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#Unit 10 school or schools

By: Jim Kolb

As printed in the White River News

I have mentioned #10 School several times in some stories I have written. I didn't intentionally try to mislead anyone, but I suppose you always hope your stories will cause people to think and start some discussion.

The original #10 School sometimes called the Moore School was east across the Patoka River just north of John Camm Moore's home. The schoolhouse sat back off the road a little bit as I remember it, but the building may have been moved from its' original site. I do remember the concrete well curbing and the pump were nearer the road than the one room schoolhouse.

This original #10 School was used by students in grades 1 through 8 in that part of Washington Township from 1877 until 1912. That building was used as a residence for many years after the school closed. Some of the family names were, Rainey, Phillips, Moore, Pauley. Sloan, Thompson, Hart, Huey and Kolb. I haved heard my Dad and Uncle Chester talk about the early days of the school and students having to take a boat to cross the backwater to school and commented on dogs coming in to lie by the stove in winter.

A new #10 School was built in 1912 on the west side of the Patoka River just south of Uncle Chester Kolb's home. No one seems to know why a new school was built or why it was built of the other side of the Patoka River. Students were transported by boat from the east side of the river to the New #10 School when the river was out of its' banks. The coalhouse from the original #10 School was the only thing moved across the Patoka River to the new #10 School.

The #10 School on the west side of the river operated as a school until 1940 or 1941. Anna Lou Kolb Hofman remembers her brother Joe Howard Kolb was in the fifth grade the last year #10 operated.

All students attending #10 School through 8 grades attended Mt. Olympus High School. In the early days all students walked to school, but at some point the Washington Township Trustee started providing transportation for girls only to Mt. Olympus High School, boys walked. Uncle Chester remembers that when he finished the eight grades at #10 he was ready to start the walk to and from Mt. Olympus High School. The bus driver told him he could ride if he didn't tell anyone; he said he was a little embarrassed being the only boy on the bus with the girls. Within a year or so all boys were able to ride the bus to high school.

The original #10 School was used as a home for a while; the Reneer family converted it into a home. I don't remember when it was torn down, but Malinda Gilbert has a picture of the building with a note on the back that says it was torn down in 1977.