Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Since 2007

Search results for: “monroe school”

  • single frame: James Monroe School

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  • Why I stay on Facebook even though I don’t enjoy it much

    I’d leave Facebook for good were it not for moments of real joy such as the one this photo, posted there, brought.

  • The incredibly sticky sense of place

    The land on which my home stands was farmland not 20 years ago. It’s typical: thanks to sprawl, many American neighborhoods occupy land that produced crops sometime within the last hundred years. In my town, a suburb of Indianapolis, neighboring subdivisions and shopping centers are brand new. I remember well the farmland that was there…

  • The story of Story, Indiana

    A surprising amount is known about the little village of Story, today a tourist destination off Brown County, Indiana’s, beaten path. I tell the village’s history in thumbnail.

  • The incredibly sticky sense of place

    If you’ve lived in one place for a long time, think back on how much the area has changed. Think especially of farmland that now boasts subdivisions or office parks. Don’t we marvel at the sprawl? Don’t we rail at how a long stretch of lonely road turned into a string of maddening stoplights? Don’t…

  • School renovation completed

    After my brother, his best friend Mike, and I had soaked in the nostalgia of visiting our old neighborhood, we walked to our elementary school just as we used to 35 years ago. The school had undergone extensive renovations and expansion and was open to the public to tour. We made a special trip to…

  • School speed limits

    This is where I went to elementary school. James Monroe School, built in 1931, was probably a model of modern school buildings in its day. Its slate roof and copper gutters had to cost a fortune. It was built anticipating growth on South Bend’s south side. I once saw a 1941 photograph of a class…

  • School renovation

    At first I thought everybody went to elementary schools that looked like castles, with red brick trimmed in white, slate roofs, copper gutters, and wooded yards kept well groomed. The arched wooden entry doors carried on the castle theme. (They were heavy! They were also replaced several years ago with modern glass and steel doors,…

  • School renovation revisited

    The elementary school I attended, a beautiful building that looks like a castle, is currently undergoing renovations. I wrote about it once before, back in April, and shared some photos of the destruction. I was worried that their interior renovations were damaging some of James Monroe School’s character. I was in South Bend over Thanksgiving…