Monroe Township District 9:

Farmland

Photo taken November 26, 2021. From the author’s collection.

The first school near Farmland was originally Monroe Township’s District 9. It was built on Angling Road southwest of the town in 1856 (Hinshaw, 2008) as one of the township’s earliest educational institutions. The schoolhouse closed early, in 1869, when a newer building was completed in Farmland proper (Pitts, 1996).

That year, the Farmland Christian Church bought the abandoned schoolhouse and occupied it for nineteen years until the Free Methodist Church acquired it in 1889. From there, the structure was converted into a residence (Hinshaw).

For what it’s worth, the Randolph County Assessor’s records -easily accessible online- indicate that, for tax purposes, this building was completed in 1910. It’s inaccurate. Many buildings erected prior to 1900 are given a random date by the assessor (Randolph, 2022).

The schoolhouse that replaced it in 1869 was a five-room building, located on East Henry Street when the school was under the control of Monroe Township rather than Farmland proper. Nearly destroyed by fire in 1908 (New, 1908), that structure made way for the final school at Farmland which opened in 1909 at a cost of $34,000. The building -three stories with a dome that reached 80 feet high- was heated by a steam blast system, wired for electricity, and protected from fire through pneumatic water pressure (New, 1909).

After a tornado destroyed Monroe Central High School, the 1909 Farmland school was used as a Junior-Senior High School for the duration of the 1973-74 school year. From 1974 through 1978 when a new high school was built, the structure served as the corporation’s high school (Public, 2018). The 1909 building closed as an elementary in 1983 and was subsequently demolished (Public, 2018). The 1856 building still stands southwest of town as a residence.

References

Hinshaw, G. (2008). A History of Education in Randolph County, Indiana. Retrieved February 13, 2022.

Pitts, E. (1996, October 7). ‘Kite man’ still remembered in Farmland. The Muncie Star Press. p. 19.

Randolph County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2022). Parcel ID: 68-07-13-181-086.000-008. Randolph County, Indiana Assessor. map, Winchester, IN.

New School Being Used (1908, November 20). The Muncie Star. p. 6.

New Farmland School Opens Monday (1909, October 3). The Muncie Sunday Star. p. 6.

Public Education in Randolph County, Indiana. 2018. Sharing history for 68 years in Randolph County, Indiana. Randolph County Historical Society and Museum. Retrieved February 13, 2022, from https://rchsmuseum.org/schools.