A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Batesville, IN

A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Batesville, Indiana
Courtesy of the Batesville Memorial Public Library
Beginning at the Walnut Street entrance of the Batesville Memorial Public Library, 131 North Walnut Street:

	1. Turn right and walk south on Walnut to Boehringer ... 101 N. Walnut Street (The Bookshelf) On your right on the northwest corner of Boehringer and Walnut Streets is the store building John Gauck moved into in 1901 when it was vacated by Albert G. Zierer. Gauck had operated his drug store further north on Walnut Street since the 1890s. In 1897 he opened a prescription service and when he moved to the Walnut/Boehringer location, he put in a line of drugs, paints, glass, groceries, queensware, woodenware, dry goods, notions and wallpaper, making it a first-class General Store.
	2. Continue south to Pearl Street ... 9 East Pearl Street The Park House Hotel to your right on the northeast corner of Pearl and North Walnut Streets was built in 1894 by Jacob Engel. It housed a hotel, saloon, beer garden and ice cream parlor. In April 1922, Charles A. Pruiss purchased the ice cream parlor and established the "Palace of Sweets," a candy-making enterprise.
	3. On your right ... 4 West Pearl Street John Lehmkuehler constructed this brick building on the northeast corner of West Pearl and North Walnut Streets in 1893. In 1926 an addition was built in the back extending toward to Boehringer Street. At various times it has been the site of a cigar-manufacturing company, a Kroger chain store, Eagle Lodge, dry cleaning shop, harness and shoe shop, jewelry store, and the Herald-Tribune newspaper.
	Cross Pearl Street and continue walking south to St. Louis Place. St Louis Place was originally called Adolphine Street after Herman Schrader's wife. Herman was an early builder in the city.
	4. 3 East St. Louis Place St. Louis Convent was built in the carpenter-builder style in 1928 for the nuns who taught at St. Louis School. It was located on the site of the old parochial school building, and dedicated in February, 1929. Today it is the St. Louis Parish Rectory. St. Louis Church (in German: St. Ludwig's) was built in the Gothic Revival style on land donated by Henry Boehringer in 1858. In 1892, Louis Meyer donated the bell and tradition says the church was named after him. Transepts on each side of the building were added in May 2001.
	5. 13 East St. Louis Place St. Louis Rectory was built in 1870 in the Greek Revival/Italiante style. Today it houses the parish offices.
	6. 17 East St. Louis Place St. Louis School was built in 1922 by W. Gutzwiller, a Batesville contractor, in Jacobean Revival architecture. In 1920 a "free" school had opened for all the parish children and classes were held in the two-room frame building (c1871) located west of the church. Children had paid tuition to that point. The cornerstone of the new building was laid September 10, 1922. Today it houses Kindergarten through Eighth Grades.
	7. Turn left on Main Street ... 137 South Main Street (National City Bank) William Pohlar built an extensive brick garage in 1922 on the west side of Main Street. A few years later he added a residence-flat over the garage building and lived there with his wife, in-laws and step-son. It has housed a car dealership and The Ship restaurant, and today is the home of National City Bank.
	8. Cross Main Street and on your left ... 132 South Main Street The Memorial Building on the northwest corner was constructed in the Neo-Classical style by contractor William Gutzwiller in 1922. It memorialized World War I veterans and was paid for by the citizens of Batesville. It replaced the old town hall.
	9. Continue east on Catherine Street, cross Sycamore The Ward School on the southwest corner of Sycamore and Catherine Streets was designed for the primary grades only. Of stuccoed brick, the one-story building was lighted by north windows and ventilated by air shafts. It was remodeled in the summer of 1929, originally part of an older two-story structure.
	10. Turn left and cross South Street to 110 Sycamore Street (Baptist Church) H. H. Krome built this two-story concrete block store and residence in 1911. He moved his grocery store into the first floor and lived in the second. Today it is the location of the Lighthouse Baptist Church.
	11. Continue on South Street and cross Park Avenue to 106 South Park Avenue (Methodist Church) South Street is the only street called by its original name on the 1852 town map. The German Methodist Church was built here in 1891. To the left of the church was the small English Methodist Church. The two merged in 1925.
	12. Cross Park Avenue to George Street, then cross Sycamore The Behlmer commercial building on the southwest corner of Sycamore and George Streets was built in 1909 by William and August Behlmer, local contractors and builders. It housed at various times a planing mill, fraternal organizations, a shirt company and apron factory, Kroger store and Taff Furniture.
	13. Continue west to 103 East George Street (Taff Furniture) The Italianate architecture commercial building on the southeast corner was constructed in 1909 by John and Frank Meyer. The Meyer brothers were contractors and builders, as well as owners of sawmills, lumber and hardware businesses. The Meyer Building housed Meyer Hardware and Furniture Company and Walsman Furniture Company. Today it is Taff Furniture.
	14. Cross Main Street and George Street to 35 South Main Street *The Sherman House* was built by John F. Brinkman in April 1865 as a hotel and rooming house. He named it after General William T. Sherman who had just won his final victory for the Union Army in his famous "march to the sea." Mr. Brinkman chose the general's name to honor the many Ripley and Franklin County members of the famous all-German 83^rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry. On the left side of the Sherman House was the Bloemer Building, built around 1910 by August Bloemer. He lived in the upper story. The lower floor housed the Herman Erbacher and Frank Walsman shoe store. The building was incorporated into the Sherman House during a renovation in 1933 by the Hillenbrand Company.
	15. Cross George Street to 25 East George Street H. J. Walsman built several stores along the south side of George Street. The structure on the southwest corner was used by Walsman Bros. Hardware in 1893. The buildings occupied by Fullenkamp Sporting Goods have housed shoe stores, hardware stores and 5 & Dimes.
	16. Continue to 13 East George Street "The 1877 Building" was built by Henry J. Walsman adjacent to Nobby Clothing in 1910. Of concrete block, it was 40' x 60'. In 1928 an addition was built making the building 40' x 96'. It was originally used by the Fair Store, then the Home Outfitters.
	17. 11 East George Street (Geis Electronics) The Geis building was built by John Nichols in 1903 of concrete block for the use of Nobby Clothing Company, Nichol & Lindenmaier, Proprietors. Adam Lindenmaier had established his clothing business in 1887 and it was then located on East Pearl Street.
	18. 1 East George Street (Nolte's Drug Store) The Italianate style drug store was built by druggist George A. Baas in 1891. It has always been a drug store, owned by Baas, E.B. Schultz, Clinton Nolte and "Snork" Walsman. It originally had stained glass panels above the front windows spelling, "Deutsche Apotheke" with "G.A. Baas" over the entrance.
	19. Look across Walnut Street ... 3 West George Street In 1936 the Colonial Revival style Post Office was built on the southwest corner of George and South Walnut Streets. Louis Simon was the architect. It was dedicated in 1937. Prior to this date, post offices were located in businesses and private homes. Inside the present day post office is Orville Carroll's mural, "Building the Industrial Foundation of Batesville," completed in 1938.
	20. Turn right, cross George Street, and walk along Walnut Street to East Pearl Street. Turn right. The Italianate commercial building to your right housed the American Furniture Company offices when it was erected in 1909. With later small additions it filled the entire block. The building was four-stories high including the basement and contained 39,000 square feet of floor space.
	21. Cross Main Street and turn left. Along the east side of Main Street is the new Batesville Village Green. It celebrates the city's 150th birthday in 2002. Pavers along the water feature tell the story of Batesville's history.
	22. Look across Main Street to 29 North Main The Greeman Building was owned by Herman B. Greeman and operated as a Fair Store. He built the brick store in 1894. It was 70' deep with store rooms on the first floor, dwelling rooms on the second, and a ballroom on the third. He sold the building to the Knights of Columbus in 1910.
	23. 31 North Main Street The Batesville State Bank built a new brick building in 1893. Remodeled in 1910, it added a glass front and a large brick extension in the rear.
	24. Cross Boehringer, turn right to East Boehringer (Adventures in Travel) George Mehlon built a frame tailor shop on Boehringer Street in 1910. Later it housed Mehlon's dry cleaners. Adventures in Travel is located there today.
	25. Backtrack and cross Main Street, turn right to 107 North Main Street (Gibson Theatre) The Gibson Theatre was built in the Art Deco style by Dr. C. W. Gibson in 1921 for $21,000. It seated 500 with an 18' x 24' stage and a piano. "Talking pictures" were installed in 1929 replacing the hand and player pianos, electrical pianos, victrolas, graphophones and local orchestras. The first screen play offered was "The Four Horsemen."
	26. Continue to Hillenbrand Avenue, turn left to Walnut Street and return to the library.
We hope you enjoyed this walking tour of Batesville, Indiana.