History of Beiger Elementary School

In 1917, a small brick building was built on East Third Street between Virgil and Melville Streets behind the farmhouse of Martin Beiger. A modern two-story building was erected for kindergarten through ninth grades in 1928. Because the small building on Third Street was converted to shops for manual training, Beiger students used the east wing of Mishawaka High School while the new building was under construction.

Property east of Beiger School was acquired for a playground in 1956. Also during this time, classroom space was rented in the East Methodist Church to provide facilities for growing enrollment. In 1957, a ten-room wing was added south of the school to match the older building. A third addition in 1972 added a cafeteria, new gymnasium, shop and drafting areas, junior high science rooms, music rooms, home economics rooms, and a courtyard. This new addition was dedicated on September 29, 1974 for kindergarten through ninth grades.

By 2002, plans for a brand new building were in the works. The current Beiger school consisting of 78,580 sq. ft. was built in 2003 on what was the playground area of the previous school. To respond to the community’s historical sentiment toward the original school and its desire to link the new school with the former school, the original arched stone entry with detailed tracery was removed carefully from the original school and reconstructed as a feature element within the main lobby area.