Bethany Park: Once the Vacation Spot for Many Bloomingtonians
By: derekandjenrichey
Tags: 1920s, 1930s, Amzi Atwater, Bethany Park, Bloomington, Bloomington Fading, Bloomington Then and Now, Brooklyn, Historic, Indiana, Martinsville, Morgan County
Category: 1880s, 1920s, 1930s, Bethany Park, Bloomington, Bloomington Fading, Brooklyn, IN, Martinsville, Monroe County, Morgan County, Then and Now, Uncategorized
Today, Bethany Park, Indiana is a small town located just south of Brooklyn, Indiana and just north of Martinsville, Indiana in Morgan County. Once upon a time (1880s-1940s) it was a prime vacation spot for many in southern Indiana, and of course some of the prominent citizens of Bloomington, like the Atwaters:
CLICK TO ENLARGE Bethany Park Cottages and Hotel
“The hotel was built as part of the park by the Disciples of Christ Church. The sign above the Hotel sign reads Bethany Assembly. The Town of Bethany was incorporated much later and took its name from the park.” (Keesling)
CLICK TO ENLARGE Bethany Park Lake no longer exists today. A giant junkyard sits south of where the lake once entertained vacationers.
The Park was closed temporarily in the early 1900s as more cabins and cottages were added, and reopened in 1903 featuring “a larger number of cottages and….one of the newest attractions will be the gasoline launch on the lake.”
Monroe County travelers typically took the train from Bloomington and headed north. The train would stop just south of Brooklyn, Indiana and let the vacationers off.
CLICK TO ENLARGE “Put Me Off at Bethany” Bethany Park
“When the park was created by the Disciples of Christ Church in the 1880s, the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroad served the park. In 1905, the I & V RR was one of a handful of railroads that consolidated and became part of the new Vandalia Railroad Company (Vandalia Line).” (Keesling)
CLICK TO ENLARGE
After the vacation, Bloomingtonians and Monroe County residents would head home using the train. Sometimes that didn’t always work out the way they wanted (see above article):
CLICK TO ENLARGE Bloomington Civic Choir at Bethany Park, 1938, including former local residents Esther May Edmondson (221 E 3rd St) and Sarah Louise Martin (507 S Lincoln St), both 1923 graduates of Bloomington High School. Both of their homes no longer stand.
CLICK TO ENLARGE August 1938, Bethany Park, Indiana Christian Student Conference, Past President, James Huston and new President, Robert Daniel.
For years, Bethany Park was home to the Indiana Christian Student Convention and the Bloomington Civic Choir gathering.
The park itself closed around a decade after its long time custodian and Morgan County pioneer, A.M. Griggs, died in 1934 a the age of 72. Events were still held there through at least 1938.
CLICK TO ENLARGE 1940 Census Map of Bethany Park and Brooklyn, Indiana.
CLICK TO ENLARGE Google Maps still shows a lake southwest of Cabin Row Rd, but it is no longer there.
CLICK TO ENLARGE Cottage at Bethany Park near Brooklyn, IN.
Today, the Bethany Park lake that once sat just southwest of Cabin Row Rd is now gone, though it still shows up on Google Maps–but not on Google satellite.
Bloomington Fading 
Bethany Park was a wonderful place to be a boy in the 1970s. My grandparents, Jim and Esther Smith, owned a home on the lake there from the 50s to the mid 80s. I remember always being excited to drive down from DeMotte to visit them – especially during the holidays. The place embodied the definition of a Rockwell painting. With the quiet snowfall periodically interrupted by the old train that blew its whistle as it went by. My grandfather would always be giddy at the sound of it. He was a civil engineer for Hugh J Baker & Co. and he built and maintained the dam that helped to keep the lake level. Unfortunately, age and money kept him from being able to upkeep the dam. Otherwise, I believe the lake would still be there. The old house they lived in had a beautiful stone stairway that took you from the house down to the lake where I remember throwing out an old red and white bobber tied to the end of a hickory pole. Looking across the lake were the older broken houses on cabin row. I used to think to myself, how poor the people who lived there must have been – but how it was still a beautiful place to be – like something out of a Lewis Carol novel. I haven’t been back to Bethany Park since they sold the house in the 80s – I’m almost afraid to. But I do enjoy dreaming of one day, perhaps when I retire, going back to the wonderful place called Bethany Park.
Paul:
Thanks for this wonderful rememberence and information!
-DR
My grandparents, Dr. & Mrs James A. Crain, lived in a house on the edge of the lake, right across from the tabernadcle. My mother lived with them in 1942 and 1943, when my brother and I were born, while my father, Dr. James W. Crain, was serving in the army. In late 1943 we moved to Springfield, IL, and later to Lafayette IN and Memphis, TN; but we always loved to visit Bethany Park. We would fish for bluegills off the deck of my grandfather’s house, rent rowboats below the hotel, walk across the dam to the swimming area by Cabin Row. My grandparents moved away in the 1950s, and neither their house nor the tabernacle is there today (both burned) — but there is now a Crain Road running along what used to be a sidewalk in front of his house.
WE WERE NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS TO YOUR GRANDPARENTS.–Harry Maginity
In the late ’50 – early ’60’s I lived in Brooklyn IN…. just down the road from Bethany Park. The grade school in Brooklyn is where the youngsters who lived in Bethany Park went each day, so I knew them all. I had a paper route that included delivering to Bethany Park. I remember the Coleman Family…big family with 5-6 kids – all blonds. The house they lived in was a large wooden Victorian with a major wrap-around porch overlooking the lake. The whole area was run down at that time, still showing signs that it had once seen much better days.
My family lived in the first house by the railroad track. Wonderful place. Loved ice skating in the winter. The Smith family were my parents best friends.
If your father was Harold Edwards, I remember him well. He was a very kind man and my family was always overjoyed when he came to visit. He was also always dressed to the nines. Besides his great charisma, one of my fondest memories of him is the wonderful aroma from his pipe. He truly was a great friend of our family.
I lived in Bethany like the third or 4th house from the railroad tracks ther used to be the brickyard company behind our house it’s now a junkyard I hear , bill and Gladys Heath lived next door , the big lake was in front of us and cabin row across the lake , we would swim in the big lake by the dam , and me and my sister caught a huge turtle in the brick yard lake we called it behind our house , sold that turtle to mr Heath , never asked what he did with it . Lived there I don’t remember how long but we moved to Brooklyn , I miss those towns they were my favorite memories of my life .