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A Polaroid photo of the abandoned Hillcrest School on Tillman Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The brown brick building features glazed ceramic columns flanking the doors and carved limestone letters at the top of the facade spelling out the school name.
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Hillcrest School Hillcrest School

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Hillcrest School

Polaroid photograph of the abandoned Hillcrest School building on the north side of Tillman Road, between Hanna Street and John Street, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Hillcrest School opened in 1929 and closed in 1979. When I was a child, it was owned by local photographer Ben Berry. He opened a toy store, called Berry Patch Toys, in the school's gym. After he closed the store, he used part of the school as a portrait photography studio. The Fort Wayne Housing Authority bought the old school a few years ago and will likely demolish it.

The school was designed by the local architecture firm of Goodrich and Griffith. They also designed Elmhurst School, Franklin School, and South Side High School. Hillcrest and Elmhurst were nearly identical to each other. Elmhurst eventually became a high school. It was expanded several times, though the original building was still visible on Elmhurst High's southeast corner.

Fort Wayne Community Schools closed Elmhurst High School in 2010 and the school was demolished in 2018. This leaves Hillcrest as the last remaining school of this design.

7-13-22

Update: The Hillcrest School was demolished in November, 2024.