Think you know a lot about Pike High School? If you thought the old high school at 71st and Zionsville Road was the original, you would be mistaken. If you guessed the old building around 52nd and Lafayette Road.that became Earl's Auction, you would also be incorrect.
The building that once stood on the southeast corner of West 52nd Street and Lafayette Road has frequently been mistaken as having been a former location of Pike High School. The three-story brick structure with stone trim was indeed a Pike Township public school, but it was never a high school. It was an elementary school that housed grades 1-8. School No. 11, also known by the name Snacks Crossing School, became the home of Earl’s Auction Co. in its later years (photos courtesy of Earl Cornwell, Jr.).
The first school in Pike Township was conducted in a cabin on the west bank of Eagle Creek in 1822, the same year that Marion County was organized. Other schools popped up in cabins around the township in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s, but there was no official school system in place until the township was sufficiently settled to establish one. In 1853, the township was divided into twelve school districts. Over the next few decades, a dozen schoolhouses — most of them just one-room or two-room frame structures — sprang up around the township. In 1889, there were twelve schools operating in Pike Township.
Although each of the Pike Township schools was numbered, most of them also had names associated with them. The school at 5199 Lafayette Road was officially School No. 11, but it was alternately called “Snacks Crossing School.” Built in 1913, the three-story brick building replaced a one-room schoolhouse that had stood a few blocks further south for about half-a-century. The second School No. 11 got its nickname from being at one of the busiest crossroads in Pike Township. Besides serving as a meeting place for local residents, that corner was also one of the last stops for travelers leaving Indianapolis on US Route 52.
For many years, there was a bus stop at the corner of West 52nd Street and Lafayette Road. The grocery, gas station, and restaurants at that intersection were the places at which local people got together with neighbors and travelers stocked up on items for their trips north to Lafayette and Chicago.
After 5199 Lafayette Road ceased to be a school, the building housed a variety of different businesses over the years. Its longest (and final) use was as Earl’s Auction Company & Liquidators, which was established in the mid-1950s by Earl Cornwell, Sr. The old school building was eventually demolished, when Earl built a new facility just south of it. A gas station now stands on the corner where the school once stood.
When the 1913- built Pike School No. 11 was being razed, the stone arch over the entry and some of the bricks from the exterior of the building were saved. They were incorporated into the new Snacks Crossing Elementary School at 56th and Moller Road, which was given its name in honor of that piece of Pike Township history where the name originated.
However, at 5455 West 56th Street, the current school is almost a mile north of the original Snacks Crossing.
The building that once stood on the southeast corner of West 52nd Street and Lafayette Road has frequently been mistaken as having been a former location of Pike High School. The three-story brick structure with stone trim was indeed a Pike Township public school, but it was never a high school. It was an elementary school that housed grades 1-8. School No. 11, also known by the name Snacks Crossing School, became the home of Earl’s Auction Co. in its later years (photos courtesy of Earl Cornwell, Jr.).
The first school in Pike Township was conducted in a cabin on the west bank of Eagle Creek in 1822, the same year that Marion County was organized. Other schools popped up in cabins around the township in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s, but there was no official school system in place until the township was sufficiently settled to establish one. In 1853, the township was divided into twelve school districts. Over the next few decades, a dozen schoolhouses — most of them just one-room or two-room frame structures — sprang up around the township. In 1889, there were twelve schools operating in Pike Township.
Although each of the Pike Township schools was numbered, most of them also had names associated with them. The school at 5199 Lafayette Road was officially School No. 11, but it was alternately called “Snacks Crossing School.” Built in 1913, the three-story brick building replaced a one-room schoolhouse that had stood a few blocks further south for about half-a-century. The second School No. 11 got its nickname from being at one of the busiest crossroads in Pike Township. Besides serving as a meeting place for local residents, that corner was also one of the last stops for travelers leaving Indianapolis on US Route 52.For many years, there was a bus stop at the corner of West 52nd Street and Lafayette Road. The grocery, gas station, and restaurants at that intersection were the places at which local people got together with neighbors and travelers stocked up on items for their trips north to Lafayette and Chicago.
When the 1913- built Pike School No. 11 was being razed, the stone arch over the entry and some of the bricks from the exterior of the building were saved. They were incorporated into the new Snacks Crossing Elementary School at 56th and Moller Road, which was given its name in honor of that piece of Pike Township history where the name originated.
However, at 5455 West 56th Street, the current school is almost a mile north of the original Snacks Crossing.
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