Freed slave town in SW Ind. gets attention boost

LYLES STATION, Ind. — A southwestern Indiana community that was founded by freed slaves in the 1840s expects its annual Labor Day weekend events will be busier than usual following word that it will be included in the Smithsonian Institution’s new African-American history museum.

Some 1,500 people typically visit Lyles Station in Gibson County over the weekend for festival activities, tours of the community’s old schoolhouse and family reunions.

New Beginnings Celebration chairman Stanley Madison tells the Evansville Courier & Press he’s received many phone calls and emails about the Smithsonian decision.

He says the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture opening in 2015 will have material about Lyles Station, which had hundreds of residents in the early 1900s.

Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com