JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: Lancaster, IN USA: A Place the Bulldozers Forgot

Lancaster, IN USA: A Place the Bulldozers Forgot

By Joli B

18 June 2008

Sharing a bit of a secret with you. Long ago, the area surrounding where I live was lucky enough to be passed over by the bulldozers.

I'm going to take you down the road a piece today to a little village we locals call Lancaster. It's a hidden gem you might have a hard time finding it, but that's okay, we're going as a group today.

Rounding the corner from my home, down a small patch of highway then left on a small country road, we wind around a few bends, up a hill, then down a hill, around a corner with a big old oak, we'll see a small green sign that says, "Lancaster".

There are around 1600 lucky people who call Lancaster their home. The ancestry origins for most all in the village are German (60%) with the rest comprised of Norwegian, Irish, Dutch or French. Most of the people live and work on a farm or in health care at the hospital in closest 'town'.

The village itself is a plethora of 19th and early-20th century structures. Some of them are freshly painted, some of them sagging. All of them beautiful for the photographer's lens or even just a walk on an early summer evening.

A gorgeous monolith you can't miss as you wind your way through Lancaster sits up on a majestic hillside over looking the village. The structure itself is known as Eleutherian College, and was founded in 1848. The college was a vision of a group of individuals that felt education, the arts and equality must be extended to all individuals regardless of their race, gender or income.

Rooted deeply in abolition and considered one of the strongholds for anti-slavery before the Civil War, the village of Lancaster, and the college itself, served as one of the first stops of the underground railroad for fugitive slaves traveling to freedom from the deep south after crossing the Ohio River and entering Indiana.

The college's name is derived from the Greek word "eleutherous" which translates to freedom and equality. Stories abound of students and faculty in pre-Civil War days helping hide former slaves and educating them during their stay at the school before continuing northward. The Hoosier hospitality combined with the new found freedom and equality found by those on the run was new and welcoming. Many chose to stay and call Lancaster home while obtaining their degree.

From 1937 to 1990 Eleutherian College sat empty. In 1990, the land was purchased & restore. Since that time, the college has received numerous recognitions and accolades including, but not limited to: the Indiana & National Register of Historic Places, a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Park Service, Save America's Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a listing on the Millennium Trail Site.

Another recognized structure in the Lancaster is the Hoyt House which was formerly owned by Lyman Hoyt. Born in Vermont in 1804, Lyman Hoyt moved to Indiana in 1834. Mr. Hoyt was an active member of the Neil's Creek Anti-Slavery Society and aided in forming the Liberty Party for abolition of slavery. He and his family were strong supporters of the college. After Mr. Hoyt's death in 1857, his home sat empty. In 2003, the Hoyt House obtained a listing in the National Register of Historic Places and was fully restored and now is a museum and visitor's center for the college.

Throughout the rest of the village you'll find many other beautiful gems. Rolling pasture land, rustic barns, weather-vanes, old wagon wheels, piggies. lambs, cows and a few deer just to name a few the day I walked out there.

There's not much modern in Lancaster. They recently got access to a nearby cell tower which really doesn't matter, because when you go to a village like Lancaster, you won't want your cell phone anyway.

This concludes are visit to the village that's happy the bulldozers passed them by.