Lee, Indiana

Lee, Indiana
Unincorporated community
View north from Madison Street toward corn fields and grain elevators
View north from Madison Street toward corn fields and grain elevators
Lee is located in Indiana
Lee
Lee
Lee is located in the United States
Lee
Lee
Coordinates: 40°53′47″N 86°58′05″W / 40.89639°N 86.96806°W / 40.89639; -86.96806
CountryUnited States
StateIndiana
CountyWhite
TownshipMonon
Established1883
PlattedAugust 1886
Named forJohn Lee
Elevation
[1]
673 ft (205 m)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
47978
FIPS code18-42642[2]
GNIS feature ID437727

Lee is an unincorporated community in Monon Township, White County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.[3][4]

History

The site of what is now Lee is first recorded as a station stop on the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad,[5] a company which by late 1879 had completed its initial 40-mile stretch of railroad connecting Rensselaer and Delphi.[6] The following year on 25 October[7] a post office was established at the location to serve the rural districts northwest of Monon with Calvin Anderson as its first postmaster.[8][9] Around 1884 the railroad became known as the Monon Route.[6][10]

Lee was established in 1883 and named for John Lee, the president of the ID&C Railroad, who opened a grain market there.[11][5] Lee's location in the northwestern portion of the county[12] was "a rich district of drained lands, admirably adapted to live stock," and as well as a place for marketing and shipping grain it was also an important local shipping point for hay; a 1915 history notes that hundreds of tons were baled and shipped annually.[13]

In August 1886 the location was platted under the name of Oakdale by Noble J. York, a local businessman and president of the Monon town board,[14] and Benjamin A. Linville, but it was generally known as Lee.[13] In 1949, a petition led to one of Lee's street being vacated .[15][16]

Lee's post office closed on 30 June 1933.[7][17] The line through Lee is now part of CSX Transportation Monon Subdivision[18] and is used by Amtrak. While shown on Amtrak maps, service provided on the Cardinal (and previously also on the Hoosier State) does not stop at Lee.[19]

In 2016, Helen Louise George, an 88-year resident of the area, published History and Reflections of Lee, Indiana which chronicles the history of Lee.[20]

Geography

Lee is located at 40°53′47″N 86°58′05″W / 40.89639°N 86.96806°W / 40.89639; -86.96806 about 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Monon[8][13] near the intersection of County Roads 1000 North and 500 West[21] and on the rail line between Monon and Rensselaer.[18][22] The surrounding farmland is drained by Slough Creek, a tributary of the Iroquois River[23] that flows just south of Lee in a westward direction.

  • White County map, 1908
    White County map, 1908
  • Monon Township map detail, 1920
    Monon Township map detail, 1920
  • Abandoned church in Lee in 2019
    Abandoned church in Lee in 2019

References

  1. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  2. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  3. ^ "Lee, Indiana". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  4. ^ "Indiana Roadway Map" (PDF). Indiana Department of Transportation. 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Monon Railroad Historical Technical Society: McCoysburg". Retrieved September 10, 2022. Lee. MP 83.1 1st Subdivision. Named for the President of the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad, John Lee, this community was founded in 1883. The station name appears on timetables of the ID&C as early as 1878. The community was a grain market.
  6. ^ a b The Indianian, Volumes 3-4, Indiana Trustees' Association, 1898, pp. 414–415, In 1872 a company was organized to construct a narrow gauge railroad from Indianapolis to Chicago, under the title of the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad. By the latter part of 1879 about forty miles of this projected road, that part running from Delphi to Rensselaer, was built and opened for traffic.
  7. ^ a b Baker, Ronald L. (1995), From Needmore to Prosperity, Indiana University Press, p. 194, A post office was established on October 25, 1880; closed on June 30, 1933. The village was named for John Lee, president of the Indianapolis, Delphi, and Chicago Railroad, who developed a grain market here.
  8. ^ a b Goodspeed, Weston Arthur (1883), Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, F. A. Battey & Co.; reproduced by Unigraphic, p. 172, Lee Post Office, in the northwest corner of the township, was established about the year 1880. The first Postmaster was Calvin Anderson. He was succeeded, late in 1882, by Mr. Hoover, the present encumbent.
  9. ^ Bass, Cotter (2020), The Treasure Hunter's Guide To Indiana's Lost & Buried Treasures: Plus Ghost Towns & Historic Sites, BookRix, ISBN 9783748767732
  10. ^ "Monon Route" (PDF). Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway. 1947. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  11. ^ Baker, Ronald L.; Carmony, Marvin (1975), Indiana Place Names, Indiana University Press, p. 89, Lee, village in White County. Established in 1883 as a grain market by John Lee, president of the Indianapolis, Delphi, and Chicago Railroad and named for him.
  12. ^ Carroll-White Counties Indiana Official Plat Book 2010: Including Index of Owners, City Street Maps (10th ed.), Laporte, Indiana: Athentic, Inc., 2010, p. 57
  13. ^ a b c Hamelle, W. H. (1915), A Standard History of White County, Indiana: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with an Extended Survey of Modern Developments in the Progress of Town and Country, University of Wisconsin - Madison, pp. 209–210, The only existing postoffice in Monon Township outside the village is Lee, in the northwest corner, about a mile from the Jasper County line on the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago (Monon) Railroad... In August of [1886] it was platted by Benjamin A. Linville and Noble J. York, who laid out 120 lots on fractions of sections 3, 10 and 11, township 28 north, range 5 west. It is about five miles northwest of Monon and is the center of a rich district of drained lands, admirably adapted to live stock... Oakdale, or Lee, is an important shipping point for hay. Hundreds of tons are baled at the station every year and shipped abroad, and, with the improvement of the surrounding farming lands, it has become an equally good point for the marketing and shipping of grain.
  14. ^ Biographical History of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski Counties, Indiana, Volume 2, Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 821–823
  15. ^ "School Teachers..." Journal and Courier (at Newspapers.com). July 8, 1949. p. 6.
  16. ^ "Board will review White tax budgets". Journal and Courier (at Newspapers.com). September 10, 1949. p. 10.
  17. ^ "White County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved July 6, 2016. Lee (1880-1933)
  18. ^ a b "Indiana Railroad System" (PDF). Indiana Geological Survey (Appendix). 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  19. ^ "Cardinal". Amtrak. 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  20. ^ Sievers, Caitlin (December 27, 2016). "Area senior publishes first book at 88 years old". Herald Journal. Monticello, Indiana. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  21. ^ Boyd, Gregory A. (2010), Family Maps of White County, Indiana: with homesteads, roads, waterways, towns, cemeteries, railroads, and more, Arphax Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4203-2023-7, Map D Index: Cities and Towns of White County Indiana: Lee.
  22. ^ Railroad map of Indiana (Map). 1:570,240. Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners. c. 1896. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  23. ^ "Iroquois Watershed" (PDF). NRCS Field Office Technical Guide. USDA. Winter 2013. Retrieved September 10, 2022.