Home to NASCAR great, Mark Martin, the sweet smelling Ideal Bakery, and our conference champs, the Pioneers...yep, that's Batesville, Arkansas. It's just an old little town with not even ten-thousand people. We've got a Colton's, Cowboy's, Josie's, Mi Ranchito, and McDonald's for eating out. Wal-Mart and Eagle Mountain Shopping Center are the go-get places. The movies, Hollywoood Bowl, and Pioneer Nation are the hangout spots. The restaraunts are on St. Louis Street, the stores on Harrison. Plain and simple, huh? Batesville is known for well...not much of anything, really. It was established in 1812, and is the second oldest city in Arkansas. I guess thats' pretty cool. So what's so historic about this place?
Main Street in Batesville is beautiful! The first half is filled with old houses. The kinds that have a scent like old libraries and children think are haunted. Really they're just history, and I would live in one forever if I could. On down the street are a bunch of shops. The library is in an intersection and the courthouse is close to the end. My Myra's antique shop is pretty popular, as well as Elizabeth's restaraunt. They have the best rolls in town! I love walking in and seeing red hat ladies having a luncheon or little girls having a tea party. Bee Jay's beauty school is at the end of Main, right across from the Melba theater. I love both of those places! There's always sweet old ladies getting pedicures in Bee Jay's. It's filled with hair spray from the up do's, and acetone from red nail polish. I kinda like the aroma of it all. The Melba is like walking into a cardiac arrest. The second you hit the door, butter and salt hit your senses. I have never had better popcorn in my life! These are all old businesses, but there's one almost as old as our town.
Nu-Way Cleaners and Laundry has been around since the late 1800's. It was known as City Stream Laundry up until the 1930's. A new cleaning chemical called perc came out for doing laundry. It was a new way to get your clothing and linen clean. The Creighton family bought the business from a man named John Edwards in 1957. He donated money to Lyon College for the dining hall, and also the organ in the chapel. The Creighton family still owns the Nu-Way to this day. I'ts weird to think our small business was bought by my great great grand-dad, passed down to my great grand-dad, and now my dad's father. Anymore now, it's odd to find something with age to it like that.
I know nobody gives it any acknowledgement, but Batesville is a nice place. Even though there's a stinchy chicken plant in the middle of it, the W\hite River makes up for it. Rushing water can be so peaceful. The dam is beautiful! I love Batesville. It's my hometown, filled with banks and churches at every corner. To me, Main Street is like Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show. Home to Batesville High School student, Sydney Creighton, Nu-Way Cleaners and Laundry, and our less than ten-thousand people...yep, that's Batesville, Arkansas, the heart of Independence County.
