Former School Building in Indiana

Lakeville High School, Lakeville Indiana

Date added: September 27, 2024

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Indiana
School

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Lakeville High School in Lakeville Indiana was completed in 1931 and is the most intact consolidated high school in St. Joseph County.

Prior to the 1890s, most of Indiana's public schools operated under the district school system. Although authorized under the acts which established the Old Northwest Territory in 1785-7, it was an act by the Indiana Legislature in 1824 which organized the district school system. The district system created a number of small schools in each township of established counties. Trustees administered the schools of a township, and reported to a county examiner, who in turn reported to the State Superintendent of Public Education. The system was highly decentralized, and well suited to an era of high rural populations and poor roads. This system was bolstered by State Legislation in 1867 and 1873, and remained dominant until the 1890s.

By that time, Indiana's rural population was sharply decreasing, and many districts had but a few children in attendance. State Superintendent David Geeting first called for the centralization of rural schools in 1898. Geeting cited graded schools, better teachers, improved buildings, and long-term cost reductions to local school systems as advantages of school consolidation.

Although Geeting's essay was apparently the first public call to consolidate rural schools, forty counties had already started this process. State Superintendent from 1903-9 was Fassett Cotton. He aggressively pursued and promoted consolidation. Cotton was equally interested in promoting secondary education. Public high schools had existed in Indiana since the 1850s, but were essentially shut down by an 1858 court ruling forbidding taxation for public education.

High schools were reinstated in 1867 by state law. Only larger towns had the resources to develop high schools, however. Backers of consolidation argued that bringing districts together would allow entire townships to have high schools. Ideally, there was to be one high school per township. By 1908, 507 public high schools existed in Indiana.

State Legislation passed 1897 (compulsory education); 1899 (free transportation, consolidation); and 1907 greatly furthered consolidation. The 1907 law called for discontinuation of small school districts, "legalized" high schools, and required townships to build high schools or send students of age to neighboring high schools. Also during this period, the state began to commission high schools. Commissioned schools met certain standards, and in return, graduates were guaranteed admission to several major universities in the state.

Although educational reform had long been a concern of Hoosiers statewide, the issue was given much public attention in 1920 when a study published by the New York based Russell Sage Foundation ranked Indiana 17^th in the nation in quality of education. As a result of widespread chagrin over this study, the Indiana Educational Survey Committee was created to investigate the causes of the state's educational shortcomings (that a ranking of 17^th out of 48 states, or in roughly the top third of the nation, could cause such concern is surely indicative of the determination of Hoosiers for excellence).

The committee soon embarked upon a thorough fact-gathering mission visiting rural and city schools all over the state. Their findings included their conclusion that much of the problem stemmed from the rural sector. Dilapidated, one-teacher schoolhouses staffed by underpaid and undereducated teachers were cited as a major cause of the poor quality of education that rural Indiana children were receiving. Improvements in building, training, and curriculum were called for and the most economical way to accomplish these objectives was through school consolidation; a movement away from local school government by a township trustee to a more centralized county-controlled system. The consolidation movement, which had been philosophically embraced by educators since the late 1800's, was now given new impetus. The movement met with some resistance from rural people who were reluctant to give up local control of schools. The onset of the depression in 1929 further weakened consolidation efforts, and the dreams of reformers were not realized to any large extent until after World War II, when major consolidation finally took place. Building and improvement programs, however, did go into effect during the 1920's. 30% of total state tax revenue went to education during this period, as opposed to 5% in 1905. Some ground was gained, as the number of one-teacher schoolhouses in Indiana went from 4,500 in 1920 to 616 in 1945, even though programs were cut back extensively during the 1930's.

Lakeville High School was part of this building program. Plans for the building of the school began in earnest when Union Township bought an 8-acre parcel of land from George & Elizabeth Holland on May 28^th, 1930, for the sum of $3,618.45. Blueprints were completed on August 4^th, 1930, by Hubert Miller, an architect from Elkhart, Indiana. Construction of the building was done in 1931 and in 1932 the first class graduated from the new high school. It was the first high school in Union Township. Classes were held in the building until 1965 when LaVille High School was built. The school was then used as an elementary school until 1983 when it was closed altogether. Built in 1931, the school may have been one of the last built in the state before the Depression reached its full impact. This date of construction marks Lakeville High School as a part of the drive for better educational facilities, and is a sign of the Hoosier desire for excellence in education during the period. Within the theme of education, a total of 32 buildings are represented in St. Joseph County. Most of these are one-room schoolhouses, a legacy of the district school era. Only 7 historic consolidated schools exist, and only 2 public high schools still stand. The other high school is North Liberty High School.

The school is an excellent example of Collegiate Gothic Architecture, a style prevalent on college campuses during the first half of this century. Collegiate Gothic, a late form of Gothic Revival architecture, was simpler and less ornate, while still maintaining the powerful appearance of traditional Gothic. According to the St. Joseph County Summary Report (1985), page 21, "Collegiate Gothic … flourished on college campuses, for it was thought to express a desire to attain a higher form of knowledge." In fact, two St. Joseph County Colleges, St. Mary's College and Notre Dame University, contain a significant number of Collegiate Gothic buildings. "Notre Dame and St. Mary's build in several styles of architecture after the mid 20^th Century, however, prior to this the predominant style was Collegiate Gothic, an appropriate architectural expression which symbolized higher learning."

Building Description

Lakeville High School, constructed in 1931, is located on the west side of U.S. 31 South (Michigan Street) just north of the town of Lakeville. It is a two-story, brick structure with simple Collegiate Gothic details and a flat roof with a surrounding brick and stone parapet wall. The brick pattern of all exterior walls is stretcher bond brick; the foundation is concrete.

A central axis bisects the building, reflected in the near-perfect symmetry of the floor plan and facades. This east/west axis is accentuated by the centered main entry bay which projects forth from the wall mass of the main facade. A perpendicular cross-axis is articulated with similar entry bays. The overall footprint of the building is a "T" plan: an auditorium/gymnasium projects off the principal rectangle at the west or rear facade.

The front facade gives the impression of a central tower flanked by two long wings ending in towers of similar proportion; i.e., the wall projects at the center and corners. The corner towers have staggered stone quoins and stone tablets with bas relief shields and tassels in the region of the roof line parapet. The tablet at the central bay has an open book adorning its shield. Another stone detail is the inscription "Lakeville High School" that appears in bas-relief calligraphy above the central entry. Also, a continuous stone string course runs along the header line of the second-story windows.

The front entry/central bay is flanked by brick buttresses with stone weatherings; the parapet wall steps up at its crown. The entry opening is a lancet arch cut in stone block and is articulated with a hood mold, sloped stone reveals, and paired metal doors with a transom light divided down the middle.

Aluminum double-hung sashes with blind transoms occur in pairs at projecting bays and in rows in between. Windows are articulated with a hood mold, sloped stone reveals, and paired metal doors with a transom light divided down the middle.

The structure's side elevations (north and south facades) are mirror images of each other. They are comprised of a front section, i.e., the width of the primary building mass, and rear section, i.e., the width of the auditorium/gymnasium. Two-story high blind brick panels occur on each elevation near their junction with the main facade. Also, the north and south faces of the auditorium/gymnasium are articulated by full-length pilaster/buttresses (four per side). The parapet wall around the auditorium/gymnasium roof is capped by clay piping rather than the stone found on the parapet of the principal building mass.

The side elevations are sparsely fenestrated. Projecting entry bays similar in shape and detail to the main entry bay (with lancet arch openings and paired sashes) occur centrally along the north/south axis of the principal building mass. Aside from this, there are no openings. Four large windows in the auditorium/gymnasium (two per side) have been bricked in (summer 1990).

The auditorium/gymnasium is the dominant element of the rear or west elevation. It projects forward from the primary building mass along the central bisecting axis and comprises half the length of the rear elevation. A central square bay coinciding with a stage in its interior comprises half of its own face. A flush brick chimney occurs at the north-west storage sheds, are also located around this projection. The only openings at the rear facade are two entry doors which flank the auditorium/gymnasium and give access to the principal building mass.

The major spaces of the interior are hallways, classrooms, and the auditorium/gymnasium. The hallways, accessed directly from the accented front and side entries, lie along the central and cross axes mentioned above. Between the front entry and the central hallway is a vestibule with a foyer screen comprised of a wood frame with multi-pane transom and side lights. The doors to this screen, most probably wood with multi-pane glazing, have been removed. The central hallway terminates at its intersection with the hallway lying along the cross-axis. This cross-axis hallway terminates in a flight of stairs and an entry/exit on both ends. The stairs are interrupted midflight by a landing with window wells, it is under these landings that the entry/exits are located.

The hallways are approximately ten feet wide and have terrazzo floors. The walls are plaster with 4' high stretcher bond brick wainscoting or metal locker rows of the same height. Where occasional water fountains occur, the wainscoting is interrupted by a blind brick arch slightly inset into the wall. The cross-axis hallway on the second floor is nearly identical to that on the first.

Classrooms are located for the most part on the east side of the cross-axis hallways. Entries to the classrooms have wood doors with multi-pane glazing and transom lights. The entry to the northeastern classroom on the first floor is double-leaved. Classroom floors are made of 1" interlocking maple floorboards. As in the hallways, illumination is from fluorescent lamps. The heating is via steam coil radiators.

Some partition walls, not necessarily original, have been removed to integrate rooms.

The primary space on the west side of the cross-axis hallway is the auditorium/gymnasium space. Access to this space is not off the central hallway; two double-leaved entries (doors not original) off the cross-axis hallway break the partition wall into thirds. The space is two stories high, has similar flooring to the classroom spaces; the walls are brick; the ceiling has steel truss supports. An elevated stage is inset into the rear (west) wall.

Restrooms flank the auditorium/gymnasium on the first level; Classrooms flank the space on the second level.

A shallow lawn (approximately 20' wide) with several trees runs between the building site and U. S. 31, a two-lane federal highway. New walkways and driveways are currently being installed. Three interconnected one-story units sit directly south of the main building. Constructed in 1956, these units were originally used as elementary education facilities. They are brick structures, have gabled roofs with wide overhangs and finished purlin ends, and were attached to the main building at the south entrance by an enclosed breezeway until the school was closed.