Location: CR 500 W near CR 100 N in front of restored Lyles Consolidated School, 1 mile north of SR 64 & 65, Lyles Station, 5 miles west of Princeton. (Gibson County, Indiana)
Installed: 2002 Indiana Historical Bureau and Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation
ID# : 26.2002.1
Text
Side one:
Settled in late 1840s by Joshua and Sanford Lyles, former slaves from Tennessee. African Methodist Episcopal Church (since 1860) and schools (1865-1958) played important roles in sustaining the community. On land donated by Joshua Lyles, railroad companies maintained a station circa 1870-1950s for passenger, freight, and mail service.
Side two:
Named Lyles Station 1886. Community declined after widespread flooding in 1913. It remains probably most intact African-American settlement in the state; several present residents are descendants of original settlers. Lyles Consolidated School, built 1919, listed in National Register of Historic Places 1999; restoration began 2001.
Keywords
African American, Historic District, Neighborhoods, and Towns
Annotated Text
Side one:
Settled in late 1840s by Joshua and Sanford Lyles, former slaves from Tennessee.(1) African Methodist Episcopal Church (since 1860) and schools (1865-1958) played important roles in sustaining the community.(2) On land donated by Joshua Lyles, railroad companies maintained a station circa 1870-1950s for passenger, freight, and mail service.(3)
Side two:
Named Lyles Station 1886.(4) Community declined after widespread flooding in 1913.(5) It remains probably most intact African-American settlement in the state; several present residents are descendants of original settlers.(6) Lyles Consolidated School, built 1919, listed in National Register of Historic Places 1999; restoration began 2001.(7)
1) Carl C. Lyles, Lyles Station, Indiana: Yesterday and Today (Evansville, Ind., 1984), p. 1-3; Manuscript Census for Gibson County (Microfilm M 432, Reel 147) confirms Joshua Lyle's presence in 1850.
2) Lyles, 30, 31, 32; Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900 (Bloomington, Indiana, 1993), p. 320.
3) Lyles, ix, 2-3; Richard S. Simons and Francis H. Parker, Railroads of Indiana (Bloomington, 1997), p. 147.
4) Lyles, 2.
5) Ibid., 7.
6) John Shaughnessy, "Man wants heritage, " February 3, 1986, Indianapolis Star; Bill Shaw, "A Beacon of History, " February 2, 1991, Indianapolis Star; National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (1998), listed 1999.
7) National Register Form; Alpha Lambda Chapter, et al, Bits and Pieces About Rural Grade Schools of Gibson County, Indiana (n.p., 1985), p. 76-77; Evan Bayh's News Release, May 22, 2000; phone conversations with E. Bayh's press representative, May-June, 2001.