Lyles Station
Before Lyles Station was known by its current name, it was called the Switch Settlement. The first individuals to settle in this area were Joshua Lyles, the namesake of Lyles Station, and his brother Sanford. Raised in Virginia, the Lyles brothers moved to Tennessee before traveling with a group of Quakers to settle in Indiana sometime in the late 1830s to early 40s. By the 1860s, the Lyles brothers’ holdings measured up to hundreds of acres of farmland.
The area’s population expanded over time. Families of free and formerly enslaved people arrived in the area, epting the safety and shelter that Joshua Lyles and the other settlers offered them. Following the American Civil War, Lyles Station saw an even larger increase in residents.
To accompany the community’s growth, Lyles Station also saw the formation and establishment of a local church, Hardshell Baptist Church, and a subscription school to serve their local community. A subscription school was a form of informal schoolhouse, usually with one teacher, where families could pay per day and per person for their children to receive an education. Rural communities would typically pay one adult to teach for a few months a year in order for children to learn basic reading and math.
In 1870, Joshua Lyles donated some of his land in order to build a local stop for the Old Airline Railroad on the Louisville-St. Lois railroad line. This line made export of crops from local farms much easier. One year after Joshua’s death in 1885, the community was officially incorporated, meaning the community received permission from the state government to form their own local government. Both the rail station and the community itself became known as Lyles Station.
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