Lyles Station, Indiana
Unincorporated community in Indiana, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Lyles Station, Indiana?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Lyles or Lyles Station is an unincorporated community in Patoka Township, Gibson County, Indiana. The community dates from 1849, although its early settlers first arrived in the 1830s, and it was formally named Lyles Station in 1886 to honor Joshua Lyles, a free African American who migrated with his family from Tennessee to Indiana around 1837. Lyles Station is one of Indiana's early black rural settlements and the only one remaining. The rural settlement reached its peak in the years between 1880 and 1912, when major structures in the community included the railroad depot, a post office, a lumber mill, two general stores, two churches, and a school. By the turn of the twentieth century, Lyles Station had fifty-five homes, with a population of more than 800 people. The farming community never fully recovered from the Great Flood of 1913, which destroyed much of the town. Most of its residents left for economic reasons, seeking opportunities for higher paying jobs and additional education in larger cities. By 1997 approximately fifteen families remained at Lyles Station, nearly all of them descended from the original settlers.
Lyles Station, Indiana | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 38°22′13″N 87°39′33″W | |
Country | United States |
State | Indiana |
County | Gibson |
Township | Patoka |
Lyle's Purchase | 1849 |
Elevation | 400 ft (100 m) |
Population (2000) | |
• Total | 401 |
ZIP code | 47670 |
FIPS code | 18-45414[1] |
GNIS feature ID | 438427[2] |
Website | http://lylesstation.org/ |
Although most of Indiana's black rural settlements no longer exist as self-contained communities, Lyles Station continues. The restored Lyles Consolidated School building, which serves as a local living history museum and a community center, and the Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, are two remaining points of interest in Lyles Station.
The "Power of Place" exhibition in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which opened in 2016, features Lyles Station as part of its exhibition on black rural communities in the Midwest.[3] The exhibit includes hundreds of items from the Lyles Station area, including a horse-drawn plow used by Joshua Lyles, clothing, a quilt, and soil from the Greer family farm which has been farmed by the Greer family for over 150 years. [4]