Part 3 of 4
By Karen and Mike Jackson
Authors’ note: It was originally planned to publish The Schools of Tippecanoe series in three parts, but after looking at the total length, it has been decided to divide it into four parts.
Schools had been built in several locations around the downtown parts of Tippecanoe and then Tipp City. When the growing population of school-aged children continued to push the limits of the existing facilities, and no land was available on the Broadway site for new construction, the Board of Education turned their eyes to farmland northward.
The plan was to build a 16 to 20 classroom school with kindergarten rooms, a library, a kitchen, and a multi-purpose room for both cafeteria and physical education use. The location would be “on the Schultz farm property north of Westedge, facing Tipp-Cowlesville Road.”
On June 16, 1957, a special election included a bond issue for building a second elementary school. There were 985 votes for and 223 against, passing with an 81.5% majority. On July 24, 1957, bonds for $650,000 were awarded to First Cleveland Corporation at an interest rate of 4%. Construction began soon after.
As the building neared completion, the name of the school was chosen to be Nevin Coppock Elementary School in honor of a man in the forefront of education in Tipp City. Mr. Coppock was the president of the Tipp City School Board when he died in May of 1959 of polio. (Polio vaccinations had not begun in time to prevent his death.)
Coppock farmed 300 acres on County Road 25A at Evanston Road on land deeded to his ancestors in 1813. Due to his lifelong service to many organizations, the school board named the nearly completed school in his name.
The building opened on September 14, 1959, with 450 students enrolled. The principal was William Bechtol, and the district superintendent was L.T. Ball. Some of the rooms in the west corridor were not finished, and work was also continuing in the main office and rooms near the multi-purpose room.
When the property was purchased for a new elementary building, there was enough land for expansion. The board approved building a new high school on that property in January, 1962, and a bond levy was placed on the ballot in May.
Bids for the building in the amount of $879,271.48 were awarded on September 9, 1963, to Peterson Construction of Wapakoneta as the general contractor. The architects were Strong, Strong, and Strong of Lima whose design reflected several advancements since the 1916 high school was built. The plan included 35 “teaching stations” in the four-year high school. Included were a publications room for the school yearbook and newspaper staffs, a language laboratory, an art room, the commercial department for office skills, two music rooms, an industrial arts area, home economics rooms, a library, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium. Ample restrooms, offices, and conference rooms were arranged throughout the building.
When completed, there was a gymnasium ready for basketball practices, but there was not enough money to purchase seats. Superintendent Robert Ritchie thought it might be three or four years before seats were installed, so games were still played in the Broadway gym.
The building opened September 10, 1964, with Paul Struewing as principal and approximately 590 students. The former high school on Fifth Street at Dow became Tippecanoe Junior High School for grades seven and eight with an enrollment of 310. With approximately 1,200 students in the two elementaries, the total enrollment for the district was a record 2,100 students.
Should additional space be needed in the future, the property surrounding the high school left room for expansion and a 1.9 mill bond issue to build an addition was overwhelmingly approved in November of 1971, and the addition was completed.
In 1970, the sixth grade was added to the junior high, and the school’s name was changed to Tippecanoe Central Middle School. With the change, enrollment increased from 310 students to 687, and it was projected to rise to 736 the next fall in a building built in 1916 to house 400 students.
Enrollment had increased to the point where existing facilities could no longer accommodate the growing student body. Therefore, plans were begun to build another new school to the west of the high school on Hyatt Street. Early in 1973, the Tipp City Board of Education sent a letter to all citizens in the district announcing,
“After much deep thought and serious consideration of all alternatives it is the judgment of the Board of Education to take a major step to guarantee a quality education for the students of the district by building a new middle school facility.”
The bond issue was placed on the ballot on May 8, 1973. The amount of $1.5 million included site preparation, construction, and all furnishings. The results were 1,226 votes for and 1,120 against, for a passage rate of 52.3%.
The hope was to complete construction to enable occupancy by fall of 1974. Houston Associates were hired to design a facility to house a maximum of 800 students in grades six, seven, and eight. Rogers Construction Company was hired as the general contractor to build the 71,262 square foot building.
The floor plan in the new facility would be quite different from the existing schools. Although areas fitting the same purposes that were in the high school were included, the new middle school building would be developed “around the concept of greater flexibility and adaptability to a modern and changing curriculum.” The word “flexible” was stressed in communication to residents.
L.T. Ball Middle School was the official name selected for the new school facility, honoring a former superintendent who served the Tipp City Schools from 1946 to 1964. Broadway Elementary, Nevin Coppock Elementary, and the new high school were all constructed during his tenure.
The dedication was held on December 15, 1974. The district’s superintendent was Dr. Robert Beidler, and the principal was Howard E. Parks.
Tippecanoe Central Middle School remained open as a second middle school. Due to changing enrollments and financial needs, in 1989 the decision was made to shift all seventh and eighth graders to the L.T. Ball building, making it a junior high school. Fifth and sixth graders were transferred to the Tipp Central building, and its official name became Tippecanoe Central Intermediate School.
The high school had been built in 1964 and expanded in 1972, but as Tipp City and the surrounding school district continued to grow, the need for another high school became apparent. However, passing a bond issue this time would prove much more difficult.
About the authors: Mike Jackson is a fourth-generation Tipp City resident who served on the Tipp City School Board from 1994-2001. Karen is a retired 36-year educator who taught in Tipp City schools for 22 years.
We acknowledge and thank the Tippecanoe Historical Society, the Tipp Herald, and the Tipp City Schools for the information used in this article.