City spotlight: Batesville.

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 after entering the casket business, the family expanded its attention to the hospital field. William A. Hillenbrand felt patients would be better served if the classic white tubular steel hospital furniture of the era were replaced with warmer, wooden furniture. He launched an intensive research campaign among doctors and nurses which led to the founding of Hill-Rom, now the undisputed leader in hospital furniture. Hill-Rom employs 1,850 workers in Batesville.

Just 10 years ago, Hillenbrand Industries further extended its product lines with the creation of The Forethought Group, a funeral-planning life-insurance company. The venture was so successful that in 1989, Hillenbrand opened a new headquarters building in Batesville to house the insurance concern.

Overall, Hillenbrand is now a $1.6 billion, Fortune 500 company, with additional interests in high-security locks, specialized therapy beds and home-care infusion devices. Of the company's 10,000 employees, 3,700 work in Batesville.

Few communities could ask for more from a local employer than Batesville has received from Hillenbrand. For example, Hillenbrand was instrumental in keeping the community's hospital in business. Founded in 1930 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, the hospital nearly closed in 1945 when the sisters announced they could no longer operate the facility. The Hillenbrand Foundation bought the hospital and set it up a community-owned, nonsectarian corporation. Renamed after Margaret Hillenbrand and her daughter, Mary Mitchell, Margaret Mary Community Hospital today is a 100-bed facility employing more than 300 people.

Batesville's 19,000-square-foot public library also owes its existence to the family. The building was erected in 1974 with a donation from the John W. Hillenbrand Foundation, and enlarged in 1988 with the addition of the G.C. and Margaret M. Hillenbrand wing.

Similarly, Hillenbrand backed the development of Hillcrest Golf and Country Club, which maintains a well-regarded 18-hole golf course, pool, tennis courts and a $1.5 million clubhouse.

More recently, when some residents fretted that there was little in the town for teenagers to do, the Hillenbrand Foundation funded construction of a YMCA. The Southeastern Indiana Y includes an indoor pool along with its basketball courts, walking track, weight rooms and aerobics areas.

No wonder, then, that Mayor Victor Kaiser says, "Hillenbrand is Batesville."

But of course there is more to the city than that, as a new 80-acre industrial park attests. Batesville Director of Economic Development Vicki Kellerman has the task of attracting businesses to the park. She says competition for workers is a factor. Kellerman notes that Ripley County's comparatively high average wage has been a barrier for several companies which looked at locating in the park. (Batesville straddles Ripley and Franklin counties: The average hourly wage in Franklin county is $7.71, but for Ripley, where the Hillenbrand plants and offices are located, the average is $11.41.)

Nonetheless, the park is a success. In addition to Heartwood Industries, General Electric's GE Lighting unit recently opened a distribution facility there. GE's 150,000-square-foot building houses nine million light bulbs destined for Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sam's Club stores across the country. Batesville is an excellent location for such a distribution center, notes Kellerman, who points out that 65 percent of the U.S. population and the main Canadian industrial belt are within a day's drive of Batesville.

GE employs 15 people now, but Kaiser expects that number to swell to 150 in a year or two. The city has seen similar growth in Batesville Tool and Die, a company which, Kaiser notes, "came in very small, with 10 to 15 employees, and is now around 200, having expanded four or five times."

In fact, Kaiser expects rapid growth throughout the city. Batesville's population in the last official count was 4,720, but Kaiser says he believes it now numbers closer to 6,000 and expects it to double in the next decade. His plans include annexing areas around Batesville in all four directions. Already, the city is expanding its sewer system to handle wastewater from nearby towns with no treatment plants of their own.

In addition to growth from existing industry and the location of new businesses in Batesville, Kaiser says the city is attracting residents who work in Cincinnati. Some 25 Delta Airlines pilots live in Batesville, which Kaiser points out is only a 45 minute drive from the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, easier access than might be found from within the Cincinnati area itself. Kellerman notes that because Batesville is practically equidistant between Cincinnati and Indianapolis, it also is attracting two-career couples in which one spouse works in each city.

It's easy, says Kellerman, to see what draws them to the city: the library, the country club, the Y, a well-equipped school system which sends 85 percent of its high school graduates on to post-secondary education, and public recreational facilities which include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, the 35-acre Liberty Park, even live cultural events brought to town each year by the Rural Alliance for the Arts, whose programs include an annual concert by the Cincinnati Symphony.

The growth has created a building boom, with housing starts up 66 percent. Most of that construction has been in the upper end of the market, leaving the city with a shortage of housing in the $50,000 to $100,000 range. Space in the industrial park, too, is at a premium. Kellerman says it's likely the city will exercise options to expand the development.

She's confident Batesville will continue to grow because of its stability. She credits the town's German heritage for its strong sense of community. "One element that has been preserved," she notes, "is an ability and willingness to work hard." That the German influence remains strong can be seen in the names of the people and businesses. Where else in Indiana can you order your favorite Italian treat at a restaurant called the Pizza Haus?

More importantly, Kellerman says it shows in the pride people have in themselves and their possessions. She tells the story of hosting a GE executive on his first visit to Batesville. He asked, "Did you call up everybody and ask them to mow the grass?"