Waymire

In 1874, Duck Creek Township was home to six schoolhouses valued at a total of $2,500 (Harden, 1874). Improvements occurred, and by 1880 the township schools were valued at $3,000 (Kingman, 1880). One of these early schoolhouses was Duck Creek Township’s District 1, originally located on the southeast corner of North County Road 700-West and West County Road 1400-N. Built on land deeded to the township by the Waymire family (Kingman), the schoolhouse sat about four-fifths of a mile east of the Waymire cemetery. 

The first schoolhouse was replaced by a brick building at the northeast corner of the intersection sometime prior to 1901 on the land of A.H. Clark (Atlas, 1901).

 Like many one-room schoolhouses, the Waymire school served as a local event center, often hosting farmers’ meetings (Duckcreek, 1920) and civic gatherings (Notice, 1931). 

In 1926, the schools of Duck Creek Township closed and their pupils were conveyed to Elwood. All of them, including District 1, returned to service in 1928 after renovations were completed (September, 1928).

The schoolhouse was open as late as 1934 (Start, 1934) and appears on a 1936 highway map of Madison County (Madison, 1936). It closed sometime prior to 1939, when the township listed it for sale along with the former District 5: Dickey schoolhouse (Public, 1939). 

Today, the building is unrecognizable as a school (Jackson, 2021). It is currently used as a home. 

References

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

Harden, S. (1874). History of Madison County, Indiana, from 1820 to 1874. book. Markleville, IN.

Atlas and Directory of Madison County, Indiana (1901). The American Atlas Company. Cleveland. map. 

Duckcreek Farmers Meeting. (1920, January 24). The Elwood Call-Leader. p. 5.

Notice of Meeting (1931, July 28). The Elwood Call-Leader. p. 5.

September 3rd Opening Day in Rural Schools (1928, July 7). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.

Start Signup (1934, February 5). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 3.

Map of Madison County (1936). Indiana Highway Survey Commission. Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library. 

Public Sale of School Properties. (1939, March 2). The Elwood Call-Leader. p. 7. 

Jackson, S. T. (2021, August 9). Madison County schoolhouses. email.