Crothersville Depot
Crothersville is a small town on the edge of Jackson County. Its name was originally Haysville but after being offered the opportunity to have a depot built if the town’s name was changed, it became Crothersville after the Jeffersonville Railroad Superintendent who made the offer. This railroad depot was a landmark in the town. It brought business to Crothersville, plus people and products. In a town where the population has never exceeded 2000 residents it meant quite a bit to have their own depot during the mid-1800s.
Though it’s not certain that this particular person was the “Crother” for whom the town of Crothersville was renamed there are details that lead some to believe he is the town namesake. A.S. Crothers (1827-1864) was born from a well-off Jeffersonville family and married a prominent Jeffersonville woman, Victoria Louise Davidson. Andrew, in his short 36 years of life, would not only have a town named after him but he would also become the supervisor of the Jeffersonville State Prison and join the Union Army during the Civil War.
It was on a warm night in 1958 that the story of the depot would end. It was after closing time when a southbound train sped through the center of town. The wheels on a baggage car malfunctioned, sending several cars careening towards and mostly through the little depot. The result was a total loss of the small building between two tracks.
Several months later it was decided that rebuilding the depot was not an option and thus, all business would now be conducted out of Austin and the conductor from there would come down for two hours a day to service Crothersville.
While the depot no longer exists, the memory of the depot and its benefactor live on in the name of Crothersville.
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