Princeton in Gibson County, Indiana — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Lyles Station
1849 Present
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 23, 2021
1. Lyles Station Marker
Inscription.
Lyles Station. 1849 Present. The legacy of Lyles Station, a small community located 4.5 miles west of Princeton, Indiana, began in the early 1800s as a settlement of free black men near the convergence of the Wabash, Patoka and White Rivers. In 1870 Joshua Lyles, a free black man from Tennessee, donated 6 acres of ground to the Old Airline Railroad to establish a rail station in what was then called the Switch Settlement. In 1886 the settlement was officially named Lyles Station in honor of Joshua Lyles and his contribution. The town flourished during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developing into a self-sustaining community of approximately 800 residents. At its peak, Lyles Station consisted of 55 homes, a post office, a railroad station, an elementary school, two churches, two general stores and a lumber mill. When the Patoka and Wabash Rivers flooded in 1913, much of the area was left under water, and this event marked the start of the settlement's decline. Today, only a few homes remain in Lyles Station, but nearly half of the residents are descendants of the original black settlers. Along with the scattered houses, the Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Church, a grain elevator and the schoolhouse are all that stand as a physical reminder of the once-thriving settlement of Lyles Station, Indiana. The spirit of freedom and perseverance that made the town prosper is still very much alive in the hearts and minds of the community members who worked to restore the Lyles Consolidated School building in 2002. The dreams of preserving the Lyles Station legacy were realized in 2003 with the re-opening of the Lyle Consolidated School as a museum and educational center.
The legacy of Lyles Station, a small community located 4.5 miles west of Princeton, Indiana, began in the early 1800s as a settlement of free black men near the convergence of the Wabash, Patoka & White Rivers. In 1870 Joshua Lyles, a free black man from Tennessee, donated 6 acres of ground to the Old Airline Railroad to establish a rail station in what was then called the Switch Settlement. In 1886 the settlement was officially named Lyles Station in honor of Joshua Lyles & his contribution. The town flourished during the late 19th & early 20th centuries, developing into a self-sustaining community of approximately 800 residents. At its peak, Lyles Station consisted of 55 homes, a post office, a railroad station, an elementary school, two churches, two general stores & a lumber mill. When the Patoka & Wabash Rivers flooded in 1913, much of the area was left under water, & this event marked the start of the settlement's decline. Today, only a few homes remain in Lyles Station, but nearly half of the residents are descendants of the original black settlers. Along with the scattered houses, the Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Church, a grain elevator & the schoolhouse are all that stand as a physical reminder of the once-thriving settlement of Lyles Station, Indiana. The spirit of freedom & perseverance that made the town prosper is still very much
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alive in the hearts & minds of the community members who worked to restore the Lyles Consolidated School building in 2002. The dreams of preserving the Lyles Station legacy were realized in 2003 with the re-opening of the Lyle Consolidated School as a museum & educational center.
Location. 38° 21.332′ N, 87° 34.216′ W. Marker is in Princeton, Indiana, in Gibson County. It is at the intersection of West Broadway Street (Indiana Route 65) and North West Street, on the left when traveling east on West Broadway Street. Marker is located in the heritage plaza at the southeast corner of Downtown Princeton Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 300 West Broadway Street, Princeton IN 47670, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Indiana’s Tri-State Region, in Southern Indiana, and in the Wabash Valley. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
The roots of Lyles Station began around the 1840s when two free African Americans from Tennessee, Joshua Lyles and his brother Sanford Lyles, purchased land near the Wabash, White, and Patoka Rivers in southwestern Indiana with help from local Quakers. They and their families improved and farmed the land, so that by the Civil War their holdings consisted of hundreds of acres. Other newly relocated blacks joined them. According to tradition, Lyles aided fugitive slaves coming north from Tennessee during the antebellum period, offering them a safe haven to either settle in or to rest until they continued on to other locations on the Underground Railroad. The community was then known as the Switch Settlement.
(Submitted on January 18, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 23, 2021
3. Lyles Station Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on January 20, 2022. It was originally submitted on January 17, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 471 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on January 18, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
