Community history
A 1912 photograph, a power plant that lit the town, and the neighbors who caught the direction wrong.
Photos
The story so far
The old photograph was taken from atop the smokestack, with a typewritten label pasted across the top: in 1912 the Hillenbrands bought out Greeman Bros. and built a new power plant and the tall smokestack. The plant pumped the town's water and generated its electricity. In 1913, the people began to use electric lights — first up Eastern Avenue, Depot Street, South Park Avenue, Main, Walnut, Elm, and Vine out south of town.
Darrick paired it with a modern photo from the same stack and called it the same view. The comments caught something: the two photos face opposite ways. The old one looks south down Eastern Avenue toward Liberty Park; the new one looks north. Darrick conceded it in the thread — “I can't believe I got the direction wrong” — and the correction is part of the story now.
Timeline
Hillenbrands buy out Greeman Bros.; build the new power plant and the tall smokestack. The plant pumps water and generates electricity for the town.
Batesville residents begin using electric lights, first along Eastern Avenue, Depot Street, South Park Avenue, Main, Walnut, Elm, and Vine out south of town.
A second water tower stands at RomWeber; later torn down.
RomWeber Furniture's wood kilns stand where the Marketplace parking lot is now.
What neighbors remember
There was a second water tower at RomWeber — since torn down — and the RomWeber Furniture wood kilns stood where the Marketplace parking lot is today. The roof of what is now Lil' Charlie's is just visible in the lower-left corner of the old picture.
— RomWeber Marketplace
The little houses on the right of the first photo stand along Eastern Avenue heading south toward Liberty Park. They were built by the furniture factory to house the master carvers brought back from Germany to work in the factory — which is how the Weberdings came to Batesville. The second photo is Eastern Avenue heading north.
— RomWeber Marketplace
Pigeons roosted on the Big Four Bar at Eastern and Pearl — now Downtown Auto & Muffler. A storm damaged the roof, the pigeons got inside, and the place got so infested that when the bar closed they tore the building down. The Big Four Cafe has the original bar, restored — the green marble base shows again after restoration. The pigeons perch on the boiler-room smokestack now, and the red-tail hawks go there for dinner.
— RomWeber Marketplace
Grew up on Depot. The top picture appears to be facing south, and the bottom picture north. He rode Bob Jobst's bus to school. The big house in the old picture was a doctor's house — known as the Thomas house, then the crack house.
— Greg Niese
The big white house was torn down for the RomWeber Flats parking lot, at the corner of Depot and South Street.
— Todd Schutte
Thinks the big house caught fire, so they tore it down — or maybe they just tore it down.
— Ashley Walls
Her dad told her Batesville had one way in and one way out — from 229, where the new hospital is.
— Angela Nobbe Jones
The old photo has no sidewalks.
— S.E. England
Still to learn
See also
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Last updated November 6, 2026. New memories appear here after review.