As hundreds gather for New Castle Homecoming activities this weekend, it’s interesting to take a trip back down memory lane to see the evolution of education here.

To the credit of its citizens, when needs changed, New Castle always seemed to meet those needs.

New Castle was “a straggling hamlet of a few log houses surrounded by dense forests” when the first school was built in the summer of 1822.

Anyone who’s ever been in the old YMCA on Church Street has also been by the site – the parking lot across from the First Presbyterian Church.

It was here New Castle education was born. And my, how it’s grown over the years.

Here are some key dates in New Castle’s education history:

n Winter of 1823: Richard Huff teaches the first class of students in a cabin of unhewed logs built in the dense woods, the site of which is now a parking lot by the old YMCA.

n 1828: a new log school house was built south of the old burying ground on the Elliott Homestead. Pyrrhus Woodward, who would later serve in the Civil War, attended school here.

n 1831: school was taught in what was Henry County’s first courthouse, a two-story log structure.

n 1834: school moves from the old courthouse to a small frame building erected by pioneer members of the Methodist Church.

n 1835: Henry County Seminary opens

n 1850: seminary purchased by city and becomes New Castle Academy.

n 1884: first separate elementary level building is constructed on what was then known as Christian Ridge. Originally known as the East building, the school was later renamed Weir.

n 1895: “The Castle” is constructed. It served students for 80 years.

n 1907-1917: Six new elementary schools are built to accommodate a population that had doubled in a decade. They were Hernly (1907), Holland (1910), Parker (1911), Bundy (1912) and Riley (1917).

n January, 1924: New senior high building at Walnut Street is opened.

n 1951: Wilbur Wright and Sunnyside elementary schools open

n 1955: Greenstreet Elementary School opens.

n 1958: New Castle High School opens

n 1972: Parkview Junior High School, now known as New Castle Middle School, opens. Former Castle building is razed.

n 1997: A $27.5 million high school renovation begins at New Castle High School.

On this homecoming weekend, we thought it would also be interesting to include these tidbits about the history of education in New Castle:

n Among the students who attended the Henry County Seminary in 1845 was Martin Powell, who would later deliver the mail here and go on to become a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s.

n Discipline was a bit different in the early days. An account shared by late Henry County historian Herbert Heller revealed that teacher Revel Colburn once told an incorrigible youth “that he would whip him until he prayed.”

n In 1849, Henry County residents voted 50.5 percent (2,794 votes cast) in favor of a new school law legalizing public taxation for the support of schools. At the time, Indiana was 23rd among the union’s 26 states in literacy. “Of nearly 300,000 children of school age in the state, less than 50,000 were in any sort of school.”

n The first school year was 60 days long.

Some of the key early educators here were E.J. Lewellyn, superintendent from 1917 to 1938; and Roy Valentine, who served as high school principal for 17 years, from 1921 to 1938. Lewellyn was responsible for major curriculum changes at the school, including the addition of industrial arts and home economics. Valentine helped fully departmentalize the curriculum and encouraged development of many extra-curricular activities.

Of course, there have been many outstanding teachers during the course of New Castle’s education history. Many are mentioned in the sidebar to this article, which contains comments alumni made on the Courier-Times’ Facebook page.

Happy homecoming! If you have time Saturday, include a stop at the Henry County Historical Society on your agenda. A 1950s-1960s room is waiting for you, one that’s bound to bring back memories. The museum is open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday or by appointment at 765-529-4028.

Darrel Radford is a staff writer for The Courier-Times and a board member for The Henry County Historical Society.