St. Joseph Central Elementary School

Fort Wayne Community Schools, 6341 St. Joe Center Road, Fort Wayne; prekindergarten through fifth grade; the Tigers; opened in 1936 as St. Joseph Township School and renamed St. Joseph Central in 1964

The Name: The saint in this school's name is a township, not a parish. St. Joseph Central began as the public school of St. Joseph Township, and its name is the township's name; it is a Fort Wayne Community Schools building, not the Catholic parish school of the same saint's name that stands on Brooklyn Avenue. Ground was broken for the building in 1935, in a photograph the district later published. The compiled list of Fort Wayne school openings enters it as St. Joe Township in 1936, and records the change of name: changed to St. Joe Central in 1964.

The Early School: The township school was not at first an elementary school only. A district photograph of its 1938 to 1939 basketball team survives, a reminder that a township school of that era taught beyond the youngest grades. It serves a compact northeast zone of about 2.7 square miles, its furthest edge less than two miles from the building. The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library holds the school's yearbooks from 1981 to 2017, a run that covers the building's middle age and its renovation years.

The Renovation: By 2016 the building wore metal panel siding over its original face, and the district set out to learn what was underneath. Barton Coe Vilamaa, architects on the district's repair program, opened investigative work on the building envelope that September to see whether the original facade could be brought back. The full renovation was to start in the spring of 2017 and finish by the 2018 to 2019 school year, and by late 2019 the district was describing a major renovation recently completed. In 2023 the roof was replaced, in the same district project that reroofed Shambaugh Elementary.

Enrollment: The National Center for Education Statistics counted five hundred sixty students here in 1987. The school grew to a peak of six hundred sixty three in 1992 and held above six hundred through 1997, then eased for two decades: five hundred eleven in 2002, four hundred sixty one in 2009, four hundred in 2021. In 2025 it taught four hundred thirty four students with thirty nine teachers, about eleven to a teacher; the teaching force had grown from twenty seven in 2021 while enrollment barely moved. Its makeup in 2025 was fifty eight percent White, fifteen percent Hispanic, fourteen percent Black, eight percent students of two or more races and five percent Asian. Need has risen across the school's recorded life: two percent of its students qualified for free lunch in 1989, seventeen percent in 2000, and thirty nine percent for free lunch with six percent more at reduced price in 2025.

Today: The Tigers' school runs calmer attendance numbers than most of the district. Its chronic absenteeism stood at 13.1 percent in 2023, about half the district rate. On state tests its students scored below the Indiana average in reading and math, thirty one and thirty three percent proficient against forty one and thirty nine percent statewide, and above it in science, at forty to forty four percent proficient. The standing is a fall from the school's own earlier record: in 2011, eighty nine percent of its students were proficient in math and ninety percent in reading, ahead of the state's seventy nine and seventy seven percent. Public School Review ranks the school 1,196th of 1,743 Indiana schools on combined math and reading proficiency. William Critell is its principal.

Sources:

1. Fort Wayne Community Schools, post of November 28, 2019, collected in Allen County Genealogical Society, Elementary Schools in Allen County, Indiana, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: ground broken for the school in 1935; the building recently underwent a major renovation; the school's original name, St. Joseph Township School.
2. History of Public Schools in Fort Wayne, compiled openings list, fortwaynesouthside.com, 2026: St. Joe Township beginning in 1936, changed to St. Joe Central in 1964.
3. Fort Wayne Community Schools, REPAIR FWCS post of September 15, 2016, collected in Allen County Genealogical Society, as above: Barton Coe Vilamaa's investigative work on the building envelope under the metal panel siding, to see whether the original facade could be restored; the full renovation to start in spring 2017 and complete by the 2018 to 2019 school year.
4. Fort Wayne Community Schools, post of March 8, 2018, collected in Allen County Genealogical Society, as above: the school's basketball team photograph of 1938 to 1939; and the Genealogy Center's holdings of the school's yearbooks, 1981 to 2017.
5. National Center for Education Statistics, Saint Joseph Central School (180363000559), as republished by Public School Review: enrollment of 560 in 1987, the peak of 663 in 1992, 636 in 1997, 511 in 2002, 461 in 2009, 400 in 2021 and 434 in 2025; thirty nine teachers; the 2025 makeup of 58 percent White, 15 percent Hispanic, 14 percent Black, 8 percent two or more races and 5 percent Asian; free lunch eligibility of 2 percent in 1989, 17 percent in 2000 and 39 percent with 6 percent at reduced price in 2025; chronic absenteeism of 13.1 percent in 2023; proficiency of 33 percent in math and 31 percent in reading; a rank of 1,196th of 1,743 Indiana schools.
6. ConstructConnect, Project R-2 project listing, 2023: roof replacement and related work at St. Joseph Central Elementary School and Shambaugh Elementary School.
7. Niche school profile, as republished by homes.com, 2026: William Critell, principal.