City spotlight: Batesville.

• Author: McKee, Jo
• Position: Southeast Indiana

One hundred and forty-three years ago, engineer and surveyor Joshua Bates gave his name to a new community laid out in the hardwood forests of Indiana some 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis. But it was another early settler who made Batesville what it is today.

That settler was John Hillenbrand, the first of four generations of Hillenbrands who would create and run the companies which are today known as Hillenbrand Industries. The success of Hillenbrand, and the family's continued devotion to the town of its roots, have created a community with an unlikely blend of small-town atmosphere and bigger-city amenities.

The story of Batesville's growth begins with the forests in which it was founded. Once the hunting grounds of the Shawnee, white men began to settle in the area following a treaty with the Indians in the early 1800s. Among those settlers were a number of German immigrants, perhaps drawn to the area by its resemblance to the Black Forest of their homeland. In nearby Oldenburg, German Catholics were specifically recruited to settle the town, lured by the construction of the Holy Family church, which still stands today.

It didn't take long for these immigrants, many skilled woodworkers, to begin to transform the stands of oak, black walnut, wild cherry and ash which surrounded their new towns into railroad ties, housing materials, and, soon, fine furniture.

This tradition of fine woodworking continues today, both in the Romweber furniture company, an employer of some 175, and in smaller woodworking firms. Among those are Weberding Wood Carving, which specializes in church statuary and which carved the intricate panels in the Indiana House of Representatives chamber, and newcomer Heartwood Industries, which manufacturers architectural wood products.

Among those starting to clear the forests back in 1861 was 18-year-old John Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand and his four sons after him built a company which used the area's resources to build successful businesses in wood caskets and wooden hospital furniture.

The casket business was the real beginning. In 1906, John A. Hillenbrand, son of the original Hillenbrand settler, bought the nearly bankrupt Batesville Coffin Co. Under his leadership, the renamed Batesville Casket Co. pioneered the concept of mass production of caskets, becoming the world's largest manufacturer of both hardwood and metal caskets. The company headquarters and a plant in Batesville today employ 1,270 people.

Some 20 years...