 Martinsville, the county seat of Morgan County, was platted in 1822 on the east bank of the White River. Both Centerton and Waverly were first considered as the county seat, but several influential citizens donated land in Martinsville for public buildings if it would be located there.
The town is thought to have been named in honor of John Martin of Washington County, Indiana, who served as one of the first Morgan County Commissioners. A total of 42 blocks were included in the first plat, with block 18 reserved for the courthouse square. The first public sale of lots was in June 1822.
The area's first settlers were the Jacob Cutler family, who came in the years preceding the town's founding. The first hewn log house in Martinsville was built in 1820 by Jacob Cutler just north of the northeast corner of the square. By 1822, some six families resided in the new county seat. Among the first merchants in town were Joshua Taylor and John Sims. Two early industries included a tannery, established in 1824 by John Sims, and the Cutler family distillery.
Between the years 1835-1850, Martinsville shipped a large volume of pork and grain via the White River. Several coopers established shops here as a result of the shipping industry. By the 1850s, the town had grown significantly and included a woolen mill, sawmills, flour mills, a wagon shop, and several furniture shops. Religious congregations included Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and Baptist.
The railroad arrived in Martinsville prior to the Civil War, linking the town to Indianapolis and Chicago. In the antebellum years, new vernacular and Italianate style commercial buildings reflecting a growing prosperity soon lined the courthouse square.
A number of prominent industries were established in Martinsville during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. During the 1850s, Giles Mitchell established a brickyard on the western edge of Martinsville; he later moved it to North Main Street. Brick for the Morgan County Courthouse was produced at his brickyard. In 1895, the Adams Brick Company was formed from a consolidation of three smaller brick companies. The Adams Company utilized the shale found in the cliffs along Blue Bluff Road in the northern part of the town. In 1909 the Poston Brick Company was formed and built a plant next to the Adams Company. Neither complex remains today.
The Indiana Willow Products Company produced furniture remarkably similar to that of Old Hickory, its hometown rival, yet it introduced innovations in chair design and in weaving patterns. This display of furniture at an Indianapolis trade show in 1941 shows the decorative weaving patterns that became characteristic of its products. The brick factory building, located on the south edge of town, has been razed.Another manufacturer of wood products—barrels, buckets, chairs and other items—was Davis Cooperage. Located on Ohio Street south of the courthouse square, it is commonly referred to as "The Bucket Factory."
An important seasonal industry was the canning factory located on Douglas Street on the northwest side of Martinsville. Opened by the Van Camp Packing Company in 1903, it began as a small receiving station for tomatoes. By 1940, it had grown into a huge packing plant with an annual payroll of over $70,000. The peak of the company's employment occurred during the 1930s, when the National Recovery Act employed nearly 550 people in tomato canning. Older Martinsville residents recall bringing their produce into town in wagons and having to wait hours in a line stretching for blocks before they could unload. A tragic fire in 1940 destroyed the plant. In 1946, Brady Tomatoes, Inc., erected a smaller canning plant on the site. It is now home to Indiana Gratings.
A Martinsville industry known around the globe was Grassyfork Fisheries. Established in 1902 by Eugene Shireman, who had inherited a white elephant in the form of swampy farmland, Grassyfork was by World War II the largest producer of goldfish in the world.
Having several ponds already on the property, and being one to make opportunity of adversity, Shireman decided to try his hand at raising goldfish. He started with two hundred fish, which he carefully tended until he had more than enough to supply to department stores, pet shops, novelty stores, drug stores, and florists. As the operation showed continued success, Shireman bought up surrounding "worthless" farmland and expanded his operation. Eventually, Grassyfork grew to over 1500 acres and 600 ponds. By 1970, the year Grassyfork was sold to Ozark Fisheries of Stoutland, Missouri, the annual production of goldfish had reached 40 million.
The most famous industry in Martinsville was mineral water sanitariums. Mineral water was discovered in 1889 by Sylvanus Barnard while drilling for natural gas. His discovery helped Martinsville become one of the nation's leading health resorts. At one time, Martinsville contained 11 different sanitariums. Click here to learn more.
Among the earliest mineral water spas was the Martinsville Sanitarium, located in the northwest part of town. It originated in 1892 with two predecessors. The Nutter and Webster/Major/Artesian Sanitarium and the original Martinsville Sanitarium, were frame structures built side by side. In 1897 and 1898, W. K. Bellis, an Indianapolis bicycle manufacturer, bought both structures and combined them into one large, rambling facility he named the Martinsville Sanitarium
In 1916, Walter A. Kennedy bought the sanitarium and embarked on an ambitious expansion plan. By 1927, he had torn down and replaced the two early sanitariums with a massive Tudor Revival structure. Kennedy promoted the new and improved Martinsville Sanitarium as "One of the Three Best Known Watering Places in America." Today, only about one-fifth of the Martinsville Sanitarium exists. The surviving building was the first hotel structure built in 1925-26.
The other surviving sanitarium is the New Highland Mineral Springs Sanitarium, founded in the late 1880s. The first structure was built in 1896 by W. C. Banta and Dr. C. J. Keegan. A one story brick annex was built in 1924 incorporating a new feature: an inclined interior ramp linking the two buildings. A five story brick addition was completed in 1929. On March 11, 1929, the original frame section of the complex was destroyed by fire. What remains is a large part of the 1920s brick building.
The access to transportation routes, the development of a diversified industrial base and the popularity of the town's sanitariums combined to produce a thriving economy for Martinsville during the early-twentieth century. A number of the downtown's most significant buildings date to the early twentieth century. The Martinsville City Hall is one of the county's only examples of the Renaissance Revival style. The Neoclassical First National Bank of Martinsville is representative of many small town banks of this period. An unusual object in the downtown area from this period is the neon sign on top of the Italianate building at 22-28 East Morgan Street. Restored in 2001, this sign reads, "Martinsville, City of Mineral Water."
Today, Martinsville remains as an economically viable community. With the growth of the Indianapolis metropolitan area, the town has balanced its dual identity as a bedroom community and a typical Indiana small town.
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