Keeping the Faith

In the late 1990s, Indiana Landmarks first partnered with residents of Lyles Station in Gibson County to save the Lyles Station Consolidated School, one of the early Black settlement’s few remaining landmarks. Built in 1919, it was in deep disrepair and partially collapsed. Now a museum and heritage learning center with regular programming, the once-threatened museum is an inspiring success story illustrating how even in small, rural communities, great things can be accomplished with dedicated vision and partnerships.

More than 35 years later, the Lyles Station community is harnessing that same spirit, partnering with Indiana Landmarks once again to bolster restoration efforts at Wayman Chapel AME Church, which has served the area since 1886, bearing witness to baptisms, weddings, funerals, and acting as an important connection point for the community.

The 1919 Wayman Chapel AME Church needs repairs inside and out to address problems caused by a sinking foundation. PHOTO: Stephanie Richard

After 140 years, the church’s building is showing its age with a sinking foundation and shifting and sagging windows that make heating and cooling overwhelmingly expensive. Roofing, siding, and electrical systems have also reached the end of their useful lifespans or are in need of repair. As shifting and heaving in the foundation became more prominent, making navigating the floor unusable and unsafe, church elders made the difficult decision to close the sanctuary.

In the realm of historic preservation, a small, rural congregation has the odds stacked against them. Community and state resources are often diverted to projects that can tout the largest community impact and appeal to the most funders, but in Lyles Station, church and community leaders are rallying behind Wayman Chapel’s restoration, believing its heritage is too important to forget.

Saving Wayman Chapel will be a significant challenge, however, small grants from Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program, The Standiford H. Cox Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, and Indiana Landmarks’ Sacred Places Indiana program are spurring the start of its revitalization, allowing the congregation to complete an architectural and engineering analysis that is already informing next steps for the building.

Indiana Landmarks helped Wayman Chapel’s congregation secure several grants for studies to guide repairs, including a geotechnical analysis (above) to determine the best design for a new foundation. PHOTO: Stephanie Richard

The analysis also uncovered the need for a geotechnical investigation to determine how best to design the new foundation to accommodate soil conditions. This study positioned Wayman Chapel to apply for more substantial capital funding to bring broader awareness to its plight and need for urgent stabilization. In February, the research paid off when the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced Wayman Chapel received a $500,000 capital grant for rehabilitation from its Preserving Black Churches program, further securing the future of an irreplaceable Lyles Station landmark.