Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lone Tree, Indiana

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus‎. Doczilla Ohhhhhh, no! 07:11, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lone Tree, Indiana

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Lone Tree, Indiana (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Baker actually describes this as a post office spot which moved, which is a classic 4th class PO thing. No, it doesn't mean that everyone pulled up stakes and moved; it just means that the original postmaster stopped handling the mail, and someone somewhere else took over. As usual I'm finding scant evidence for an actual town. Mangoe (talk) 12:47, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 09:40, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Weak Delete. A source in the article say:tiny community... with a post office and a few businesses, but it was never a thriving village. There does not seem to be much more detail except the presence of a tree, and the years. Without WP:SIGCOV on Google Scholar / Google Books / Google News, this should not stay. starship.paint (talk / cont) 13:46, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • To add on, I managed to find one article of SIGCOV at Newspapers.com written in 1958. To summarize: in 1958 there is only a store and empty house there. The storeowner at the area said that there was previously a tree next to a blacksmith store, but both were long gone by then. The tree may have been an oak. There were twice post offices at Lone Tree until they shut down. That's really not much content for a Wikipedia article. starship.paint (talk / cont) 13:57, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak Delete. The sources are almost to the point where I would prefer a redirect to Wright Township, Greene County, Indiana but not quite and I don't think there is any reason to wait at this point. If someone can find better sources they can recreate a redirect or article then. Eluchil404 (talk) 03:08, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep: Highly notable? no. But I think sources like what Starship.paint noted above -- "tiny community... with a post office and a few businesses, but it was never a thriving village" -- and the 1958 Indianapolis news article -- shows that it was once a small but known populated place in the early history of this rural midwestern US county. Not beyond debate, but that is usually enough to keep an article on a populated place.--Milowent • hasspoken 17:09, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • @Milowent: article is less than 100 words at the moment (I've updated it based on the SIGCOV I found). WP:SIZE says< 150 words ... If an article or list has remained this size for over two months, consider merging it with a related article. What do you think about a merge as Elichi404 said? I could implement that. starship.paint (talk / cont) 03:18, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • I tend to think a merge to a township article in a situation like this one isn't the best for readers, its just a workaround to use a formally recognized entity that doesn't really have the unique identity that the smaller location has. I see you found more information below so we are doing well with making this article more useful.--Milowent • hasspoken 15:24, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"Populated, legally recognized places". Magnolia677 (talk) 15:07, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Magnolia677: - please explain how it is legally recognized? I don't want to assume. starship.paint (talk / cont) 15:14, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
See [1]. --Magnolia677 (talk) 15:20, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Magnolia677: - you provided a link to the "Geographic Names Information System". WP:GEOLAND says thatThe Geographic Names Information System and the GEOnet Names Server do not satisfy the "legal recognition" requirement and are also unreliable for "populated place" designation. The USGS says regarding GNIS at question 19: Populated Place represents a named community with a permanent human population, usually not incorporated and with no legal boundaries, ranging from rural clustered buildings to large cities and every size in between. The boundaries of most communities classified as Populated Place are subjective and cannot be determined ... Incorporated populated places (those with legally defined boundaries) have two records in GNIS: a Civil feature and a Populated Place feature ... Most communities are not legally incorporated and therefore will have only one entry, which will be classified as Populated Place. starship.paint (talk / cont) 08:12, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Kingsmasher678 (talk) 18:54, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment - I located a bit more about Lone Tree:
  • Lone Tree was located along Old Terre Haute Road, a pioneer wagon route between Louisville, Kentucky, and Terre Haute, Indiana. The author writes "in early times the names of New Albany, Salem, Wood's Ferry, Smith's Ferry, Black Swamp, Scaffold Prairie, Lone Tree, Splung Creek and Terre Haute were all very familiar household words."
  • Not the most reliable source, but one contributor here said she grew up across the street from the store in the photo.
  • This random entry in a 1959 book entitled Motor Vehicle Theft as a Federal Crime: A Study of 400 Offenders, states "Carle was born in Lone Tree, Indiana, on January 16, 1918." --Magnolia677 (talk) 19:52, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    Only the first point is usable as actual content. I have added it into the article, which is now 112 words (within 150 where merge is suggested) and less than 700 characters (far less than the 1500 that DYK requires for new articles). starship.paint (talk / cont) 15:09, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Being born someplace, and living in that place, all contribute to the notion that this was a real place with real people living there. Magnolia677 (talk) 12:10, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
There is no minimum size requirement for articles, so long as the information is varifyable and the subject is notable. AFD's like this often hinge on whether the place was ever populated. Magnolia677 (talk) 15:33, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Per WP:GEOLAND, populated places without legal recognition have no presumption of notability. starship.paint (talk / cont) 02:59, 5 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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