Batesville is a city in Franklin and Ripley counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 6,520 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in both counties but is not the county seat of either. The Batesville Casket Company is headquartered here. Medical technology company Hillrom has a substantial presence in the town, employing over 1,700 people at its office, innovation and manufacturing campus. Batesville is noted for its central location between Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. History Central Batesville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Beginning Batesville was founded by George H. Dunn, owner of the John Callahan Trust Company. The company bought land and created new towns along rail lines that it began since Dunn was president of the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad. Joshua Bates, who platted the town of Batesville, is thought to be the source of the name. On November 1, 1853, the first train from Cincinnati to Indianapolis passed through Batesville. Development Once the railway opened, Dunn and Bates constructed more buildings. George Sims laid out Batesville's first addition in 1858. The following year, German immigrant Henry Boehringer became Batesville's first major builder. A three-story building with a basement on East Pearl Street (formerly known as Broadway Street) became known as the Boehringer Hall because of the dance floor on the third story. The Catholic congregation used the basement before they had built their church. Louis Walter established Batesville's first gristmill in 1858. Between 1860 and 1870, Boehringer built a row of apartments and homes on the north side of Batesville on Boehringer Street. Along with building the apartments and housing, Boehringer owned the lot where the Ward School now stands. In 1863 Conrad Rapp purchased numerous lots on East Broadway and bought Walter's gristmill. In 1865, John Brinkman built a hotel and restaurant called the Sherman House, named after William Tecumseh Sherman, a major general that led the Union Army to its final victory of the Civil War in a campaign that became known as "Sherman's March to the Sea". Sebastian Messersmith built Union Hall in 1865. It was a two-story building on the west side of Main Street (Batesville, Indiana)|Main Street and just north of South Street (Batesville, Indiana)|South Street. Union Hall was used by the fire department for meetings and it was used by the public school while the school building was