Close your eyes for a moment and think about what school looks like today. Between your experience, your children’s experience, and maybe your grandchildren’s experience, you likely have a few different pictures in your head. Do you know what school life looked like in the early 1900’s? I’ve done some digging and Indiana schools in the early 1900s may shock you. Here are some incredible photos from that time.

1. Children coming home from school in May of 1936 to their Decatur Homestead.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
2. Here is a picture of a public high school in Decatur, Indiana taken in September of 1935.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
3. This one is a school bus taken in Fowler, Indiana in April of 1937.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
4. These school children at a grammar school in Indianapolis are listening to a speech by Chaplain George Washington Williams in 1942.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
5. Check out these students having a meal at the the mess table in the U.S. Army chaplain school in 1942.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
6. This is a recreation hall at the chaplain school in Indianapolis with a small library of books in 1942.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress

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7. Check out this Parkside Elementary 3rd grade class from 1965.
WikiMedia Commons
8. This one is a gorgeous picture of Hartford City High School from 1923.
WikiMedia Commons
9. Check out the Stalker School in Bedford, Indiana. Not too sure exactly how old this school is.
Cindy Cornett Seigle
10. This is a picture of the Crawfordsville High School basketball team from 1923.
The Happy Rower
11. These high school students are from 1940. They are playing pool in Clinton, Indiana.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress
12. This is Chaplain William Beeby. He was the youngest Chaplain in the school in April of 1942.
photogrammar.yale.edu / Library of Congress

What do you think about these pictures? Do you have any stories from the early 1900s? Did you or a family member go to school then? Share with me in the comments! I’d love to know which picture is your favorite as well as any stories you have.

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