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East Allen County Schools, 17215 Woodburn Road, Woodburn; grades seven through twelve; opened in the fall of 1959
Origins: Woodlan was a cooperative venture before it was a school. The Milan Township and Maumee Township districts built it together for the 1959 to 1960 school year, on Woodburn Road in Milan Township, outside the Woodburn city limits. On the Maumee side the predecessor was Woodburn High School, listed in 1957 to 1958 under the Maumee-Milan Consolidated Schools with high school enrollment of 205 and principal Scott A. Smith. Construction began in 1958, and Woodlan High School opened in the fall of 1959 with about 225 students in grades nine through twelve.
Namesake: The name is a composite of its two parent townships' seats and systems: Wood from Woodburn, and lan from Milan. It was coined for a school that belonged to neither town alone.
The District: East Allen County Schools states that it was formally organized in 1962 across eleven townships in the eastern half of the county. The operating sequence runs through 1964: the Ball State study of May 1965 treats the corporation as operating in the 1964 to 1965 school year, its superintendent list begins with Dr. Paul Harding in 1964, and Harlan pupils moved to Woodlan in the autumn of 1965, a year after the smaller districts had been consolidated into East Allen. Harlan High School, built in 1908, closed in 1965, its students in grades nine through twelve moving to Woodlan. The Harlan and Woodburn junior highs followed into an addition completed in January 1969, and the school became Woodlan Junior-Senior High School.
The Building: The Ball State study described the new building as block and brick veneer construction, one wing of two stories and the rest of one, well landscaped on a 67 acre site. Its special facilities, science laboratories, farm shop, industrial arts, music suite, cafeteria, library and gymnasium, were designed to accommodate a total enrollment of 850, and the study concluded the school was large enough for the area's growth for some time. The campus has since gathered a junior high and an elementary school, the elementary building dated 2014 in the district facilities list, and in the fall of 2025 the board awarded a lighting project covering the Heritage and Woodlan schools.
Growth: Enrollment was about 225 at the 1959 opening and 368 in grades nine through twelve, plus 17 special education pupils, in 1964 to 1965, before Harlan and the junior high grades arrived. With both in place, the count reached 770 in 1988. The modern school has held steady: 706 students in 2018 to 2019 and 743 in 2024 to 2025, across an attendance zone of about 139 square miles covering Woodburn, Harlan and a small section of New Haven.
Athletics: The Warriors, in blue and white, play in the Allen County Athletic Conference. Woodlan's IHSAA landmarks are two football state runner up finishes a generation apart. In 1981 the Class 1A team of coach Leland Etzler lost the final 7 to 6 to Hamilton Southeastern at 8 and 3, and Woodlan's Jeffrey Berning received the class Mental Attitude Award. In 2017 the Class 2A team of coach Sherwood Haydock reached Lucas Oil Stadium at 12 and 3 and lost 15 to 14 to Southridge, which scored with 1:22 left and converted for two. No IHSAA state championship for Woodlan appears in the record books consulted. The Spirit of Woodlan marching band is a 24 time ISSMA state finalist since 1994 and placed seventh in Open Class D in 2025.
Today: Woodlan serves grades seven through twelve for the Woodburn and Harlan country under principal Dennis Kern, with 743 students in 2024 to 2025.
Sources:
- Woodlan Senior High School, Arrow yearbook, 1984 edition, page 7: construction begun 1958, the fall 1959 opening, the Harlan closing and the junior high addition.
- Ball State University study of the East Allen County Schools, May 1965: building description, capacities and enrollment.
- East Allen County Schools, School Bus Replacement Plan and Board minutes, 2024 to 2025: organization in 1962, principal Kern and the lighting award.
- Directory of Allen County Schools, 1957 to 1958, and Milan Township history, INGenWeb: Woodburn High School and the name.
- Indiana High School Athletic Association, Football Records Book and 2017 final report: the runner up finishes.
- National Center for Education Statistics (180285000361): 743 students, 2024 to 2025.
- Spirit of Woodlan and Indiana Bands, 2025: the marching band's ISSMA record.