Here is the history of Monroe Central.
Monroe Central School Corporation, formed in 1956, is a consolidation
of
Green, Stoney Creek, Parker, and Farmland schools. For two school years after
the consolidation, all four schools continued to serve grades one to twelve as
they had in the past. In the fall of 1958, grades seven through twelve from
Stoney Creek School attended Farmland. Green and Stoney Creek schools
continued as elementary schools, until the fall of 1961, when Green School was
phased out.
During the school years of 1961-62 and 1962-63, Parker provided educational
facilities for grades 1-4 and 7-12 for Green and Parker students; Farmland
provided facilities for grades 1-4 and 7-12 from Stoney Creek and Farmland.
Stoney Creek school was used by all fifth and sixth graders in the corporation.
To relieve the crowded conditions, a new high school was built. Dedicated in
1963, Monroe Central Junior-Senior High School provided educational
facilities for grades 7-12 in Monroe Central School Corporation. Stoney Creek was
phased out and Farmland and Parker continued as elementary schools for the
corporation.
On Wednesday, April 3, 1974, Monroe Central Jr.-Sr. High School was
destroyed by a tornado. Administrators, teachers, students, community members, and
other volunteers worked long hours to salvage materials from the various
departments and to plan for the education of 535 students for the remainder of the
school year.
School began on Monday, April 15, 1974, for teachers and on April 16 for
students. Only three days of school had been missed because spring vacation
during the week of April 8 had provided time for arrangements to be made.
Parker Elementary School served as the corporation elementary school for the
remainder of the 1973-1974 school year, with Parker students attending
classes in the morning and Farmland students attending classes in the afternoon.
In the meantime, Monroe Central students in grades 7-12 used the Farmland
elementary building, as well as rooms in the nearby United Methodist and
Christian churches. Conditions were crowded to the point that the gymnasium was
partitioned into four classrooms with the use of filing cabinets and portable
bulletin boards.
By the fall of 1974, a Federal Disaster Grant provided funds to purchase
fifteen relocatable classrooms. The opening of school was delayed for a couple
of weeks while the installation of these buildings was completed. Parker
elementary students attended the Parker school; Farmland elementary students
and corporation junior high students were housed in the portable units; and
grades 9-12 used the Farmland elementary building.
The new high school facility, built on the same site as the old high school,
was first occupied in April of 1978, four years to the month after the first
MCHS was demolished by the tornado. The Farmland and Parker buildings
continued to be used as elementary schools until 1983 when they were combined into
a new facility just west of the high school.
The junior-senior high school building has been expanded to include the new
Millennium Wing that contains several new classrooms and a large meeting
room. There is also a new auxiliary gym that continues to meet the needs of all
our athletic programs. The gym is named for Mr. Larry K. Hall, a retired
teacher and principal at Monroe Central.
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