Black southerners established a thriving free community around Thorntown in Sugar Creek Township by the early 1850s. Most became farmers and some owned property, despite Indiana's constitutional prohibition of black settlement. By 1870, this community of over 170 residents had established an African Methodist Episcopal church, school, cemetery, and Masonic lodge. With the passage of the 15th Amendment, male residents engaged in politics through voting, public speaking, and organizing a Republican club. While the community dispersed in the 1890's, the church and affiliated women's group remained active into the 1900's. Only the cemetery, where at least one Civil War veteran of the U.S. Colored Troops was buried, has been preserved.