Freeland Park School, home of the Rockets. Opened in 1922, closed in 1963 and stood until 1977.

I don't have a connection to this photo, but I am amazed that Freeland Park had a high school at all. If you drive down Indiana Route 71 today, you'd have to really use your imagination to see that a town or school ever existed here. So this photo was taken in 1973? I'm wondering if the gym was at the back of the school. Also, was this a K-12 building?

Definitely a 1-12 school! The Gym Took up the first two floors with An Assembly hall and classrooms on the 3rd. It was the shorter block in the rear. There were 6 or 7 rows of bleachers on one side and a large stage on the other. It was NOT a full sized court. Dressing rooms under the Bleachers! I was exploring it many years ago before it was demolished.

At the far rear of the roof there are two Sky Lights. Very rare for school buildings like this . They were over the Assembly Hall

These comments are so interesting and informative. I would love to hear from someone who actually went to this school. I follow Indiana high school basketball, and I found that the Freeland Park Rockets played their final sectional game in 1963, so I can assume that year was their final graduating class. I wonder how many seniors they had in such a small school? I know students in that area now attend Benton Central, but I imagine after 1963, perhaps their kids attended Fowler before BC was built?

They were not part of the mass consolidation of 1960 and 1961 in Benton county and lasted a couple of years longer likely because they were somewhat larger than others . They did end up at Fowler before Benton Central. Raub went to Kentland , Gilboa to Remington , Wadena to Fowler , and Pine Twp to Otterbein. Likely some students went differently because of distances. Benton County was a bit odd in that every Twp had a High School till the early 60s even though it not a large populated county. Many other counties had only a few high schools with many twps having only small grade schools that fed into the few High Schools. Warren, Newton and Jasper Counties were examples!

I am a Indiana H.S. basketball historian that mainly explores old high school gyms of the past. I have no date when this gym was built. Perhaps the same year as the school? or added on at a later date? Does anyone know when the gymnasium's (only) were built dates (not the actual school built date) for Freeland Park, Wadena and Earl Park? I have very little info on the school's BB history but I have a rare 1951-52 Directory of Indiana High School Athletics (not the IHSAA) booklet. It was the only year published it stated the school to have 37 students and the BB coach to be Robert Royer (Indiana State 1950)

Likely the Gym was a part of the original Building. The front rectangle was all Classrooms (3 floors)and restrooms (small windows). The rear rectangle was the Gym/Stage on the ground level with an assembly hall and 3 class rooms on the 3rd floor , bleachers on the second floor and Dressing rooms and furnace room under the bleachers in the basement. Earl Park also had a small built in Gym likely part of the original plan. Wadena had a very small gym that was an add on due to the differences in architecture. One of the best small school gyms in Benton County was Pine Twp. The main building is gone but the "barn like" structure is still there I think. Likely private property! It was definitely an "add on" to the Old main building (actully not attached!

Many thanks for the info. I have the dates for the years the gyms were built for all of the eleven Benton County high schools except Wadena, Freeland Park and Earl Park. Back in 2002 I stopped at the courthouse in Fowler and was told info about whether the following previous HS gyms were still standing. I was told at that time (2002) gyms that were still up; Otterbein, Pine Twp., Oxford, Fowler, Earl Park. Previous HS gyms that were tore down/demolished; Boswell, Freeland Park, Gilboa. Didn't know if gyms were up/down; Raub, Ambia and Wadena. Do you know how many of the eleven previously mentioned high school gyms (gym only/not actual school building) are still standing in the county? Or perhaps someone in Benton County that would know or have some knowledge of the old gyms. Inside pictures of old gyms are a rarity in itself showing the bleachers and how many rows or the old overhanging balconies. I live about 3 hours from Fowler in far SE Indiana so I don't get up there very often. It was odd that a fairly unpopulated county (presently 89th out of 92 counties) and also about 12,000 inhabitants from 1920 to 1960 kept eleven high schools open all of those years when most counties were absorbing them right and left. Any help/info would be greatly appreciated as I am doing research on HS gyms in all 92 counties in the state and have personally been to about 700-800 different past and present HS gyms over the past 31 years. It simply requires a lot of traveling and driving and many are falling down/in disrepair, are on private property and others people simply do not know if standing. Oddly a gym near you (Pine Village 1940) is having an open house this Saturday the 28th as it is slated to be torn down. Rarely are the buildings given a formal ''last call'' as most of the time they are victims of a sad, unannounced wrecking ball type funeral which only the crane operator notices and it is his job to end it unnoticed.

Besides the old Barnlike Pine Twp Gym the whole school building at Raub may still be standing! It closed the High School after 1961 class graduation and sent students to Kentland and eventually South Newton. I believe in 1961 Raub was the smallest High School in Indiana with less than 20 students 9 thru 12 grades! Ramblers , Gold and Black I think!

I drove past the old Raub building quite a few years ago. I don't know if it's still there, but I hope it is. I found this about the Western Indiana Small High School Conference on Wikipedia. It shows Raub as the Ramblers, but blue and gold as colors. Of course, I don't know how reliable this information is.

Oops! I forgot to post the link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weste...

the nicknames and school colors are mostly correct on that site , BUT from my knowledge ,being from around there when the schools existed , some are wrong. Some schools changed names and some changed colors too , BUT not all that many.

Dennis,

Which Benton County High School did you attend? Many years ago a friend and I explored a bit inside Ambia High School. It was about 1990. The school was razed, but there is a memorial park where the building once stood. When we inside, quite a lot still looked good. However, the gym looked pretty bad with the scoreboard/ clock fallen to the floor. To me it's sad to see these once
wonderful schools deteriorate and eventually disappear from existence.

I graduated from Covington in Fountain County in 1962. I kept up with local sports and schools in our county and Vermillion ,Parke, Warren, and Montgomery, and Vermillion County Illinois mostly! I became interested in Benton County later thru newspaper sports news and A Relationship with Bill Barret (spelling?) a player from Boswell and later a coach. I have explored many an old building when I was younger ( and stupider about safety). I spent some time inside Ambia , Freeland Park , Earl Park , Raub , Wadena , and Pine Twp. in Benton County! Plus dozens of other old schools further South! Most are long gone totally, a few remain most in ruins and even fewer have been repurposed! I have retired that hobby some time ago due to my age (Health) and lack of remaining places to explore!