In spite of the "1900" over the door of Ainsworth's original schoolhouse, I believe Jan Clemens' statement, quoted earlier, that part of the schoolhouse may have dated back as far as 1870.
My primary evidence comes from An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana 1876. Back in August I posted some scans of the single page I had of that Atlas. I noted that there was a house symbol where Ainsworth would be, but I didn't know what the symbol meant because I didn't have the complete Atlas with its key.
As I mentioned yesterday, since I've found the complete Atlas at the Central Library. Now I know that the little house symbol stands for a schoolhouse. So here we have a mapmaker showing a schoolhouse in Ainsworth in 1876.
My secondary evidence comes from the Hobart Gazette of June and July, 1900. on June 22, 1900, Dr. H.L. Iddings, Ross Township Trustee, published a Notice seeking bids "for the erection of a frame addition to the school building in District No. 2 (Ainsworth)." On July 20 the Gazette reported that the contract for the "new addition to the school-house" had been let. Thus the "1900" on the schoolhouse refers to the year it became a two-room schoolhouse.
It just seems to me that the wording of these items suggests that the schoolhouse had been standing for some time — otherwise, I would have expected to read something along the lines of "to expand the new schoolhouse" or "to add a room to the schoolhouse recently built." Yeah, that's pretty weak evidence. I wouldn't have mentioned it but for the Atlas. If I come up with anything better, I'll let you know.
Sources:
♦ Clemens, Jan. A Pictorial History of Merrillville. Hobart: Review Printers, Inc., 1978.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 20 July 1900.
♦ Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana 1876. Chicago: Baskin, Forster & Co., 1876.
♦ "Notice to Contractors." Hobart Gazette (Hobart, Ind.) 22 June 1900.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
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2 comments:
Apologies if this message comes across twice...
The old schoolhouse pictured in the photobucket link used to sit on my grandpa Melvin Nelson's property (grandson of Charles Nelson and Lovisa Chester). He purchased the land from Otto Foreman sometime in the 1970s and the structure was about 500ft west of the Ainsworth/51 intersection, on the north side of the road and just west of the creek. Grandpa Nelson offered the structure up to a local historical society, but it was in disrepair so they only rescued some items prior to it being razed. Just wanted to pinpoint the location in case anyone was interested.
Regards,
Matt Nelson
Thank you for the information.
I don't suppose you have any photos?
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