Old Daniel Wertz School

Howell Elementary opened in 1886 and was renamed in 1922 to Daniel Wertz after a prestigious businessman in Evansville. Many additions were made over the years especially after the Howell District was adopted into Evansville in 1916. With the rapid growth of Evansville, the original school was sold to Howell Baptist Church in 1987 and a new location was built on Red Bank Rd. The new school is still in operation as an elementary school and the original school was razed in 1990 and is now where Howell Baptist Church stands. 

Old Daniel Wertz School was one of the only schools in the Howell district of Evansville. In 1898, the first addition to the school was built along what is now Emerson St. Two other additions were added on, one in 1935 on the backend of the building and another on the west end in 1958.

As said before, the school was built for the Howell district and was later added onto the city of Evansville in 1916. In 1922, the school was renamed for prominent businessman in Evansville, Daniel Wertz. He was a property owner and politician. In the mid-1980s Evansville began closing township schools, or in other words, neighborhood schools as they grew more into a public school district. Old Daniel Wertz was one of these schools, especially since the area outgrew the school. The city decided to move the school to its current location on Red Bank Rd on Evansville’s west side.

In 1987 the original school was sold the Howell Baptist church, and they used it as storage. However, in 1990 the decision was made to raze the school. All that remains are the original sidewalk entryways from the school that served the Howell community for years. For further reading please follow the links below!

Howell School, Historic Evansville. Accessed November 30th, 2023. https://historicevansville.com/site.php?id=olddanielwertz.

Engler, Joe. Old Daniel Wertz School, Vanderburgh County Historical Society. March 18th, 2014. Accessed November 30th, 2023. https://www.vchshistory.org/2014/03/18/old-daniel-wertz-school/.