The shops, saloons, stables, and storefronts of downtown Batesville — the businesses the old photographs remember.
Downtown BatesvilleLast updated November 13, 2026
Photos
Photos of this place.
Harmeyer’s Market — the white corner store, an ice box and a barber pole out front. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The City Cigar Store — Louis Dieckmann’s, with the cigar-store Indian standing out front. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Eastern Saloon — four people posed out front of the white frame house. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Kaiser Bros. Livery Stable — left to right: Clint Meister, Ed Beecraft, Herman Kaiser, Dick Lightner, Adolph Kaiser, Dallas Stansberry, and two coach dogs. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Park House — the brick hotel, a horse and carriage at the curb, men gathered on the walk. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Herald’s office, late 1920s — four men outside the door. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.308 East Pearl — the storefront with the red awning. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.308 East Pearl now — the same building as a hair salon, red poppies on the black facade, “Welcome Allison” in the window.American Cleaners — the roadside sign promises a rug and drapery special in February. The note on the print says the shop sat behind Heite's, and asks when it was torn down; the penciled year is cut off after '197.' Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A flower shop and its greenhouses — the sign is cut off at the left edge, so only the end of the name shows: …rtmire FLOWERS. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Band Box Cleaners, established 1932 — the clipping tells the shop's story: founded by Geo. J. Mehlon, a former tailor; run by his son Geo. A. Mehlon from 1945 until the family sold it in 1985. The name came from the maker of the original equipment. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The old Band Box Cleaners storefront, from the clipping — the shop's original home at 110 E. Boehringer St. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Artmire Flowers — storefront and greenhouses. The handwritten note says the shop was in business over 25 years, that Weber's purchased it, and that Genning's own it today, in 2024; no purchase year is given. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Clarence Schulte owned this building — Buck's ran a business here in the early 1930s, and different businesses have occupied it since. A 1950s car sits at the curb. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Tekulve home, at one time — Harry Ferkinhoff kept a shop here for after-school kids. The handwritten note says it is now home to Lil' Charlie's. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The same building in August 2024, home to Lil' Charlie's. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Westerfeld Dairy Bar building, photographed when Gambles had moved in — the handwritten note says Gambles moved here in the early 70s, though the last characters are hard to read, so the decade is not certain. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The same corner in August 2024, remodeled as the Batesville Chrysler dealership. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Globe House Hotel at the northwest corner of Main and Boehringer, run by Fred Talkenberg, who came to Batesville in 1885 from Steamboat Landing, where he had a store and was postmaster for the 'Ballstown Post Office.' The people in front are not named. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A three-story red-brick building, no caption on the card — it may be the side of Schrader's Apartment Building, but that is not confirmed. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Schrader's Apartment Building — storefronts at street level, a line of men on the sidewalk, a horse and wagon at the curb. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Vine Street, with a KRAMER'S banner strung across the street and an early automobile coming through. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.North Walnut Street — a tree-lined dirt street, the drug store at the corner. The card is signed 'Emma.' Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.East Broadway Street — the brick block with striped awnings, the corner building signed 'New Ripley House.' Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The Sherman House, air-conditioned hotel, Batesville — the half-timbered building with the Old Vienna Tap Room wing. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.Inside the Sherman House Tap Room — timber arches, spindle-back chairs, checkered tile floor. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.A second view of the Sherman House dining room — tables set, wood-paneled walls. The bottom of the card is cut off in the scan. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.The back of a Sherman House postcard — an air-conditioned hotel with dining room and tap room, phone 1150, run by Mr. and Mrs. Ed Doerflinger. The front it belongs to has not been matched with certainty. Photo courtesy Batesville Historical Center.
The story so far
What happened here.
Before the chains and the highway, downtown Batesville was a row of storefronts with names on the glass — a market, a cigar store, a saloon, a livery stable, a hotel, a newspaper office. The photographs remember them better than the street does: the buildings changed hands, changed uses, or came down, and the names went with them.
These are the storefronts the old prints caught — Harmeyer’s Market on its corner, Louis Dieckmann’s City Cigar Store, the Eastern Saloon, Kaiser Bros.’ livery stable with the whole crew named, the Park House, the Herald’s office in the late 1920s, and 308 East Pearl, twice: the red awning, then the salon. Most of them come without an address or a date — the prints don’t say, and the town’s memory is the only record left. If you know where one of these stood, or when, the page is listening.
The November 13, 2026 Historical Center binder added a second shelf of storefronts: the Globe House and the Germania Hotel it names, Band Box Cleaners from its 1932 founding to the 1988 building, the Sherman House and its tap room, Schrader's Apartment Building, the Tekulve home turned Lil' Charlie's, and the Westerfeld Dairy Bar building turned Batesville Chrysler — plus two names the page had been asking for: Joseph Schrader's Eastern Saloon, and Kaiser Bros. Livery Stable on South Walnut, behind the post office.
Timeline
How it changed hands.
Late 1920s
The Herald’s office, four men outside the door.
Undated
Harmeyer’s Market, the City Cigar Store, the Eastern Saloon, Kaiser Bros. Livery Stable, and the Park House — the storefronts the prints remember.
Today
308 East Pearl is a hair salon — the same building, a black facade, red poppies, and “Welcome Allison” in the window.
1885
Fred Talkenberg comes to Batesville from Steamboat Landing, where he had a store and was postmaster for the 'Ballstown Post Office.' He runs the Globe House Hotel at Main and Boehringer.
1887
The Germania Hotel opens one block south of the Globe House, on the northwest corner of Broadway and Main Street.
1932
Band Box Cleaners is established by Geo. J. Mehlon, a former tailor, at 110 E. Boehringer St.
1945
Geo. A. Mehlon takes over Band Box Cleaners from his father.
1985
The Mehlon family sells Band Box Cleaners to Fersto, Inc.
1988
Band Box Cleaners builds its present facility on the property next to the original Mehlon building.
2024
The Tekulve home building is home to Lil' Charlie's; the Westerfeld Dairy Bar / Gambles building is the Batesville Chrysler dealership. Both photographed in August 2024.
Still to learn
Open questions.
Where exactly did Harmeyer’s Market stand?
Where was the City Cigar Store — and when did Louis Dieckmann run it?
When did the Park House operate, and where was it?
The flower-shop sign reads only '…rtmire FLOWERS' — the start of the name is cut off. What was the shop's full name?
When was American Cleaners torn down, and what was 'Heite's' — the business it sat behind?
The Artmire Flowers note says Weber's purchased the shop and Genning's own it today (2024) — what year did Weber's buy it, and is 'Genning's' the right spelling?
Is the uncaptioned red-brick building the side of Schrader's Apartment Building?
Share a memory, a photo, or a correction — or answer one of the open questions above. Submissions are reviewed by a person before anything appears publicly, and nothing is posted as-is. Photos are used only with your permission and with credit as you give it.
Last updated November 13, 2026. New memories appear here after review.
