Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Batesville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B+History
History · Batesville

Batesville’s post office opened in 1853, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #266 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 44 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.

1853first post office
1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Batesville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Batesville began

When was Batesville founded?

1853

The Batesville post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,169 in 18902020 census: 7,202173 years

How historic is Batesville?

B+

More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Batesville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Batesville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Batesville is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #266 of 593 in Indiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Batesville’s overall grade.
Founding era1853, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194022.7% of homes (±5.3) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 44 historic buildings, 60.4 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 74%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 55%

Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Batesville’s 60.4 sits above most of its state (77% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 44 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Batesville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Central Batesville Historic District takes in 44 historic buildings.Mapped building by building4 fire insurance maps, 1892 to 1919, drew every building in Batesville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Batesville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Batesville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewBatesville-indiana-from-above: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

1 listing protects 44 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
44
each building in a district counts
first listed
2011
Central Batesville Historic District
Central Batesville Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Queen Anne1
Colonial Revival1
Classical Revival1
Tudor Revival1
Moderne1
Central Batesville Historic DistrictItalianate

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Batesville, building by building, 1892–1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Batesville fire insurance map, 1892, sheet 11892Sheet 1 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Batesville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Batesville.

Read it all →

Central Batesville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Batesville was founded by George H. Dunn, owner of the John Callahan Trust Company. The company bought land and created new towns along rail lines that it began since Dunn was president of the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad. Joshua Bates, who platted the town of Batesville, is thought to be the source of the name. On November 1, 1853, the first train from Cincinnati to Indianapolis passed through Batesville.

ChaptersBeginningDevelopment

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Batesville, 1853 to 1996

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853Post officeThe Batesville post office opens
  3. 1895Born herePaul Bragg is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1941Born hereBob Bischoff is born here
  6. 1946On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1949Born hereJean Leising is born here
  8. 1996Born hereBryan Hoeing is born here
By decade

Batesville, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Batesville-indiana-from-aboveDate?Batesville-indiana-from-above
Today4 recent
The Sherman Inn & Bar2022The Sherman Inn & BarBatesville concert band during performance (Unsplash)2017Batesville concert band during performance (Unsplash)Hillenbrand Industries Sign2013Hillenbrand Industries SignBatesville Memorial Public Library2012Batesville Memorial Public Library
On the map

Batesville on the map, 1946 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Batesville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Batesville on the 1946 USGS mapBatesville on the 1961 USGS mapBatesville on the 1980 USGS map1946Batesville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Batesville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Batesville-indiana-from-above
Retake this viewBatesville-indiana-from-above

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Batesville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Batesville, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00019001920194019601980200020207,202

Grew from 1,169 people in 1890 to 7,202 in 2020, 6 times over.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Batesville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Batesville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Paul BraggNutritionist and author · b. 1895
B
Bob BischoffAmerican politician · b. 1941
B
Bryan HoeingAmerican baseball player · b. 1996
Jean LeisingAmerican politician · b. 1949
Billy McCoolAmerican baseball player · b. 1944
Dyar MillerAmerican baseball player · b. 1946
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Batesville’s post office has been open since 1853.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Huntersville
Gone or out of use
Ray Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Batesville
Saint JohnsSaint Louis

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

MorrisIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLaughery Township1 historic placeAAdams TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Batesville’s history

What year was Batesville founded?

The Batesville post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Batesville rank for history?

Batesville is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #266 of 593 in Indiana. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Batesville?

One place: the Central Batesville Historic District (listed 2011).

How old are the homes in Batesville?

23% of Batesville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.