Cataract Schoolhouse

08/30/2026

Yesterday, Larry Linnaman, our local historian, took me on a ride down Cataract Road. He showed me the place where the line passes through Cataract. We then checked out one of the other sites by Indiana Landmarks where the line passes through Hwy 40 at Brazil. On the way back he showed me a place in Cataract Falls State Park where it crosses through the park midway between the Upper and Lower Falls. This would be a perfect location for placing a Landmark Sign.

08/28/2026

On September 1st the old schoolhouse will be visited by the Indiana Historical Landmark group. We are hoping for Landmark Status for the whole Cataract Community. If that is not possible, we are looking for status for the General Store and the Schoolhouse. We have completed repairs on the ceiling and sone other repairs. We will be working hard this week to be ready for this opportunity.

08/13/2026

WOW!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!!! The storm of August 11, 2026, has just added another chapter to the Old Cataract Schoolhouse's colorful history. The original "Ye Ole Cataract Outhouse" has its own history. It was built in 1848 thereabouts as one of two. This was the girl's outhouse as the boys was discovered in an excavation in 2015 completely buried. In 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the Works Progress Administration to put Americans back to work. The old cataract outhouse was renovated as part of that action. It became "the Cadillac" outhouse of the era. You now can plainly see that the columns of the seats were roughly 15 degrees canted toward each other. I call them conversational toilets. When the school closed in 1947, the outhouse was neglected until 2011 when I restored it. It was updated again in September of 2025, and I discovered that there was one of the toilet seats with 15 attempts to repair unsuccessfully. You can see that the girl's outhouse is designated by the crescent moon on the door.

08/11/2026

Today, I took a few moments to paint a birdhouse. It's not done yet but it's starting to look more like a self-portrait. (sigh)

08/11/2026

On Saturday a bicycle club from Bloomington stopped by the school on a round trip. They were twenty miles into the trip and at the turnaround point. As luck would have it, they were pretty thirsty and cleaned me out of waters. I showed them the way home.

08/10/2026

08/10/2026

Played with Landscaping Lighting for the School Property tonight. More to come.

08/06/2026

Had a great Monday when son Andrew with Megan and Merideth came to help out at the schoolhouse. Megan doing community service time at the school for her application to the National Honor Society. Merideth manned a Lemonade stand in front. Put Megan to work sweeping and mopping the schoolhouse and staining things outside. Did a great job and Dad pitched in.

07/21/2026

Volunteers at Cataract are making a difference at the school as just in the last few days the Landscaping has been upgraded. We have many awesome people coming to the school to sort out inside improvements. We are blessed to have Cloverdale Christian Church to spearhead this project and we could not be more grateful for these heros.