Hulman School

By Nathan Hawkins

Farrington’s Grove has a long relationship with public and private education. It began with a women’s college that operated out of the neighborhood in the mid-nineteenth century. By WWI, four public grade schools were located in or adjacent to what is now the historic district. Later years saw consolidation, and today just Farrington Grove Elementary remains. Here I explore the history of Hulman School, one of the first public schools to open in Farrington’s Grove.

Hulman School, 1867-1935

Having disappeared nearly a century ago, Hulman School is largely forgotten today. When it opened 150 years ago, though, it was undoubtedly heralded as one of the earliest public grade schools in Terre Haute. Originally known as the Second District School, it was constructed on the southeast corner of Seventh and Swan Streets in 1867. This was a time of rapid growth for Terre Haute, with the American Civil War concluded and railroads well established. What was once a river village was now becoming an industrial boomtown. To support the population increase, new facilities like Second District School were opened.

Typical for the time, Second District School was a brick two-story structure constructed with what appears to be Gothic styling. Its plans were reused in at least one other building, the 5th District School (Sheridan School) at 12th and Chestnut.

All local schools were given proper names in 1906, and Second District was renamed Hulman School, in honor of local businessman Herman Hulman, Sr. According to Terre Haute: A Pictorial History (1993), it was home to 349 students in 1914. During World War I, many local schools worked to fundraise for the war effort, and Hulman School collected $2,886 through the sale of war savings stamps in 1918.

After a condition assessment in 1908, the city school board branded 40-year-old Hulman an “old and out-of-date building” in the Terre Haute Tribune. Rather than replacement, though, some necessary repairs were made and the school was labeled “one of the problems of the future”. In fact, Hulman was used for another two decades, well past the 60th anniversary of its opening. In its last years, the school served as an annex for nearby Wiley High School. In the mid-thirties, it closed, and the building was razed for an automobile service station. A modern Sunoco gas station and convenience store remains at the location today, with no trace of the former school.

Among the more notable attendees of Hulman was Michael (Mique) O’Brien, who was born on 9th Street in 1866. After leaving Terre Haute at age 19, he became a nationally-known drama critic for the New York Morning Telegraph and the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Acquainted with French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt and local icon Paul Dresser, O’Brien returned home in 1911 and wrote for the Terre Haute Tribune for the rest of his life.

Image above courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society, P0049