By FRED SWIFT
The County Line
The new Clay Center Elementary School will open in August, bringing back the name from an earlier school that stood near the site. The original Clay Center at the northeast corner of 116th Street and Clay Center Road opened in 1912.
The old Clay Center Elementary School was the product of consolidation of Clay Township’s schools in 1912. (Photo provided)
It was a product of pioneering in school consolidation, bringing students from several one-room schools into a central location for wider educational opportunities.
Until the early 20th century, most elementary school students in rural areas attended simple one-room buildings, usually with one teacher, and without central heating or other modern conveniences.
In 1912, the boundaries of Clay Township extended only as far east as Range Line Road, so the site of Clay Center was approximately in the center of the township. Local officials took the progressive step of consolidating the township’s grade schools before many communities did so.
The new Clay Center Elementary will be located immediately north of the former school’s site. It takes the place of Orchard Park Elementary, originally built in 1956. (Rendering provided)
After graduating from Clay Center Elementary School, students went on to high school at Carmel, a school that was actually located in Delaware Township east of Range Line. In 1955, Clay Township essentially annexed a large portion of Delaware, thus extending Clay’s eastern boundary to White River.
Clay Center School was taken out of service with the completion of Orchard Park Elementary in 1956 and was torn down about three years later.
The new, much larger Clay Center is located immediately north of the former school’s site. It takes the place of Orchard Park and will also serve some rapidly growing areas west of U.S. 31.