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From: Ann B Newsom <>
Subject: [OHMadison] Lilly Chapel
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2003 20:10:37 -0400 (EDT)
In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.1.20031005070009.01a7d840@mail.wecnet.com>


> Lily Chapel is almost straight east of London in Madison County.
> It is a very tiny village with the intersection being a 4 way which
> really makes up the Main Streets....There was/is a road there called the
> Georgetown Pike (think that is what it is called) that was the early means
> of road transport. There also is a rail through Lily Chapel that was
> central to the town in it's history....
> Hope this helps...
> Jerri in Minnesota

It's known to the Lilly Chapel residents as the Georgesville
Pike, and to the Georgesville residents as the Lilly Chapel Pike. I have
even heard it referred to as the Chapel Pike. Going west from Chapel it
used to be called the London Pike, because London is the west "terminis".
The old maps call it the London - Georgesville Pike...that covers it in both
directions! This is the east-west road at that 4-way stop.

The trouble with the "pikes" is unless they have both town names, you
really don't know which one is being discussed. The other road at
that 4-way stop is another Pike...the West Jefferson-Kiousville Pike.

Jerri, something you might find interesting since you were there. Do you
remember a dark red "skinny" building on the northeast corner, opposite
the church? It is the old Masonic Hall building. They had their meetings
on the second floor and rented out the first floor to the Lilly family who
operated a general store there for YEARS! We "all" went to school with
Lilly children!

The railroad still operates, but barely. there is a new grain elevator there
and the railroad cars are backed in from Columbus to haul the grain out.
The old elevator buildings are basically gone. I used to ride with my
Dad and Granddad up there to "dump" grain. It was owned and operated by
the Sark and Plum families.

Did you see the original three room school building? It is west of the
stop sign about an eighth of a mile. It is somewhat overgrown, but you can
still see it all. It's one of the few that hasn't been torn down....Maybe
since it's obscured no one thinks about it. It was last used in 1916,
before the "new" Fairfield Township School Building was built and all
the township kids were bussed there. (Yes, they had enclosed motorized
busses!) It is about 3-4 miles south of Chapel on the W Jeff-Kiousville Rd.

There is a very nice write up about Chapel in the History of Madison
Co and they mention some, but not all, of the families living there in the
1880s.

It was a beautiful, thriving crossroads. It went through a bit of a bad
time in the 60s and 70s when so many people were moving to Columbus, but
it has had a bit of a resuragence in the 90s with Columbus folks
moving in, looking for a "simpler" life. And of course that opens up a
whole new Pandora's Box for the long-time locals.

Chewed your ear long enough.

Ann Bricker Newsom
Columbus, Ohio
(grew up near Kiousville, Madison Co Ohio)

In Madison Co. Ohio searching for Oglesbee, Emmons, Mock, Bricker, King, Cox


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