Southern Indiana Living MayJune 2017

In 1808, when Charles Beggs assisted
in surveying and platting a 300-
acre stretch of land a mile outside
of Springville, he could not possibly
have fathomed the immense historical and
cultural impact his namesake town would
bring to Southern Indiana. Charlestown
has periodically undergone tremendous
town-shaping transformations in the 200-
plus years since it was founded, but it is
within the past 20 years that the township
has become one of the key factors helping
to redefine Southern Indiana. The most
noticeable of these changes involves the
former Indiana Army Ammunition Plant
(INAAP).
Drawing upon the abundant supply
of water furnished by the Ohio River, the
INAAP (announced in 1940 as the largest
plant of smokeless powder in the world)
supplied munitions through several wars,
including World War II and the Vietnam
War. More than 27,000 people were employed
there, and the site helped Charlestown
and neighboring areas recover from
the Great Depression. In 1998, Congress
authorized the split of the former plant
site between Charlestown State Park and
the River Ridge Commerce Center.
River Ridge’s top employers now
collectively employ well over 5,000 people
at a 6,000-acre site that includes such Fortune
500 companies as Enjoy Life Foods
and Amazon. And River Ridge’s success
has led to the introduction of another
business previously thought unlikely to
succeed in Charlestown.
Roughly 2½ years ago, when Jill
Miller was first approached for the general
manager position of the Cobblestone
Inn & Suites location in Charlestown, she
was skeptical of a possible hotel’s success.
“How would a hotel ever make it in
Charlestown, Indiana?” she wondered.
However, after researching the area (and
River Ridge in particular) she said her
findings revealed the business park was
“going crazy” with success. With her initial
concerns abated, Miller and her team
diligently worked to turn the hotel into a
thriving venture. “We’ve been open two
years now, and we won Property of the
Year last year, and that is out of 84 properties,”
Miller said. She noted that the
award is based on sales, and that the hotel
is “full a majority of the time.” On a recent
non-holiday Thursday, the hotel had only
one room available. Miller attributes the
constant supply of hotel guests not only
to the economic traffc being brought in
by River Ridge but also events such as the
National Farm Machinery Show, the Kentucky
Derby and the Mid-America Trucking
Show.
One of the more touching moments
at the hotel involved a recent guest and her
Pictured: (top and bottom) Rose Island is an abandoned amusement park. The land is now part of Charlestown State
Park. Rose Island was built in 1923, and included a hotel, swimming pool, and an amusement park with wooden coaster
and ferris wheel. Rose Island could only be reached by boat or footbridge. The park was closed after the 1937 flood,
though remains of the park can still be found, including the original swimming pool and a few brick formations. The
“Walkway of Roses” shown below is a recreation of part of the original walkway into the park. In its heyday, you would find
lightbulbs strung between the arches, and roses climbing up the posts.
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