City Of Batesville Indiana

Batesville earned its "Best Little City in America" nickname from the
beginning. Native Americans roamed the rich loam, old growth forests
and creeks that provided the right climate to grow valuable hardwoods
like oak, black walnut, wild cherry, ash and poplar. No wonder the
Shawnee cherished this slice of Earth for its beauty.

Both the French and British explored Ripley County, while American
settlers didn't arrive until 1835 when Teunis Amack purchased 120 acres
and built his log cabin. Seventeen years later, he sold his homestead to
the Callahan Trust Company, which broke up the acreage into 45 lots for
a town on the main line off the Lawrenceburg-Upper Mississippi River
Railroad. This new community was supposedly named after Joshua Bates,
an engineer, surveyor and member of the Callahan Trust Company who
bought the first lot (there are those who contend the town honors
Harvey Bates, the railroad's director).

The forest attracted German immigrants, many of whom found Batesville
while traveling the rail system to Oldenburg. By 1853, that
transportation line stretched westward to Indianapolis, further
connecting the rural town to the hum of Midwestern life. Before the
turn of the century, Batesville stood as a thriving commercial center,
thanks to the sawmills. It was the first city west of Cincinnati to
install electric streetlights.