A Brief History of Early Monroe County Schools
by Penelope Mathieson

Beginnings

The first schools in Monroe County were established soon after the incorporation of the village of Bloomington in 1818. Pupils were charged tuition, and classes were held in various places, including churches and the upper stories of business buildings around the square. As far as can be determined, the first session took place in 1818–19 in the log courthouse and was taught by Dudley C. Smith. In the summer of 1819, a log schoolhouse was built two blocks north of the public square. As the number of school-age children increased, another log school was constructed in the eastern part of town in 1821. The first brick school building was erected in 1822 or 1823. Along with the two log schoolhouses and several schools conducted in private homes or elsewhere, this sufficed for a few years. Additional schoolhouses were built from the 1830s through the 1850s. All of these were old-style “subscription schools,” prior to the establishment of free schools in Indiana, and mainly served younger children, below the seminary or university level.

Rural Schools

Township schools first appeared in 1824 and thereafter spread throughout the rural areas of Monroe County, although some sections did not see schools until the 1830s or 1840s. The first schools were log houses, either adapted from former cabins or built for the purpose. With a new school law in 1853 and new funds created for common schools, many districts constructed frame schoolhouses. By 1880–81, most township schools were frame, though some were brick, and a few log houses were still in use. The quality of the building and the size of the student body varied by township; in the more populous regions, ten or twelve families “sent” to the nearest school, while in sparsely populated areas, two or three families supported a school. In 1880–81, pupils per school ranged from 20 to 68. Locations sometimes varied to suit the majority of the children. School terms might run for as little as three months a year, or suspend activity for the winter, or function only in winter, according to the needs of the children.

 In 1888, there were 92 township schools, apportioned as follows (see map): Bean Blossom, 9; Washington, 8; Marion, 4; Benton, 8; Bloomington, 8; Richland, 8; Van Buren, 7; Perry, 8; Salt Creek, 7; Polk, 8; Clear Creek, 8; Indian Creek, 9. In 1921, rural schools adopted a uniform eight-month schedule; before that time, students had generally attended only six or seven months per year. Schools that had served fewer than twelve pupils during the previous year were closed, and mandatory attendance until age 16 was instituted.

Urban Developments

Professor D. Eckley Hunter played a prominent role in Bloomington’s educational development during the 1860s. At that time, teachers—usually women—conducted schools at various locations throughout the town, wherever they could obtain space, and pupils of all ages attended the school nearest their homes. Hunter urged the idea of grading the schools at a series of public meetings in 1863. In September of that year, the first graded schools opened. Professor Hunter was named superintendent of the Bloomington schools and Margaret McCalla, a teacher, became his assistant. The offices were housed in the old tannery building at Second Street and South College Avenue (the present-day Seminary Square shopping center). School was taught in the old Baptist Church, the Second Presbyterian Church, and in the tannery building. Soon afterward, a primary department was started, housed in Center School at Sixth and Washington and in a building on Seventh between Lincoln and Grant. In November 1863, Professor Hunter submitted a report stressing the need for additional classroom space. In 1870, school trustees purchased the old tannery premises at Second and South College. In 1875, the Central School building was completed on the site. The town’s school system was declared “free to all in the corporation.”

 The Center School at Sixth and Washington, formerly attended by white students, was known by 1881 as the “Colored School.” It was in operation until the 1914–15 school year, after which the pupils attended classes in the Catholic School building at Third Street and College Avenue until the new Banneker School opened in 1916. The old Center School building was torn down and a new Carnegie Library was built on the site. The building is occupied today by the Monroe County History Center.

•     Sources for text and captions: Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana, ed. Charles Blanchard (1884); Course of Study: Manual and Hand-book for the Common Schools of Monroe County, Indiana, 1888–9, by John W. Cravens (1888); Ellettsville Story [n.d.]; Gothic (1928 and 1931); Herald-Telephone (Bloomington) Sesquicentennial Edition, section 9 (24 September 1968); Nancy Hiestand; Historic Treasures, comp. Forest M. “Pop” Hall (1921); History of St. Charles Catholic Church, by Mary A. Waldron (1934); Housing and Neighborhood Development, 2001 Bloomington Historical Survey Results (http://bloomington.in.gov/hand/); Monroe County Family Heritage Book (1987); Monroe County Interim Report (1989); Newspaper Microfilm Collection, Indiana Room, Monroe County Public Library; Helen Sturbaum and the Monroe County Retired Teachers Association Committee; A Time to Speak: A Brief History of the Afro-Americans of Bloomington, Indiana 1865–1965, by Frances V. Halsell Gilliam (1985); Vertical Files, Genealogy Library, Monroe County History Center; Washington Township Trustee’s Office; Years of Glory, Ruth Seeley Heath [1988].

Originally published in the MCHS 2005 School Calendar