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312 Donmoyer Historical Context This property is located on the block between Carroll Street and Fellows Street, facing Donmoyer Street, in South Bend, Indiana. It is described as being part of the east half and southwest quarter of lots 25-32 W & K Beverly Heights 2nd Addition to South Bend. The Collegiate Gothic style, James Monroe School at 312 Donmoyer Avenue, was constructed in 1931. The board of education proposed the construction of a new elementary school building at the southwest corner of Fellows Street and Donmoyer Avenue in 1931. The appointed architects were Freyermuth and Maurer, and the cost of the structure was estimated to be around $300,000.00. The date targeted for the opening of the school was September 1931. The school was to have an instructional capacity of approximately 850 pupils from kindergarten to the sixth grade. The James Monroe school was meant to accommodate all elementary students in the south central part of the City, thereby relieving James Whitcomb Riley school of all elementary classes. The formal acceptance of the James Monroe School was made by the Board of Education by the middle of September, 1931. The architects, Freyermuth and Maurer, made an extensive study of the site and surroundings, concluding that the terrain was rolling in nature and therefore lent itself to the English Gothic Style, which they used in the design of the school building. The architects planned a system of terraces from the level of Donmoyer Avenue to the higher elevation of the site from which the building rose. The structure was built by the Smogor Lumber Company and eventually cost $330,000.00. The school was dedicated in a ceremony in November of 1931, which was attended by two direct descendants of James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. The honored guests were, Mrs. Rose Governeur Hoes, great grand daughter of the president and her son, Laurence Governeur Hoes, an attorney. Miss Minnie Suchanek, former principal of Perley School, was named the first principal of the James Monroe School. In 1935 parents, patrons and superintendent, Frank Allen, discussed adding seventh, eighth and ninth grades to Monroe School. The issue was voted down only to be passed in the 1960s. The building under went extensive restoration in the 1980s, receiving the Southhold award of restoration excellence.