I had the pleasure of meeting with the newly re-formed Jamestown Merchants Association last week.
Jamestown is an interesting town that sits on the far southwest corner of Boone County – so far southwest that many mistake it being in Hendricks County. But no, Jamestown is definitely a part of our county and played an important part in the formation of Boone County.
As a matter of fact, Jamestown is Boone County’s oldest town - first laid out back in 1832 and the site of the first County Seat of Boone County. Jamestown was our most populus town at the time and was an important trading point serving both Hendricks and Montgomery counties.
Jamestown’s weekly newspaper, the Jamestown Press, was established in 1873 and published for 120 years with the last edition in 1993. The Jamestown Press museum is filled with the presses and other equipment that published the paper over this time.
The railroad arrived in Jamestown in 1897 while the Interurban trolley system (named the Ben Hur line) - connecting Crawfordsville with Indianapolis – was built through Jamestown in 1902.
Today, Jamestown is a pleasant community with residents who take great pride in their town’s history and work for its future. The Jamestown Merchants Association has been reformed after 10 years with local shop owners, service providers and restaurants intent on putting their town back on the map for tourism.
The Jamestown Merchants Association first project will be the creation of a website for their organization. Then they’ll be working on putting together a bigger and better Homecoming Event this Summer.
Welcome back Jamestown Merchants, we look forward to your progress.
