Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories,

Madison County, Indiana

Indian Graveyard

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Lafayette Township

Location: east side of CR 200W, at the corner of CR 375N in Florida Station

    According to mid 20th century MCCC archives, a Native American burial ground once existed in the middle of what is now Florida Station, specifically between the railroad and CR 375N on the east side of CR 200W.  This location would place the burial ground at the only crossroads of the hamlet.  While there exists no written record of this burial site's location or even existence, sometimes the stories and remembrances handed down in families, or in this case to historians, are the only pieces left of a site's or people's history.  Evidently, at some point in the early or middle part of the previous century, a Madison County Historical Society member was told by a knowledgeable and reliable source that local "Indians" once used this spot to bury their dead.  Perhaps the story came up when the railroad was being constructed, since it is next to the site, or when the last Native Americans in Madison County migrated west in the 1830s or when Florida Station was being planned and built.  Maybe the station's designers did not want to desecrate hallowed ground.  The burial site does not have any buildings on it but appears to be the side yards of houses built along CR 375N.  However the story was handed down, the MCHS, at the time, regarded the folk history with respect and recorded the burial ground's location for future reference and research.