Lewis Jones House, Centerville

Centerville, Indiana, is sometimes called the City of Arches for the archways built into the buildings along its main street, and the town grew up precisely because the National Road ran through it. Quakers were among the first settlers, and when the federal highway arrived in the eighteen thirties it ran straight through their community.

The Lewis Jones House, built in eighteen forty, is a fine example of Federal-style brick architecture and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Lewis Jones moved to Wayne County with his family in eighteen fourteen. In April of eighteen twenty-two, he made a notable journey, riding from Centerville to Cincinnati and then to Indianapolis to deliver the first mail between Centerville and the state capital. He spent his life as a farmer and community organizer, and his farmhouse still stands as a good example of an early Center Township farmhouse.