This is the story of the condemnation of the Ayrshire Schools taken from the 1910 Annual Report of the State Board of Health. The books are full of schools being condemned. I think they had to be condemned in order to get the money from the state to rebuild or remodel?
Also I have included a few photos shared by Jackie Willis Houchins of early Ayrshire Schools in the 1930s. These are in the “new” brick building that is still standing in Ayrshire as a home. I wrote the information down somewhere that Jackie had given me of a few names in the pictures, but I am too organized and cannot find it 🙂 Maybe Jackie, her brother and others will read this and add a comment of who some of the kids are.
New Note: I am so organized I actually had the names listed on the jpeg 🙂 So I will add those and any other names as people let me know.
Annual Report of the Indiana State Board of Health 1910 Pg 62
Petition: Ayrshire, Ind., September 16, 1908
This is to certify that we, the undersigned patrons of schools at Ayrshire, Pike County, Ind., do hereby request that the State Board of Health investigate the sanitary conditions of our schoolhouse.
Signed as follows: A.J. Hedges, H.S. Hughes, U.G. Wiley, George Pickle, Alfred Adams, George Vanlaningham, James A. Spyers, F.B. Browder, Gus Harier, A. Sermerskeim, Samuel Tisdol, F.O. Woodrey, Edward E. Woolsey, Geo. Benedict, I.H. Eanes, A. Lanzo Dean, John Barlow, Isaac Coffa (these are the spellings in the book)
Report of inspection of Ayrshire Schools, Pike County, January 5, 1909 by John Owens:
Buildings: Three one room, frame: two shingle roof, one iron, the latter the colored school. Two of the buildings, the white schools, occupy the same lot, one half-acre, high, dry, clay soil. Building in which upper grades are held, should be condemned outright. The other white school building could be repainted and enlarged to accommodate the upper grades and the colored school should be repainted. The whole town is dirty and derelict. Mining is the industry.
White Schools:
Grades 1,2, and 3: Seats single and double, all sizes: badly scarred. Ceiling and walls wood, unpainted. Pupils face south; blackboard on south; Nine foot ceiling. Vestibule 10 x 8 feet. Forty five pupils in room. Each pupil has 13 feet of floor space. Light space one-ninth of floor space. Open well, typhoid fever in schools a year ago. Blackboards on north and south sides.
Grades 4,5,6,7, and 8: Pupils: 30; face north. Seats double, bad. Ceiled with wood, not painted. Floor bad. Flue smoky. Buildings one to two feet from ground, no foundations. Outhouses bad. All doors 3 x 7 feet. Each pupil has 20 square feet of floor space. Light area one-ninth of floor area. General conditions bad.
Colored Schools, Ayrshire:
Pupils, 15. Face west. Board on west. Tin roof. No foundation; props; two feet from ground. No well. Closets bad. Ceiling and walls plain boards, unpainted. Each pupil has 24 square feet floor space. Light area one-fifth of floor area. Seats all sizes, single and double, badly scarred.
These buildings are in keeping with the town.
Proclamation of Condemnation
Whereas, it has been shown to satisfaction of the State Board of Health, that the schoolhouse at Ayrshire, Pike County, Indiana, is unsanitary and consequently threatens the health and life of the pupils, and also interferes with their efficiency, therefore, it is ordered that said schoolhouse at Ayrshire, Pike county, Indiana is condemned for school purposes and shall not be used for said school purposes after June 1, 1909 and if any school trustee, or trustees, any teacher or any person uses said schoolhouse for school purposes, or teaches therein, after the date above mentioned, he or she or they shall be prosecuted. Any person mutilating or tearing down this proclamation shall be prosecuted.
1937 – 38 Ayrshire Grade School. 2nd Row: third girl, Jackie Willis. 3rd Row: last boy, Fred Willis.
Ayrshire School 1937-38 Upper Classes
Ayrshire Grade School Early 1930s. The teacher is Lucille Amos Donham. 2nd Row: 5th girl, dark hair, Jackie Willis, boy on end Fred Willis.
Winslow Indiana and Patoka Township 
Well done Rose
Thanks for the post. Exposes our roots!
I have a wonderful news article from The Alexandria Mes Tribune (Alexandria, Indiana) detailing the career of Victor Evans. Victor Evans was born in Union, Pike County. Became a teacher there and went on to become superintendent of Alexandria City Schools. In the article, Victor describes his teaching career. He tells of his days teaching in Ayrshire in 1920-21. It reads: >In 1920-21, Evans taught the upper four grades in the little mining town of Ayrshire. The recollection of his three-dollar-a-day salary brought a grin that advanced to a chuckle when he added, “I got another 20 cents a day for building the fire and sweeping the school out.” >He was part-time commuter in those days. Living in Union, he caught a train to school each morning, but chose to walk the seven miles home after school rather than wait for a 9 p.m. coach.