Blog post by Randi Richardson
After close of the Todd School the Burgoon School (shown above) was one of three 1-room schools remaining in Monroe County. Photo courtesy of the Monroe County History Center.
No documentation has been found to indicate when the Todd School was established in Section 35 of Polk Township. One thing is for certain, however. It was opened in 1872 or earlier when Capt. George W. Friedley and Hon. F. Wilson, candidates for the state senate, were scheduled to have a joint discussion there on October 3.
Glodene Terrell Chambers (1915-2010), lived by the school when she was a child and later taught at the school. She noted the school was initially built of logs but later replaced with a wooden building about 1915. Additional information was provided by School Superintendent Cravens when he visited all the schools in Polk Township in October 1887. He noted that Monroe County had 117 teachers working in 94 school houses in that year. Eight of the school houses, with an equal number of teachers, were in Polk Township including: Allen’s Creek, Chapel Hill, Blackwell aka Todd, Tan Yard, Hunter’s Creek, Robinson, Saddle Creek and Burgoon. Samuel Smallwood was the teacher at Todd School which had an enrollment of 31.
One by one the schools in Polk Township closed. Todd School was one of the smallest schools in the county. During the 1954-55 academic year only 20 pupils were enrolled, and only 13 were scheduled to enroll during the 1955-56 school year. A decision was subsequently made to close the school before the beginning of the school year and convert the building into a private residence. The students were reassigned to the Burgoon and Smithville schools.
With the closure of Todd School only three 1-room schools remained in the county: Burgoon and Chapel Hill in Polk Township and Butcher in Salt Creek Township.
Sources:
Bloomington (IN) Progress, September 25, 1872, p. 3.
Bloomington (IN) Progress, October 19, 1887, p. 3.
Bloomington (IN) Daily Herald Telephone, August 17, 1955, p. 1.
Monroe County Retired Teachers, Echoes from One-room Schools (Bloomington IN: AuthorHouse) 2006, p. 238.