Our History
Our History.
Everything we know about where Batesville came from — every page, every photo, every memory — in one place, organized. Nothing staged, nothing invented. Dates, places, and sources are shown as they are known. Where something is unidentified, the page says so plainly, and you can help fill it in below.
Our History
Downtown & Storefronts.
Main Street, George Street, and the shops that came and went.
Batesville’s Storefronts
The shops, saloons, stables, and storefronts of downtown Batesville — the businesses the old photographs remember.
Same Corner, Different Batesville
North Main Street, then and now — and everything the old photo still remembers.
Same Street: East George Street
One downtown block, a hundred years apart — and the store names a whole town still remembers.
French's Meat Market
Batesville's deer-processing headquarters, lost to fire on March 6, 2019 — and the future home of the Kid's Discovery Factory.
Before it was Weiler's Hobo Hut, it was the Hum-Dinger
One Batesville drive-in, four names, and a whole lot of Saturday nights.
Our History
Getting Around.
Roads, rails, and the towers over town.
Batesville on the Move
From Oberting’s race track to four lanes on Highway 46 — the roads, bridges, and rail crossings that moved Batesville.
When I-74 Came Through Batesville
A 1962 aerial, fourteen acres of one family's farm, and the four-way stop that used to be there.
Batesville's Old Water Tower
The tower Darrick grew up looking at, taken down piece by piece on April 15, 2024 — photographed by his mom, Wanda Cox, from her backyard.
Climbing the Batesville Water Tower
Darrick Cox climbs 150 feet up the downtown Batesville water tower — the ascent, the view from the top, and the story in his own words. Three towers, two days: the climb, the I-74 tower from the inside, and the 1981 tower seen from home.
Our History
Making Things.
What Batesville made — and how it told its own story.
Our History
Schools & Institutions.
The schools, the hospital, and the places we gather to remember.
Batesville's Schools
The public school, the high school, and a grade school — postcards from before the consolidations.
Before it was the Ward School, it was the East Side Grade School
A circa-1916 schoolhouse, one beloved kindergarten teacher, and a whole town's worth of five-year-olds.
Margaret Mary Hospital
The hospital on the hill — ninety beds, twenty bassinets, and a chapel built for a golden anniversary.
Batesville's Memorials
Every memorial in Batesville, walked in one morning by Darrick Cox and his son Cameron on Veterans Day 2026.
Our History
People & Memory.
Neighbors, characters, and the places that hold their stories.
Dave Krause
Lifelong Batesville guy. Firefighter. The kind of person who simply shows up.
“Every Good Citizen Should Buy, Build, Believe in Batesville.”
A 1927 Historical Center find — and the families still living it.
Laurel & the Long Branch
A small town understood through the people who lived it — the Long Branch, Haspin Acres, and the old high school.
The Hillindale Crossing
Batesville's long history with the train that always seems to wait until you're 50 yards away.
The Oldenburg Convent Wall & the Pigeon-Powered Smokestack
Coal-fired boilers, a wall around the convent grounds, and what lives in the smokestack now.
The View from the Smokestack
A 1912 photograph, a power plant that lit the town, and the neighbors who caught the direction wrong.
Our History
Postcards.
Batesville, mailed home — one card at a time.
Community memories
Remember When.
The Herald
Same corner: North Main Street, then and now
Different Batesville North Main Street — then and now
From the stories
History in the feed.
Pigeon-Powered Smokestack
Before it was known as the Ward School, this was Batesville's East Side Grade School
Remember When: Before it was Weiler's Hobo Hut, it was the Hum-Dinger
Same corner
You’ve driven past it a hundred times… but most people have NO idea what’s inside
Truth be told… this was my first time ever stepping inside the Batesville Historical
Share a photo, a memory, or an identification
Have an old Batesville photo, a memory to add, or know who or where something in the archive is? Send it in. Submissions are reviewed by a person before anything appears publicly, and nothing is posted as-is. Photos are used only with your permission and with credit as you give it.