Dr Charles Arvin - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Since I spent thirty-eight years of my life as a teacher and administrator I have a true appreciation for the time, effort and hard work that school personnel gave to enhance the lives of the young people on the various townships in Montgomery County.

A little voice in my head kept telling me that someone should record the information about the varioius schools and the teachers who taught in them.  Finally, the little voice convinced me that I was the "SOMEONE!"  So that is what I have done.

We see so much history of sporting events in the school and that is important. However, we never see anything about the classroom teachers and administrators who taught us to read and write, to understand mathematics, to be able to communicate effectively, to comprehend scientific principles and to have a feel for our history. The contribution these people made to our lives is immeasurable. Many times people have told me how a favorite teacher made a tremendous difference in their lives. Recently I* heard a young man say about one of his teachers, "She turned my life around."

The information presented here came from little booklets that were issued by the county superintendents throughout the years. The booklets were entitled DIRECTORY OF THE TEACHERS AND SCHOOL OFFICIALS OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. The County superintendants maintained a file of these booklets from 1901-1902 to 1965-1966.  Eual  McCauley was the last county superintendent and he told me where to find the booklets. There are three missing years, 1902-03; 1903-04 and 1909-10. After school reorgnization took effect in 1966, the county superintendent's office ceased to exit. However the schools in the county continued to function as they did before reorganization until 1971-72 when South Montgomery Junior-Senior High School and North Montgomery High School opened.

Information about the Crawfordsville Schools was included in the directories through the 1938-19 school year. After that time the president of the Crawfordsville School Board no longer served on the County Board of Education. The County Board of Education was made up of the township trustees, chaired by the County Superintendent.

It is of interest to note that in 1904-1905, there were 114 schools in the county, 93 of which were one or two room schools. Eighteen high schools existed.

There were three elementary schools in Crawfordsville and one junior high school.  Today the county maintains three high schools, three middle schools, and 12 elementary schools.

The cover pictures of the old schools came from the Montgomery County Rotary Club Caldenar, which features the "History of Schools in Montgomery County."  John "Butch" Dale did the sketches with each sketch taking 30-35 hours to complete. John stated that "Each school reflects a time in our local history when life was simpler and each town had its own school traditions."

What remains of the old schools are fond memories, paintings and photographs. These schools are now our history.  

This book is dedicated to all of the wonderful teachers and administrators who gave their lives to help enhance the desire to learn in all of us.  I knew many of them ..... CHARLES L. ARVIN

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We would like to thank Charlie Arvin for passing the booklets (except for a few Dellie at the library helped copy) on to us to use on the GenWeb page so that others could share.  Charlie was a precious, good man.  He was born at Wallace, Indiana on the 1st day of February in 1928 (son of Robert and Effie) and passed away at age 87 on May 27, 2015. As a Waveland High School graduate, his education carried him on to Indiana State where he received his undergrad degree is social sciences and a master's in Education.  He even went on to get his Ed. D. in school administration.  His adorable wife, Isobel Shanks, also a Wavelandnite, married him n 1952 and was an elementary teacher for many years.  Charlie retired in 1990 after many years of work with children, teachers and others affiliated with the Crawfordsville school system.  His interest never waned, as you can from his wonder4ful work here.  Rest in Peace, Charlie - buried in the Freedom Cemetery near Waveland.