The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County invites the community to attend the unveiling of a new historical marker commemorating the second Lincoln School for Colored Children on Saturday, June 20, starting at 11 a.m. This follows nearly five years of work dedicated to research, funding, and community collaboration to preserve the memory of the school, which was demolished in 1981. Today, it is the site of Lincoln Park at 950 E. Wabash Ave.
“When we were doing our research, we found out that there was a lack of education for Blacks, and Black parents wanted the best for their children,” said Shannon Hudson, who is a member of the League of Women Voters and also a current science teacher at Crawfordsville Middle School. “That was where Bethel AME stepped in. We believe the middle section was the original church, where it originally housed 26 students before exploding to 125.”
Indiana’s 1852 Free School Law excluded Black children from obtaining publicly funded education. This was during a time of racial segregation, where Black and white students were educated in separate buildings. For a time, churches like Bethel AME were the only places where Black children could receive a formal education.
In 1881, the Crawfordsville School Trustees authorized construction of the city’s first all-Black school. This was the first Lincoln School for Colored Children, colloquially known as “Lincoln 1”. After the second Lincoln School was built on Wabash Ave., the Horace Mann School moved into the building of Lincoln 1, which was located at the corner of Spring and North Walnut streets. It was demolished in 1964.
“My father wouldn’t talk about his experience as a student at the second Lincoln school until the day they began tearing down the building”, said Vicke Elmore Hudson-Swisher, who co-authored a couple of books about the Underground Railroad in Montgomery County with Hudson. “Being nosy kids, we found a piece of paper inside a tree. It was his report card, which had a D-. He had such a bad grade because of the disparity in the quality of education between leaving Lincoln and coming to Horace Mann. There’s nothing to brag about being discriminated against”.
Vicke’s father, Francis Elmore, was the subject of a Journal Review story where he was stripped of his athletic letters following a physical altercation with his principal in the 1950s. This happened when the principal refused to allow him to play for the baseball team.
“The coach and the principal had made a deal with him: as long as he made three practices, he’d make the team. He was working at the time, but he made those practices,” said Vicke. “When the principal didn’t give it to him and he went to the office to find out why, the principal stated: ‘I don’t have to honor anything to a…not nice word”.
According to the article, he “[didn’t] know whether race played a factor in the incident”. He eventually got his letter jacket over six decades later in 2019. Francis recently passed away at the age of 90 on May 28, 2026.
“He never took that jacket off”, Vicke said. “He was proud of it”.
WCDQ had the chance to stop by the Bethel AME Church on North St. to talk with Vicke and Shannon about the history behind the two Lincoln Schools and Francis’ legacy. The full interview can be heard below.
The unveiling ceremony will feature catering by Norvell’s BBQ, as well as a commemorative cake prepared by notable Crawfordsville resident Sue Lucas. Free will donations in benefit of the Bethel AME Church are accepted. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and alcohol-free beverages. Limited parking is available at Lincoln Park, with overflow available on Beech Street.
To learn more about the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County, click or tap here.
Headline photo taken by Kurtis Broadstreet.