Early Schools of Tippecanoe County Indiana
Perry township

   
 

Tippecanoe County Area area Genealogy Society members, aka: TIPCOA, published this list of early school houses in Tippecanoe County.  This database is an effort to help others find, share and preserve this early history.  Information came from history books and from past newsletter issues as well as other resources sourced below to publish our newsletters. Many photographs were contributed by our members. We would love your help. You can send us a scanned photograph and the picture information, or a webpage that I can link?  Help us all continue to share this history. Thanks to our members and Susan Clawson, our Newsletter Editor.

E-mail: TIPCOA SCHOOL INFO.  Scanned digital copies, please add your source and your name as contributor.
Or mail to - P. O. Box 2464, West Lafayette, Indiana 47996.

Fairfield, Jackson, Lauramie, Randolph, Sheffield, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Union, Wabash, Washington, Wayne & Wea.

  

School symbols are showing on the County and township maps. 1878 County map showing townships and some locations.  The 1878 map shows districts 1-10, outside the Lafayette Corporation limits. These districts were administered by the Fairfield township trustee and advisory board until they were closed or incorporated into the city schools.   Look for the matching section number. 1878 Atlas of Tippecanoe county. Perry Township maps. (Historic Map Works)  &  1894 Cory & Sons map.  

         Schools in Perry Townships

              Originally published in the TIPCOA Newsletter Winter 2010  issue #3.

               Numbered Schools for Perry Township:

No.  1.  Whistler, aka, Heath Section 10 Heath is an unplatted town at a crossroads around a general store. The school first opened in 1830 and was named for the landowner (“Brief History”). A brick house was erected in 1888; still open in 1916. Sits on CR 300/850E.
No.  2.  Gunkle, aka, Lesley Section  8 This school opened in 1878 (“Brief History”). It is named for landowners. This was a one-room brick building; still open in 1921 (Horwood).
No.  3.  Cynthiana, aka,  Widener Section 21 Cynthiana was the first name of the settlement at Monitor, taken from the name of a relative of the landowner, William Powell. An early school was of logs, with floor of puncheon and puncheon desks on pegs driven into the logs. A glass window replaced a log on one side (DeHart).  A frame, one-room district school was later erected, which gave way to a two-story brick in 1870. This building was condemned in 1893 and replaced by a one-room brick. From 1902 to 1911, the building, enlarged to two rooms, served as Monitor High School. See below.
No.  4.  Shivley, aka, Fairview Section 11 Shivley school was named for the landowner and operated from 1878 to 1916 (“Brief History”)
No.  5.  Pettit Section 24 Pettit is an unplatted town on SR26 on the eastern edge of Perry Township that gave its name to the district school. Besides the school, it had a store, a post office, and a mill. The Amish church met in the area and for a time there was a Lutheran church in the town. The teacher at Pettit about 1877 was Joseph Walker. The school was still open in 1916
No.  6.  Walters, aka, Rabbit Track Section 35 1878-1911 (“Brief History”). “Rabbit Track” refers to a county road in the area.
No.  7.  Warwick, aka, Yost Section 33 1878-1911; property donated by G. W. Warwick and later Aaron and Rena (Warwick) Yost. Grades 1-6. Desks would seat three to four pupils. After it closed, pupils were transported to Monitor (Lloyd Yost). The school house was rebuilt as a private dwelling, which was recently remodeled and enlarged.
No.  8  Brodie, aka Parker Section 29 1878-1914; named for landowners (“Brief History”).
No.  9.  Lone Sugar or Cottrel, Section 1 1878-1914, at top of hill NE of Heath (“Brief History”); named for single maple tree in school yard; closed 1914.
No. 10.  Coffee Run, aka, Coffee Creek Run, aka Robeson Section 22 on banks of Coffee Run, 1840-1903. Begun as Wesley Chapel (“Brief History”). This school is described as the beginning of Monitor High School. Perhaps this means that the first high school courses were taught in this building
No.  11.  Number 11, aka, Daugherty Section 19 closed 1889
No.  12.  The Ark,  aka, Spitznagle Section 17 1878-1911 (“Brief History”).
No.  13.  Gushwa, aka, Stanley Section 18 1878-1901; S of the town of Archerville. The school was named for landowners (“Brief History”)


No 1. Whistler-Heath,  Photo by L.A. Clugh  2021


          No.  7 - Warwick-Yost. Courtesy of Julia A. Yost.

       
         High and Hershey Elementary. Monitor School, 1909.
         Courtesy of Julia A. Yost

In 1879 there were 13 teachers employed in Perry Twp in 13 district schools. In 1916, there were only 10 including Monitor High School (Hooker; Cheesman).

MONITOR HIGH SCHOOL, 1911-1958, grades 1-12. In 1902, two rooms were added to the one-room brick district school house built in 1893 and high school work begun. In 1911 this was replaced with a brick, 2-story building that cost $20,000 (Hooker, p. 134). Grades 9-12 were consolidated with Buck Creek (in Washington Township) in 1958 to form East Tipp High School. In 1970 East Tipp was combined with Battleground and Klondike High Schools to form Harrison High School. The building was used by New Directions until June 25-26, 2010, when it burned and had to be razed. The cause of the blaze was alleged to be arson (“Brief History”; DeHart; Hooker; Harrison High School Booklet; Journal and Courier Online). Schools in the area now are East Tipp Junior.


SOURCES USED:
Biographical Record and Portrait Album 1888

Borum, Helen. “History of Jackson Township, Tippecanoe Co.” 1937. Transcribed Mildred Hanselman, 1975. TCHA vertical file.

“A Brief History of Schools in Perry Township, Tippecanoe County.” Comp. Mrs. Francis__??__. TCHA vertical file.

Cheesman, David R. Past and Present Towns, Villages and Cemeteries of Tippecanoe County, Indiana.     Privately printed, about 1980.

DeHart, Richard. Past and Present. 2 vols. Indianapolis: Bowen, 1909. Author of chapter on  schools is Brainard  Hooker.

Horwood, Murray P. Public Health Survey of Lafayette, Indiana and Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Lafayette, IN: Tippecanoe Co. Tuberculosis Assoc., 1921. Accessed on Google Books, 3 Aug. 2010.

“The Road Least Taken.” By Paula Woods and Fern Martin. Lafayette [Ind.] Leader, about  1990.  TCHA, 1848 School Census enumerations.

“Walker, Joseph, of Perry Township, Death Notice.” Lafayette (Ind.) Daily Courier, 3 Feb
1877. INTIPPEC Archives, by Anita Dyer, 13 Mar 2004.

Whedbee, Jacqueline. INTIPPEC Archives, 23 Apr 2010.

Woods, Paula, and Fern Martin. Traveling through Tippecanoe. 1992.

Yost, Lloyd. The Autobiography of Lloyd

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