It’s not often that I pass through Lewisville, Indiana- case in point, these photos from January! Every time I do, though, my eyes lock onto the same thing: an enormous stone tower that rises a few blocks off State Road 103. Curiosity finally got the better of me last winter and I pulled off the road, grabbed my phone, and snapped a few photos to try and figure out what the hulking survivor once was.
If you’ve never been to Lewisville, it sits on U.S. 40 -the old National Road- near the southern edge of Henry County, Indiana. The town was recorded on Christmas Day in 1829, and its name came from Lewis C. Freeman. He, along with some others, were headed further west but wound up staying in Henry County1. About 330 people call Lewisville home today.
Downtown Lewisville is interesting. There’s an 1897 schoolhouse now home to an Airbnb just east, but the town’s main landmark is the Guyer Opera House, a historic theater listed on the National Register of Historic Places2. Still, I wondered about that old ruin. Was it a water tower? It could have been, but a histrionically ugly angled one stands just northwest. I’d also seen photos of its municipal predecessor.
Could the ruin have been a chimney? It was too wide and squat. A lime kiln? My sister suggested that, but I couldn’t see it. A windmill like the one at Elkhart’s High Dive Park? Nope. I noticed wooden slats at the top, along with a piece of what looked to be a circular frame, which only added to my confusion.
I tried all my usual sources to find out what the monolith could have been. I checked plat maps, vintage aerial photos, and newspaper articles, but all of them came up blank. Henry County’s only represented by the Knightstown Banner on the vintage newspapers website. Unfortunately, it stayed mum.
Eventually, I visited some Henry County and Lewisville groups on social media for answers. As it turns out, the massive stone ruin was once a water tower! It was a private one for a lumber mill. An old Methodist Episcopal Church stood there in 18573, but Robert Smith started a lumber yard and planing mill there in 18654. At some point, Smith built the tower to power his operation5.
Back when it was functional, the old water tower featured a cylindrical tank at its peak in the middle of a wooden walkway. I assume there was a central pipe from there to the bottom Nonetheless, I’ve also heard the conical tower once had a spiral stair around its perimeter to facilitate maintenance and access6.
Someone commented on my post and suggested that the water tower hadn’t been used in more than sixty years. That tracks with resources I found in the local paper, which said that the old R.A. Smith Lumber Company of Lewisville was bought by Mansur Starr of New Castle in 19607.
I’m not sure what happened to the property soon after; the paper trail runs dry. Later, though, some of the old mill buildings became home to Lane’s U-Store-It storage facility8. Today, the entire complex is privately owned. Many don’t remember Lewsville’s lumber mill.
What strikes me most about the old tower isn’t just what it was, but that it’s still here at all. The lumber mill and old church are gone. Even the memory of the place has mostly faded! Sill, that stubborn stone tower remains as proof that tiny places like Lewisville are layered with stories that still hide in plain sight.
Sources Cited
1 Pitts, E. (1996, September 2). Lewisville still ‘thriving village’. The Muncie Star Press. p. 3.
2 National Register of Historic Places, Guyer Opera House, Lewisville, Henry County, Indiana, National Register # 79000018.
3 Map of Henry County, Indiana (1857). Harwood and Watson [New Castle]. Map.
4 Lewisville’s One Hundredth Birthday (1929, December 27). The Knightstown Banner. p. 6.
5 Saunders, T. Out and About in Lewisville, Indiana (2026, February 1). Tony is correct. All the property was part of the r a smith lumber company. Tower was used to power [Comment]. Facebook.
6 Lane, J. Out and About in Lewisville, Indiana (2026, February 1). It was a lumber yard back in the day my dad bought it in 96 and turned it into a storage unit [Comment]. Facebook.
7 Lumber Firm Sold To New Castle Man (1960, January 21). The Knightstown Banner. p. 20.
8 Lane, J. Out and About in Lewisville, Indiana (2026, February 1). It was a lumber yard back in the day my dad bought it in 96 and turned it into a storage unit [Comment]. Facebook.
