The town as it sold itself by mail — bird's-eye views, greetings, Hillcrest, and a lodge nobody has named yet.
BatesvilleLast updated November 13, 2026
Photos
Photos of this place.
Bird's-eye view of Batesville, copyright 1908 by Baas & Schultz — the town spread out below, the church steeple at right. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Another 1908 Baas & Schultz view — houses and a pond in the foreground, the town beyond. A postmark shows on the card, mostly illegible. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A bird's-eye view with no caption — sheds and lumber in the foreground, the town and its factory behind. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Bird's eye view, Batesville, Indiana — card 13828: the factory street, wagons and lumber stacks at left. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.View along North Walnut Street — the pond and the embankment, in black and white. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Walnut Street looking north — the hand-colored elevated view down the street. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.New Year greetings from Batesville — geraniums in red and green, glitter script. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.'Please write to Batesville' — a U.S. mailbox with gladioli, and a verse about being busy as a bee. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Greetings from Batesville — four cows grazing on a grassy riverbank at sunset, card 16393. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A greeting card — a pot of small white flowers, script lettering. The left edge of the card is outside the scan. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Greetings from Batesville — a pansy garland tied in a bow, glitter script. The left edge of the card is outside the scan. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Hillencrest — the estate from above, two houses and formal gardens. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.'Hill Crest,' Batesville — the house seen through its stone gateposts. 'Aunt Mary' is penciled at the top right. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A pale yellow two-story house with a cupola, seen through overhanging branches — one of four color postcards of a lodge and its grounds. No caption is printed on any of the four fronts. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The lodge itself — brown timber, cupola and stone chimney, a garden with a rock-lined stream and a railed walkway. No caption is printed on the card. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A house behind a very large tree — one of the four uncaptioned lodge postcards. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Inside the lodge — the lounge with its wagon-wheel chandelier, a bar with five decorative plates, patterned chairs and sofa, a rifle on the paneled wall. No caption is printed on the card. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.
The story so far
What happened here.
Before the internet, the town sold itself by mail. The Historical Center binder holds a run of early Batesville postcards — 1908 bird's-eye views from Baas & Schultz, greeting cards, Hillcrest, and a set of modern color cards of a lodge and its grounds that carry no captions at all.
The fronts and backs were scanned on separate binder pages, so most of these cards' backs live in the batch record as transcriptions rather than pictures here — and the front/back pairings by publisher mark are hypotheses, not proven pairs. What is pictured is what the fronts show, and the captions say so where a card is silent.
Timeline
How it changed hands.
1908
Baas & Schultz publish the bird's-eye views of Batesville — the town panoramas, the houses and pond, the factory street (card 13828).
Still to learn
Open questions.
The lodge in the four color postcards has no caption — is it Jawacdah Farms? The binder also holds two Jawacdah Farms postcard backs, but no front has been matched to them.
Where is the pond in the North Walnut views, and what is its name?
Who was 'Aunt Mary' on the Hill Crest card, and where was Hillcrest?
Most of these cards' backs were scanned on separate binder pages — the front/back pairings by publisher mark are hypotheses, not proven pairs.
Do you remember this place?
Share a memory, a photo, or a correction — or answer one of the open questions above. 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.
Last updated November 13, 2026. New memories appear here after review.
