January 5). He Hamilton County Times [Noblesville]. P. 1.

Blue School. Carmel Clay Historical Society. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from http://www.carmelclayhistory.org/blue-school

Will Sell The Old Blue School Building (1941, March 22). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 1.