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Photograph of Knightstown Academy
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Knightstown Academy

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1876 (Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

From the record

“The Knightstown Academy is a historic school building located at Knightstown, Indiana. It was built as a Quaker Academy in 1876 and affiliated with the Society of Friends.”

Wikipedia article Knightstown Academy, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 13 National Register listings published here for Henry County · listed in 1976 · category: Building · built in 1876, Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada, by John A. Hasecoster · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Cary St., Knightstown, 46148
  • When was it listed? September 1976
  • Category. building
  • Township. Wayne township
  • When was it built? 1876
  • Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada
  • Architect. John A. Hasecoster
  • National Register reference number. 76000022 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

The ground it stands on

22,216 words

The chapter on Wayne Township in History of Henry County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns ... Also a Condensed History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of Pre-historic Races, Aborigines, Winnebago and Black Hawk Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History., published 1884 names Knightstown. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Wayne Township, forming the southwestern corner of Henry County, has an undulating surface, good soil and excellent farming lands. It was settled early 'and has been steadily progressive and prosperous. It contains the wealthy town of Knightstown, and other villages of less importance which are mentioned hereafter. It is watered by Blue River, Montgomery Creek, Buck Creek and Six-Mile Creek.

Passage source: History of Henry County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns ... Also a Condensed History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of Pre-historic Races, Aborigines, Winnebago and Black Hawk Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History., published 1884.

In 1825 the commissioners directed that elections for Wayne Township be held in future at the house of Prudence Jackson. In November, 1827, the place of election was changed from Mrs. Jackson's to Solomon Byrkett's; J^cpb Parkhurst's house, Raysville, and then Knightstown became successively the election place of the township. The township officers in 1822 were: Elijah Mc- Cray, E. Hardin and Daniel Priddy, Constables; Ebenezer Goble and Samuel Furgason, Overseers of the Poor; Daniel Heaton, Shaphet McCray and Jacob Parkhurst, Fence Miewers.

Passage source: History of Henry County, Indiana : Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages, and Towns ... Also a Condensed History of Indiana, Embracing Accounts of Pre-historic Races, Aborigines, Winnebago and Black Hawk Wars, and a Brief Review of Its Civil and Political History., published 1884.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Wayne Township - 22,216 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Knightstown Academy: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Omar V. Davis PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Henry County

Storms near this property

15 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Knightstown, the town this property stands in, in 15 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2025Flash FloodKnightstown$50,000Numerous roads closed across the county due to heavy rains. Culverts were washed out. Total rainfall ranged from 2.6 to 3.1 inches.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$20,000Two trucks, a trailer, camper, and a Bobcat were damaged from thunderstorm winds that moved through Knightstown.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$12,000Law enforcement reported a roof of a house was damaged at 625 W and U.S. 40. Also, trees were blown down onto a house near Raysville.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$10,000Picture received of uprooted tree that had fallen on a car due to thunderstorm wind gusts. Relayed via twitter.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$5,000A house sustained damage due to damaging thunderstorm winds. Six to seven inch tree limbs were down and there was no power in town due to the storm.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$3,000An eight inch diameter tree branch was reported down on a car due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindKnightstown$1,000A fence was blown down due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. Large tree limbs were also downed.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindKnightstown-A 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust was reported in this location.
July 2006HailKnightstown-No property damage reported.
April 1994Thunderstorm WindKnightstown-A thunderstorm blew a tree down onto a house, barn, and garage in Knightstown. A large commercial-use garage was demolished by straight line winds.
May 2011HailKnightstown-no account filed
May 2008Thunderstorm WindKnightstown-no account filed
July 2006HailKnightstown-no account filed
May 2003Thunderstorm WindKnightstown-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindKnightstown-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Henry County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Knightstown Historic District0.3 miles1986
Elias Hinshaw House0.4 miles1984
Knightstown, Old, and Glen Cove Cemeteries0.5 miles2019

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 76000022 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Henry CountyAll 13 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.