Burton

A District 7 schoolhouse stood on the Conner family farm in 1880, likely getting its name from the adjacent farm of I.W. Burton (Kingman, 1880). It appears as though the extant schoolhouse was built around 1899 (Madison, 2021).

In 1937, Ruth Gritton taught school at District 7, which was home to 24 pupils (Teaching, 1937). By 1942, the school was Madison County’s smallest, with only thirteen pupils in attendance. Elsewhere in Richland Township, the Moonville school taught 32 pupils, Center school had 35, and College Corner and Thornburg had 41 students each (Rural, 1942).

The Burton schoolhouse closed in 1950, when students were sent to the new, six-room College Corner school 3.5 miles to the southeast. Also closed were the Center and Thornburg schools, Districts 3 and 5 (Work, 1958). All three buildings were sold at auction two years later (Notice, 1952).

Today, the old District 4 schoolhouse is a dwelling and the road it sits on, North County Road 450-East, is sometimes still referred to as Burton School Road (Sue, 1969).

References

Jackson, S. T. (2019, March 1). What’s in a Name: The literal origin of Richland Township . The Herald Bulletin. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from https://www.heraldbulletin.com/community/what-s-in-a-name-the-literal-origin-of-richland-township/article_7a66463c-39d7-11e9-90b6-4f52c6d8b2fa.html.

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

Madison County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2021). Parcel ID: 48-07-23-200-001.000-029.

Teaching at Burton. (1937, September 8). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 3.

Rural School Enrollment is Almost 5,000 (1942, October 2). The Alexandria Times-Tribune. p. 1.

Work Is Advanced At College Corner (1958, April 23). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. pp. 1, 6.

Notice of Sale of School Property (1952, July 22). The Anderson Herald. p. 14.

Sue Moser Wins Diamond Medal (1969, October 1). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 6.