The Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home (ISSCH) was a residential and educational facility near

Knightstown, Indiana Knightstown is a town in Wayne Township, Henry County, Indiana, adjacent to Rush County, along the Big Blue River. The population was 2,140 at the 2020 census. It is approximately thirty-two miles east of Indianapolis. Knightstown was used i ...

, in northwestern

Rush County, Indiana Rush County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. In the 2020 United States census, the population was 16,752. The county seat (and only city) is Rushville. History When the Indiana Territory was granted statehood (December 20, 1816), ...

History

The home was founded in 1865 by

Governor of Indiana The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the U.S. state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state gover ...

Oliver Morton Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton (August 4, 1823 – November 1, 1877), commonly known as Oliver P. Morton, was a U.S. Republican Party politician from Indiana. He served as the 14th governor of Indiana during the American Civil War, and was ...

and others and was for veterans of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Two years later, it came under the control of the State of Indiana and was known under a variety of names, including "Soldiers's Orphan's Home", "Indiana Soldier's and Seamen's Home", "Indiana Soldiers' Orphans' Home", and Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home". The name was then changed in the 1929 to "Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home", which is retained until its closing in 2009. During the 1890s, due to dwindling number of Civil War orphans, the Indiana law establishing the Home was amended to admit any student who had a close relative such as a parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent who served in the military services of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The "Home", as it was called by students who attended there, was sometimes a place for "at-risk" children. It was not only for "at-risk" children; it was also a tool for young people to have freedom from independent living in a boarding school environment. There were 13 living facilities available. Students lived in divisions that had different amounts of kids. The girls stayed on one side of the lake, and the boys on the other side. Students could earn money starting at the age of 14 by working in the Barn, Cafeteria, the radio station, and barber shop, among other things. The Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home was home to Morton Memorial Schools (the school was K–12 grade). Each classroom size was between 20 and 30 students, so the students received the individual attention needed for them to succeed. The school was on a core 40 system. The school offered vocational programs which let students study trades such as building trades,

culinary art Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

, broadcast, business and

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

science. Students were able to partake in

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US mil ...

. While in JROTC, students could do Raiders, Rifle team, MP Usher, and Color Guard. The graduating Class of 2007 had 25 graduating seniors, while the graduating Class of 2008 had 11 graduating seniors. Once a student graduated he or she had the option to go to any public college in Indiana, tuition free. The stated mission of ISSCH was "to be a safe mentoring community where Indiana's at-risk youth are given opportunities to excel".

Endangered status

In 2009, the Home's complex of buildings was listed on the

Indiana Landmarks Indiana Landmarks is a private non-governmental heritage preservation organization focused on the U.S. state of Indiana. It is America's largest private statewide historic preservation organization. Founded in 1960 as Historic Landmarks Foundation ...

"10 Most Endangered" list due to the Home's architectural significance and the uncertainty of its future viability. The state announced that following the 2009 graduation on 23 May 2009, the Home would be closed and the remaining students dispersed to public schools. At the end of 2011, the entire Home complex was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Thirty-one of the fifty-one buildings in the complex qualified as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

,Diebold, Paul, et al.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home
'.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, n.d. as did the cemetery and the entire grounds. The majority of the non-contributing buildings are small semi-permanent structures; enough large historic buildings remain that the property's sense of space and place is not diminished.

Closure

Following a bipartisan effort to keep the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home open, Governor

Mitch Daniels Mitchell Elias Daniels Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is an American Academic administration, academic administrator, businessman, author, and retired politician who served as the 49th governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2013. A Republican Party (United ...

closed the Home and removed it from the budget, effectively removing funding from the Home. The land was turned over to the

Indiana National Guard The Indiana National Guard (INNG) is a component of the United States Armed Forces, the United States National Guard and the Military Department of Indiana (MDI). It consists of the Indiana Army National Guard, the Indiana Air National Guard, a ...

for use as the Hoosier Youth ChalleNGe Academy (HYCA) in 2009. HYCA is a quasi-residential program designed to provide structure and life skills to students aged 16 to 18 who have dropped out of high school.

Residents

Monte Blue Gerard Montgomery Blue (January 11, 1887 – February 18, 1963) was an American film actor who began his career as a romantic lead in the silent era; and for decades after the advent of sound, he continued to perform as a supporting player ...

References

External links

Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana 10 Most Endangered Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indiana Soldiers' And Sailors' Children's Home Defunct schools in Indiana Education in Rush County, Indiana Buildings and structures in Rush County, Indiana Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Rush County, Indiana