In 1867, an election determined that the county seat should be located in the center of the county, and so the city of Lyons was established. Eventually most of the buildings in Atlanta were moved to Lyons or torn down, and the city of Atlanta soon ceased to exist.                                   The city of Lyons was named for Mr. Truman J. Lyon, the owner of the land on which Lyons was built. Mr. Lyon deeded four acres of land for the townsite on March 20, 1876, including grounds for a courthouse, schools and businesses. Mr. Lyon’s gift of land was only the beginning of our beautiful little city.

The City of Lyons is Located in Rice County. The first known inhabitants in the region were the Quiviran Indians, the prehistoric tribe who greeted Coronado over 70 years before the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. The county was created by the state Legislature in 1867 and was organized in August of 1871. As the county was getting organized, so was the city of Atlanta, on the Santa Fe Trail, which was named the county seat. The Atlanta Town Company built a hotel, which they deeded to the county to be used as a courthouse.

Homemade Telephone The first telephone in Lyons was a homemade contraption constructed by J.C. Clark. The phone operated only between Mr. Clark's home and his place of business. The phone was built by fastening two tin cans together with a piece of wire and a penny to hold the wire in place.

News The fist newspaper in Lyons was established on February 24, 1906 by Earnest Young. The earliest copies of the paper were printed on a job press at the "Lyons Republican." Because of it's small size, the Lyons Daily News was often referred to as the "Dinky Daily."

West Side of the square in Lyons, 1909

South Side of the square in Lyons, 1910

Photo courtesy of the Coronado-Quivera Museum and Rice County Historical Society

County: Rice Population: 3,732 Zip Code: 67554 Area Code: 620

Photo courtesy of the Coronado-Quivera Museum and Rice County Historical Society

Photo courtesy of the Coronado-Quivera Museum and Rice County Historical Society

Water tower in the park east of S. Grand in Lyons, early 1880's