Center Grove

White River Township Today Described

      The idea of suburban living wasn’t actually weighed until the post-war-rush began.  Even then, it took the general public nine years to realize that the fad had became a trend.

For White River township, an estimated 8,800 residents joined the migration to suburban living.

      Businesses for the entire area number only slightly better than 1.3 per square mile. Since 90 per cent of the residents are home buyers who draw their salaries from Indianapolis firms, there is little need to industrialize the township.  However, what few do not find employment in either the Greenwood area or the city itself, work for 63 businesses which operate within the boundaries of White River township.

      The thinking habits of businessmen in White River township have changed recently because of outside competition.

      “Seven months ago it wasn’t possible to buy a pair of shoes or work pants,” according to Carl Kegley, trustee of the township.  “We were just a district of homes and commuters,” he said.

      The construction of the Greenwood Shopping Center has since forced the local firms to face the problem of meeting the competition if they were to survive.

“We were just a district of homes and commuters.”

      Since this time, marketing demands have been met and new department stores added in the area.

      All five of the township’s major communities have offered shopping center convenience for the past decade Kegley reported, but it has been only recently that the available merchandise was expanded on lines which would allow a family to make most of its purchases within the boundaries of White River.

      The typical facilities of the small township communities were similar to Banta, one of the smaller communities, near the Morgan county line with the following:  A Methodist Church, a grocery store, lodge hall, and a community meeting place.  It formerly had a blacksmith shop such as offered by the other communities within the township.

      These facilities are typical throughout Stones Crossing – on 135; Old Smith Valley on county road 900 west of 135; Bluff Creek, formerly known as Browntown – three miles east of 37 on state road 44; and Kinder.

      Each community center in the township has a shopping center, but the largest shopping facilities are found in Stones Crossing and Smith Valley, which are also the oldest.

However, a “center” is tentatively planned just north of Smith Valley Road on state road 135.  The site already has a branch of the Union Bank and Trust of Franklin and Bargain Bob’s Shoe Store.

      Another small center has been in service for a good many years on state road 37 and the county lines.  Actually, the Marion county line divides the Adams grocery store located there in half.  This shopping center has become known as Adam’s Corner.

      These main arteries – state roads 135, 144 and 37 handle most of the traffic in and through the township.

      Traffic counts for the area indicate that there is a heavy exchange between White River and Indianapolis.  At state road 37 and the Marion county road counts range from 7,695 south of the dividing line to 8,205 north of it while readings taken on state road 135 showed 7,263 south of Marion county, and 8,155 north of this point.

      Greenwood gets its share of daily influx.  At Greenwood Road and U.S. 31, the count registered 4,381 vehicles in one day.