Ovid/New Columbus

The Adams Township community of New Columbus was named by Abraham Adams when he laid the town out in 1834. Unfortunately, the moniker he chose was the same as a community that already existed in Bartholomew County. When the post office was established three years later it was called Ovid (Forkner & Dyson, 1897). Today, signs at the community’s edge call it “New Columbus or Ovid.”

The second schoolhouse in Adams Township (Forkner, 1914) was a round-log building (Bock, 1969) built at the eastern end of what’s now New Columbus or Ovid (Forkner). In 1854, a frame replacement was constructed after provisions of an 1851 state law that provided for a free common school system took effect (Bock, 1970). In 1873, twin brick schoolhouses were built at New Columbus and Markleville. They measured 23×38 feet and each cost $1,100 (Forkner). The school at New Columbus served students from Adams Township’s District 4 (Jackson, 2011).

In 1922, the state board of health issued orders condemning the schoolhouse as unsanitary, along with five others in Adams Township (Condemns, 1922). That year, a project began to expand and remodel the school at Markleville (Bock, 1969). It appears as though the District 4 school, (Crow, 2007) along with Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, were abandoned in 1924 when the project was completed.

Today, the old District 4 school at Ovid or New Columbus, heavily altered, is a home.

References

Forkner, J. & Dyson, B. (1897). Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana. book. Anderson, IN.

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.

Bock, G. (1970, October 29). Adams Township Had Ten School Districts. Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 4.

Jackson, S. T. (2011, June 18). Residents know their community as either Ovid or New Columbus. The Herald Bulletin. Retrieved September 28, 2021, from https://www.heraldbulletin.com/community/residents-know-their-community-as-either-ovid-or-new-columbus/article_3ef7417a-a1fe-579c-9806-539653394096.html?fbclid=IwAR256Ljb-MFg1WVnL-mI3iTUcSpWc3S0HBS463vScrw-teNnokBJ2pOXGrg.

Condemns Six Adams Township School Buildings (1922, April 14). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.

Bock, G. (1969, June 3). This is Year of Last Good Bye for Markleville H.S.. Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 4.

Crow, A. (2007, August 16). Markleville resident Florence Moore to Celebrate 100 years. The Pendleton Times-Post. p. 8.