Monroe Central School Corporation, formed in 1956, is a consolidation of Green, Stoney Creek, Parker, and Farmland schools. For two school years after the consolidation, all four schools continued to serve grades one to twelve as they had in the past. In the fall of 1958, grades seven through twelve from Stoney Creek School attended Farmland. Green and Stoney Creek schools continued as elementary schools, until the fall of 1961, when Green School was phased out.
During the school years of 1961-62 and 1962-63, Parker provided educational facilities for grades 1-4 and 7-12 for Green and Parker students; Farmland provided facilities for grades 1-4 and 7-12 from Stoney Creek and Farmland. Stoney Creek school was used by all fifth and sixth graders in the corporation.
To relieve the crowded conditions, a new high school was built. Dedicated in 1963, Monroe Central Junior-Senior High School provided educational facilities for grades 7-12 in Monroe Central School Corporation. Stoney Creek was phased out and Farmland and Parker continued as elementary schools for the corporation.
On Wednesday, April 3, 1974, Monroe Central Jr.-Sr. High School was destroyed by a tornado. Administrators, teachers, students, community members, and other volunteers worked long hours to salvage materials from the various departments and to plan for the education of 535 students for the remainder of the school year.
School began on Monday, April 15, 1974, for teachers and on April 16 for students. Only three days of school had been missed because spring vacation during the week of April 8 had provided time for arrangements to be made.
Parker Elementary School served as the corporation elementary school for the remainder of the 1973-1974 school year, with Parker students attending classes in the morning and Farmland students attending classes in the afternoon.
In the meantime, Monroe Central students in grades 7-12 used the Farmland elementary building, as well as rooms in the nearby United Methodist and Christian churches. Conditions were crowded to the point that the gymnasium was partitioned into four classrooms with the use of filing cabinets and portable bulletin boards.
By the fall of 1974, a Federal Disaster Grant provided funds to purchase fifteen relocatable classrooms. The opening of school was delayed for a couple of weeks while the installation of these buildings was completed. Parker elementary students attended the Parker school; Farmland elementary students and corporation junior high students were housed in the portable units; and grades 9-12 used the Farmland elementary building.
The new high school facility, built on the same site as the old high school, was first occupied in April of 1978, four years to the month after the first MCHS was demolished by the tornado. The Farmland and Parker buildings continued to be used as elementary schools until 1983 when they were combined into a new facility just west of the high school.
The junior-senior high school building has been expanded to include the new Millennium Wing that contains several new classrooms and a large meeting room. There is also a new auxiliary gym that continues to meet the needs of all our athletic programs. The gym is named for Mr. Larry K. Hall, a retired teacher and principal at Monroe Central.