Kinnaman’s

The second school in Hamilton County was taught by the Kinneman family in a cabin near the home of pioneer Abram Helms in the early 1830s. The structure was built according to the style of a typical residence of the time and featured a lone window made of a cut-out log covered in greased paper. The table for students working on their writing skills was situated underneath it to provide sufficient light for their studies (Shirts, 1901). 

In 1866, Fall Creek Township’s District 1 schoolhouse sat on the northwest corner of what’s now of East 136th Street and Cyntheanne Road, opposite of Kinnaman -spelled Kinnamon on the map- land (Warner, 1866).  

The Fall Creek Grange social organization -officially, the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry- was organized at the school in 1873 (70 Years, 1943). 

The building -likely a frame structure that replaced the original log schoolhouse- stood on the same plot of land in 1876 (Maps, 1876). It was replaced in 1906, when a new, brick schoolhouse was dedicated on the southeastern corner of the modern-day intersection (Fall, 1906).

The Kinnaman’s School shuttered sometime prior to 1934 although its exact date of closure is unclear (Total, 1934). Its students were likely sent to the Cyntheanne school a mile and a half due south, which became Hamilton County’s last remaining one-room schoolhouse in 1942 (The Klepfler, 1942). 

References

Shirts, A.F. (1915). A History of the Formation, Settlement and Development of Hamilton County, Indiana. book. Self-published.

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

70 Years Ago (1943, December 11). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 4.

Maps of Indiana Counties in 1876 (1876). Atlas. Baskin, Forster, & Company. 

Fall Creek (1906, October 11). The Hamilton County Times. p. 6.

Total School Enrollment SHows Loss 141 (1934, October 2). The Noblesville Ledger. p. 6.

The Klepfer School Closed In Fall Creek. (1942, September 26). The Noblesville Ledger. pp. 1-2.