Lee is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Monon Township,
White County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
.
History
The site of what is now Lee is first recorded as a station stop on the
Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad
The Monon Railroad , also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway from 1897 to 1971, was an American railroad that operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville and Nashville R ...
,
a company which by late 1879 had completed its initial 40-mile stretch of railroad connecting
Rensselaer and
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
.
The following year on 25 October
a post office was established at the location to serve the rural districts northwest of
Monon with Calvin Anderson as its first postmaster.
Around 1884 the railroad became known as the
Monon Route.
Lee was established in 1883 and named for John Lee, the president of the ID&C Railroad, who opened a grain market there.
Lee's location in the northwestern portion of the county
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.
In August 1886 the location was
platted
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
under the name of Oakdale by Noble J. York, a local businessman and president of the Monon town board,
and Benjamin A. Linville, but it was generally known as Lee.
In 1949, a petition led to one of Lee's street being
vacated
A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. ...
.
Lee's post office closed on 30 June 1933.
The line through Lee is now part of
CSX Transportation Monon Subdivision and is used by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
. While shown on Amtrak maps, service provided on the ''
Cardinal'' (and previously also on the ''
Hoosier State
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...
'') does not stop at Lee.
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.
Geography
Lee is located at about northwest of
Monon near the intersection of County Roads 1000 North and 500 West
and on the rail line between Monon and
Rensselaer.
The surrounding farmland is drained by Slough Creek, a tributary of the
Iroquois River that flows just south of Lee in a westward direction.
Gallery
File:WhiteCounty.IN.map.1908.png, White County map, 1908
File:WhiteCounty.IN.(NW detail map).png, Monon Township map detail, 1920
File:Monon church 14.jpg, Abandoned church in Lee in 2019
References
External links
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Abandoned church at Lee(image)
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in White County, Indiana
Unincorporated communities in Indiana