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THE OLD GERMAN TOWNSHIP SCHOOLHOUSE 53117 OLIVE ROAD GERMAN TOWNSHIP, SOUTH BEND INDIANA HISTORIC CONTEXT - The local historic value of this building is immense, as it is one of the oldest public buildings remaining in the County. Not only was it built at a period significant to the formation of the County, it was also built at a place and time when there was still substantial overlap between the new settlers on the county, and the indigenous peoples. The land attached to and immediately surrounding the old schoolhouse are believed by long time residents who are descended from original settlers to be native American burial grounds. The first school building built on this site was built in 1878. A schoolmaster's house was built next door, at 53081 Olive Road, at the same time. Then about twelve years later, in 1890 one or both building were substantially amended, of possibly re -built or replaced. In particular, the foundation of the frame schoolmaster's house, which was probably a rubble foundation originally, and is now rock -faced cast brick, may have been an 1890 modification. When the building ceased to be used as a school, it passed into private hands and an addition was built onto the back. In 1949 and 1950, private owners made several significant changes, including building an addition onto the North side of the old school, which nearly doubled the size of the building. The character of the addition is completely unlike that of the original structure, and in many ways even more highly unusual and even more representative of a unique historic period than the remarkable old schoolhouse itself. A fountain and outdoor pond on the property date to the same period as the 1950 addition, and are likewise distinctively characteristic of the post World War II period. There is also a non - contributing shed, or perhaps two, on the property. The total property is about 62 percent of an acre, with a fence defining the front edge of the property, along Olive Road. This fence is an excellent example of a Civil War era fence. It has a foundation and regularly spaced piers built of brick and cast concrete, with holes in the piers to receive poles running between the piers. Presently, and for at least the last forty years, those poles have been wooden. However, pictures of other such fences from the 1860s through the very early nineteen hundreds typically show large cast iron poles running between the piers. It is known that Saint Joseph County residents donated large amounts of household and farmyard iron to scrap metal drives during World War II, so it is possible that original iron poles were replaced with wood at that time. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION The original building is a Greek - Revival style one and a half story brick rectangle, facing Olive Road on the East. The original front of the house had a gable front, and a slightly offset double door, and a smaller door or window. In the gable peak are a pair of narrow arched windows. The original doorway opening, topped by hand - carved dentil molding, remains, though it has been converted into a window and its shape much altered. The North and South