School #77 Dedication Day--1950

In 1949, the IPS School Board announced plans to replace the portable classrooms at 401 North Arlington Avenue with a brand new building to be completed in 1950. The new structure received the name of Anna Pearl Hamilton School in honor of a beloved former teacher who passed away in 1948. Besides naming the new school for Miss Hamilton, the local PTA also purchased a Clifton Wheeler painting in her honor titled "Early Spring." The new building would house 13 classrooms and cost $440, 000. It was only the second school built by IPS since the end of World War II. Christian and Barbara Kuhner Delker provided the land for the new structure. The old Delker farmhouse was torn down at 6026 Pleasant Run Parkway South Drive to make way for the very modern and sleek looking brick structure. School officials named the new auditorium in the structure after the Delkers.

On June 1, 1950, Irvington residents and IPS officials gathered to dedicate the future school with the laying of the cornerstone. J. Dwight Peterson, President of the Board of Commissioners, gave the principal address at the dedication.  Other speakers that day included Mrs. Olma Bruck of 52 South Audubon who was the Vice President of the school board at the time; the PTA President, Mrs. Pearle Hazenfield who lived at 58 North Arlington Avenue, and Principal Cathryn Boggy. Inside a copper box, officials placed a Bible, an American flag, local newspapers, a history of the PTA, a shiny nickel, various photographs, and signatures of the current students and staff at School #77. They then placed the box inside the cornerstone with "1950" etched into the limestone.

Donn Richardson, who grew up at 477 North Audubon Road, has many memories of the new school including the Cold War era duck and cover drills. Later, instead of going under their desks,  they drilled by going into the locker rooms in case the Soviets decided to drop an atomic bomb on Indianapolis. Mr. Richardson chuckled that one day a teacher turned off the lights, but one wise guy in the crowd decided to pass gas. Needless to say, that ended the darkened-room-practice drill. If the Soviets were to have ever flown over Irvington, they would have clearly noticed a light on in the locker rooms at School #77.

On June 1, 1950, local residents gathered for the cornerstone laying of the new School #77 at 6040 E. Pleasant Run Parkway South Drive. (photo courtesy of Donn and Carolyn Richardson)

On the stage for the cornerstone laying of the new IPS #77, also known as the Anna Pearl Hamilton School, local officials gathered on June 1, 1950. Cathryn Boggy was named as the principal of the new school. She is sitting in the second row next to an identified child and is looking at the photographer. In the front row (left to right): Horace Boggy, Emil Schaad,  Pearle Hazenfield, Olma Bruck, and J, Dwight Peterson. (photo courtesy of Donn and Carolyn Richardson)

Miss Ruby Wells, a teacher at the Anna Pearl Hamilton School, gathered her students for a Christmas photo in the winter of 1958. None of the students have been identified yet, but we hope to find the names.  (photo courtesy of Donn and Carolyn Richardson)

IPS no longer possesses the Anna Pearl Hamilton School, also known as #77. It now belongs to the Irvington Charter School (photo taken in 2012)

Sources:  "Board Pushes Addition to School 77," Indianapolis Star, March 30, 1949, 2; "New School 77 Ceremony Set," Indianapolis News, June 1, 1950, 23; "Writer Honors Teacher's Memory," Hancock Democrat, May 20, 1948, 8; Regarding the Delker family--"Ringside Hoosierland," Indianapolis News, July 1, 1949, 12.

I am indebted to Donn and Carolyn Richardson for their stories and photographs. Donn grew up at 477 North Audubon Road and attended School #77.

I.P.S. School #77--An Early Portable

In 1932, the Indianapolis Public Schools constructed four adjoining portable classrooms with a t-shaped hallway connecting the classes at 401 North Arlington Avenue.  The structure was built on land that used to belong to the Delker family. For the next eighteen years, neighborhood children attended the school from first through fourth grade. Anna Pearl Hamilton, a beloved teacher, worked in the portable from its initial opening to her untimely death at the age of 58 in 1948. When IPS built a new school on the site in 1950, they named structure in honor of Miss Hamilton. By the 1940s, Cathryn Boggy served as both the fourth grade teacher as well as the principal of the school. Donn Richardson, who lived at 477 North Audubon Road, has many memories of the "portable." Miss Hamilton's second grade classroom, like the others, had tall ceilings and her room at the southeast corner had a door out to the playground which sat near a cornfield.  Since there was no auditorium, students would gather in the hallway for any kind of school-wide assembly. Fourth graders assumed much responsibility including serving as a traffic guards for both Arlington Avenue and Pleasant Run Parkway.

In one poignant memory, Mr. Richardson recalled an encounter he had with his second grade teacher, Miss Hamilton, who he described as loving but firm. She had helped him practice his spelling words. He struggled with spelling and later he placed a sheet of paper with the words on his leg during a test. He wrote with his left hand and had to use an ink well so it took him a long time to write out his spelling words. Miss Hamilton noticed the paper on his leg and ran back to confront him. While educators were only beginning to understand dyslexia in the late 1940s, Miss Hamilton deduced why Donn had the sheet on his leg. She spoke to his parents so that they could begin working with him. He also received help at school. Soon, Donn's father bought him comic books so that he could begin reading on his own. Miss Hamilton's early intervention changed the trajectory of Donn's life as he would later become a journalist and film producer. His class was the last to benefit from Miss Hamilton's teaching as she became ill and died in the following winter. Donn reported that he felt abandoned after his beloved teacher passed away.

There were four portable classrooms constructed at 401 North Arlington Avenue. Each classroom, like the one shown in the photo, were large and had tall ceilings. This photo, likely snapped in 1947, shows fourth grade students taking some kind of assessment. Most are looking down. A school crossing guard stands in the corner. We do not know the names of any of the students.  (photo courtesy of Donn and Carolyn Richardson)

Fourth grade students c1949 served as patrol boys at I.P.S. #77 (photo courtesy of Larry Muncie)

Fourth grade students square dance as part of a school program at School #77 in 1947. Donn Richardson, who dwelled at 477 North Audubon Road, and his unidentified partner promenaded near the portable classrooms. (photo courtesy of Donn and Carolyn Richardson)

I wish to thank Donn and Carolyn Richardson for their assistance with this post.