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1931 – 2010
Founded: Built by Wayne Township at 3829 Sandpoint Rd, on the site of the township's District 5 "Fox" schoolhouse. Crumbling mortar paused construction, and Elmhurst's students attended its twin school, Hillcrest, until Elmhurst opened for the 1931 school year. The Federal Works Agency added to the building in 1943.
Course: Elmhurst joined Fort Wayne Community Schools in 1958, with Hillcrest, Maplewood, Waynedale and the Anthony Wayne school, in the township consolidations — the Allen County genealogical record dates Anthony Wayne's joining to a consolidation of 1960, and the two accounts differ by that step. An auditorium and auxiliary gym were added in 1977. Nine principals served the school; its teams were the Trojans.
Fate: On March 22, 2010 the FWCS board voted unanimously to close Elmhurst at the end of the 2009–10 school year, in a fifteen-million-dollar budget shortfall; Pleasant Center Elementary closed in the same action. Elmhurst's students were dispersed to North Side, South Side and Wayne. The community's lawsuit, Save Our School v. Fort Wayne Community Schools, was dismissed November 17, 2010 and the dismissal affirmed on appeal in 2011. The 28-acre site was sold to Hanson Aggregates for 600,000 dollars in August 2017, and demolition began May 14, 2018.
Sources:
- Ted Shideler, Allen County school histories (Elmhurst).
- Waynedale News — the 2010 closing vote; the 2017 sale and 2018 demolition.
- Save Our School v. Fort Wayne Community Schools (dismissed 2010; affirmed 2011), via Studicata.