College Corner

Madison County was home to three schoolhouses known colloquially as College Corner in Duck Creek, Richfield, and Boone Townships. Their shared names make it difficult to find a lot of information that pertains to the Boone Township District 8 school, which was one of them.

A schoolhouse existed on the land of Mary J. Sinks in 1880, not far northwest from the first frame schoolhouse in the township, which was erected in District 35 (Kingman, 1881). That building is likely the schoolhouse still seen today, or possibly an earlier frame predecessor built on the same site..

The extant school’s precise date of construction is unknown, but it was likely built during the late 1880s or 1890s when this style of schoolhouse -featuring a front-facing entry hall flanked by two cloakrooms that lead into a main classroom- was put into place. It was certainly built prior to 1912, as county histories indicate that all of Boone Township’s schools were brick by that point (Forkner, 1914). 

In 1920, Marian Long was the teacher (Programs, 1920) at this particular College Corner school.

There is information available online that seems to confuse the College Corner schools of Boone and Duck Creek Townships. This College Corner school, Boone Township’s District 8, was active at least through 1939 (Resumes, 1939). The other College Corner School nearby -Duck Creek Township’s District 2- was active until 1950 when the combined Duck Creek-Boone Township Consolidated School was completed. At that point, the College Corner school was ancient history, as only three schoolhouses in Boone Township -Townsend, Center, and Union- consolidated into the new building (New, 1949).

References

Kingman Brothers. (1880). History of Madison County, Indiana with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. Chicago, IL.

Forkner, J. (1914). History of Madison County Indiana. A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its People and Its Principal Interests, Volume 1. book, The Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago, IL.

Programs at some of the Township Schools (1920, March 28). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.

Resumes Teaching. (1939, October 12) The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 2. 

Bremer, H. & Jackson, S. (2019, March 25). Historic Hidden Treasures 1. The Herald Bulletin. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://www.heraldbulletin.com/hiddentreasures/historic-hidden-treasures-1-pdf/pdf_9f5bdbd4-4e48-11e9-ac77-e7e59e163cf0.html.

New School For Duck Creek And Boone Townships. (1949, September 7). The Elwood Call-Leader. p.