John S. Irwin Elementary School

Fort Wayne Community Schools, 3501 South Anthony Boulevard, Fort Wayne; kindergarten through fifth grade; the Rockets, in red and royal blue; a STEM magnet school since 1989; built in 1927 and named for a superintendent of the eighteen seventies

The Namesake: John S. Irwin had two careers before education and was driven out of both by his health. He practiced medicine at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh until poor health forced him to stop, came to Fort Wayne and worked twenty years in banking, and resigned that too for the same reason. In 1865 the city appointed him to its school board, and in 1875 the board elected him superintendent of the city schools, an office he held until 1896, twenty one years that covered the system's growth from a town school district into a city one. He had been gone from the office for three decades when Fort Wayne built the school on South Anthony Boulevard in 1927 and carved his name over its door, where it still is: the carved stone frieze above the main entrance reads "John S. Irwin School."

The Building: The firm of Pohlmeyer and Pohlmeyer designed it, and ARCH, Fort Wayne's preservation organization, describes the result with care: an Arts and Crafts style building with Classical Revival elements, two stories with a central three story section behind parapet walls, and a main entrance on South Anthony Boulevard where smooth round Doric columns carry that carved frieze. Later additions have been made, but the 1927 front is the school's face, and it is one of the handsomest elementary buildings in the city. For its first six decades Irwin was a neighborhood school on the southeast side, ordinary in program and distinguished mainly by its architecture.

The Magnet: In the fall of 1989 the district converted Irwin into its math and science magnet school, and the federal counts caught the change mid stride. The National Center for Education Statistics counted three hundred forty eight students in 1988, two hundred sixty of them Black children from the surrounding neighborhoods. In 1989 the count fell to two hundred seventy, and in 1990 to two hundred forty six, with White and Black enrollments nearly even as the magnet began drawing from across the city. The school has run as a magnet ever since, its focus now stated as STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. The district records that in 2022 Irwin became the first Fort Wayne Community Schools building to earn state STEM certification. Its magnet habits show in small things: in April 2015, forty three Irwin students entered the Noetic Learning Math Contest, and the school board formally recognized the Irwin children who placed in the top ten percent of the country.

Enrollment: Magnets do not grow the way neighborhood schools do, and Irwin's numbers have been steady for a generation: between two hundred forty six and three hundred sixteen students in every federal count since 1990, and three hundred two in 2025, taught by twenty one teachers, about fourteen students to a teacher. The composition settled as the magnet matured. In 2025 Black students are forty nine percent of the school, White students about a quarter, with Hispanic students and students of two or more races making up most of the rest. Free or discounted lunch eligibility was forty eight percent in 1988 and is sixty three percent in 2025, and the district spends $14,267 per student here.

Standing: The magnet's recent state record is the strongest of any Fort Wayne elementary except Croninger. SchoolDigger, working from Indiana Department of Education test data, ranked Irwin 716th among Indiana elementary schools in 2022, then 578th in 2023 and 557th in 2024, and in 2025 it jumped to 322nd of 1,005, better than sixty eight percent of the state's elementary schools and second among the district's thirty one ranked schools. A near century old building with a carved name over the door is, by the state's own measures, one of the two best elementary schools in the district.

Today: In 2026 Irwin is an open, operating STEM magnet elementary school of about three hundred students on South Anthony Boulevard, the Rockets, working in partnership with Discovery Education, ninety nine years after its doors opened and thirty seven years into its second life as a magnet. The name over the entrance belongs to a doctor turned banker turned superintendent; the school under it now teaches his successors to build things.

Sources:

1. ARCH, Inc., Facebook posts, March 17, 2022 and August 10, 2023, collected in Allen County Genealogical Society, Elementary Schools in Allen County, Indiana, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: the building of 1927 designed by Pohlmeyer & Pohlmeyer, Arts and Crafts style with Classical Revival elements, the two story form with a central three story section and parapet walls, the Doric columns and the carved stone frieze reading "John S. Irwin School"; a magnet school since 1989 with a STEM focus; John S. Irwin's career, physician at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, twenty years in banking in Fort Wayne, appointed to the city school board in 1865 and elected superintendent in 1875, serving to 1896.
2. Fort Wayne Community Schools, Facebook post, January 11, 2024, collected in Allen County Genealogical Society, Elementary Schools in Allen County, Indiana, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: Irwin Elementary School was built in 1927 at 3501 S. Anthony Blvd; its name honors John S. Irwin, superintendent from 1875 to 1896; it became the district's math and science magnet school in the fall of 1989, and in 2022 the district's first school to earn STEM certification.
3. Fort Wayne Community Schools, Board of School Trustees official proceedings, June 8, 2015: forty three Irwin students competed in the Noetic Learning Math Contest on April 13, 2015, with Irwin students earning National Honor Roll status in the top 10 percent of the country.
4. National Center for Education Statistics, John S Irwin Elementary School (180363000535), as republished by SchoolDigger: enrollment of 348 in 1988 with 260 Black students, 270 in 1989, 246 in 1990, and 302 in 2025, twenty one teachers, the 2025 composition, and free or discounted lunch eligibility of 47.7 percent in 1988 and 62.9 percent in 2025.
5. SchoolDigger, John S Irwin Elementary School, 2026, from Indiana Department of Education data: state ranks of 716th in 2022, 578th in 2023, 557th in 2024 and 322nd of 1,005 in 2025, second among the district's ranked elementary schools, and average spending of $14,267 per student.
6. Irwin Elementary School, school site description, irwin.fortwayneschools.org, 2026: the STEM magnet working in partnership with Discovery Education to build a STEM culture.
7. Prep Sportswear, John S Irwin Elementary School store, 2026: the Rockets, in red and royal blue.