Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Hanging Grove School

The Hanging Grove School, which has been abandoned for years, it being demolished. Some of the area residents have been rescuing bricks and some of the tiles in order to build a monument to the school. A few weeks ago I passed by and took some pictures. (Too see what the building looked like four and a half years ago, see here and click the pictures to get them enlarged.)
 Some of the bricks and the decorative tile work have been taken off. The outer layer of bricks must have been high quality because they still look very good though they are over 90 years old.
 A pile of bricks that are being saved.
 Here is what the school looks like viewed from the west.
 A closer view of the wall.
 The same wall but from a different angle to get a chimney framed.
 One the roof failed, the inside quickly broke apart.
 A view through a different window.
It was a beautiful building.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

People who have connections to Hanging Grove are invited to a gathering at 2:00 Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church. We will visit, enjoy ice cream and learn the plans for the future.

Unknown said...

There were several identical 4-classroom elementary schools built in the 1920s (?) in Jasper County. The three I know of are Hanging Grove, North Barkley (aka Newland), and South Barkley.

Newland School was closed in May, 1961. Several years later a tornado collapsed the chimneys onto the roof and the interior was opened to the weather. It remained in ruins until the early 70s. South Barkley school was also closed in 1961. It was torn down in the late 60s or early 70s I believe. It was next to the former Barkley Methodist Church.

Anonymous said...

South Barkley closed in 1964. At least in the years from 1958 to 1961, the division was east/west, not north/south.