By Marla Miller
The Republic
Editor's Note: An exclusive week-long series of articles explores the past, present and future of the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center in Butlerville. The center opened in 1919 and is scheduled to close by Jan. 1.
BUTLERVILLE — A Century 21 “For Sale” sign hangs outside Lockridge Building Supply, a dimly lit hardware store with low ceilings, dusty shelves and a bare lumber yard.
For Phil Lockridge, the decision to sell his family’s 47-year-old business is a matter of moving to a new phase in his life. He turned 62 in September and is ready to retire.
The supply store, where Lockridge started working during high school, remains one of two lumber-type businesses in Jennings County. Somehow, it’s survived the entrepreneurial swell and swallow in Butlerville, situated on a slight U.S. 50 s-curve about a mile east of Muscatatuck State Developmental Center.
The economic impact of the center’s closure remains to be seen, but folks like Lockridge already have taken a hit. His business furnished most of the construction materials for what locals refer to as “the state school.” The self-supporting campus has 1,800 acres and 68 buildings.
“We got a lot of business from the state,” he said, relaxing in a chair next to the antiquated gas stove which heats the store. “Lumber, hardware items, whatever they needed.”
Lockridge Building Supply sits on Main Street about a half-block north of U.S. 50 near the heart of this village’s former business district.
Lockridge remembers when he could walk down the street to bank, eat or get the mail. Now, boarded-up buildings and half-renovated homes surround the store.
“Years and years ago, this used to be a booming little town,” he said. "We had three grocery stores, a restaurant, a drug store, and we had the depot. There were quite a few things. As time goes on, they just fade out.”
Business decision
Lockridge listed his business with a Realtor sixth months ago and is weighing whether to close after winter — with or without a buyer. In preparation, he’s cut back on inventory.
“It’s been a good business over the last 40 years,” he said. “I’d like to try and sell the business, but I think it’s going to be hard to do.
“Everybody says ‘you’ll be sorry when you do it,’ but I feel like it’s time maybe to try and enjoy life a little bit.”
A similar brown and yellow sign also sways in front of Butlerville Grocery on U.S. 50. Like Lockridge, the grocery’s owners maintain the center’s shutdown has been immaterial in their decision to sell.
Gary and Charlanne McHaley purchased the grocery and convenience store in March 2001. They’ve owned several small businesses and buy and sell them with frequency, Charlanne McHaley said.
“My mom worked there for 30 years, and a lot of people said back then that the state school was closing,” she said. “It’s been kind of a thing people said for years. We didn’t use that as a reason to buy it or not buy it. I don’t think the state school will make or break this business.”
Rather, McHaley sees a new sewer system as the key to economic development in the region. The county has been ordered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to bring sewers to Butlerville and recently received a grant to help with construction.
“We’re all on septic systems and the ground is so low they don’t work,” she said. “That is one of the biggest things that has held down Butlerville. It’s a constant battle.”
They listed the grocery with a Realtor in March 2004. Entrepreneurs have inquired about the store, but serious takers have been minimal.
“I think a lot of people are waiting to see what happens with the military,” she said. “I don’t think anybody really knows.”
Village booms, wanes
Lockridge never asked why his parents, Horace and Cordia, decided to open a building supply and lumber store in Butlerville.
Farmers, they moved the family from Anderson and opened the business in 1957.
“They wanted to start a lumber yard and try it,” Lockridge said. “I guess he thought this would be a good spot.”
A family affair, Lockridge joined his parents full time after graduating in 1962. The younger Lockridge made deliveries, loaded lumber and helped build most of the yard’s outbuildings.
The property borders the railroad track dividing the community, which consists of a cluster of two-story, ranch and mobile homes, a handful of small businesses, a few churches, a volunteer fire station, a convenience store and a post office.
The former elementary and high school buildings still stand, but, with busted windows and chained doors, reflect historic blight.
The Butlerville post office moved from Main Street to a new building on U.S. 50 in 1964. All of Muscatatuck’s mail filtered through the office, and the volume has tapered with its downsizing, said Anita Biehle, postmaster for 11 years.
“The last five years, we’ve been able to see a decline,” she said. “It’s been more drastic the last two years. It used to look like Santa’s Christmas bag at Christmastime.”
Biehle also has noticed a decrease in foot traffic from Muscatatuck employees stopping in to buy stamps and supplies. The center’s closure will hurt, but she isn’t worry about her office following suit.
“It was another customer that quote ‘moved away,’” she said. “We deliver to over 700 customers from the Zenas area near the Decatur/Ripley County line all the way down to the (Jefferson) Proving Ground.”
At the grocery, business is holding steady. McHaley said most Muscatatuck employees live locally anyway, and her customer base is a mix of Butlerville residents and highway travelers.
“I don’t think it ever had a big impact on this store because they (employees) ate meals out there for 50 cents,” McHaley said. “We get a lot of people who don’t get to town a lot. We run charge accounts for certain people. It’s more of a Mom and Pop-type thing.”
Changing times
Most of Lockridge’s customers also are farmers and local residents who are used to the store’s simplicity. A colorful Pittsburgh Paints sign personalized for the business hangs over the door even though Lockridge no longer sells paint.
He writes orders and receipts by hand, has one basic cash register and accepts only cash or checks.
“We’re not modern, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m no computer man. I’m the old-fashioned type. We’ve never had a credit card machine. I never did want to fool with it.”
He took over the business after his dad died in 1977 and has lived about a mile from the store for the last 18 years. His wife, Kathy, handles the paperwork and books. His mom kept working there until the mid-1990s. Now he has two part-time employees.
For Lockridge, Muscatatuck always has been a good neighbor and an even better customer.
“It was all put on bids,” he said. “If you made 10 percent, you were lucky, but we most generally got all of them.
“Since all this started, gradually they ain’t been buying much. The last couple of years, it’s really went down quite a bit.”
The center’s slow phase out plus the infiltration of chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Menards in neighboring counties has affected the bottom line.
“They do hurt,” he said. “They’ve got everything inside where it’s nice. If you need a lock or a light bulb, most people are going to get it while they’re there.
“A small guy like me, you can’t handle everything. It used to be if you didn’t have it, they would order it.”
Still, he has survived due to his Mom and Pop reputation and lack of local competition. Goecker Building Supplies Inc. in North Vernon is the closest lumber store.
Like others in the community, many of whom worked at Muscatatuck, Lockridge said it’s disappointing to see the center go.
“It’s a shame they had to close the state school down,” he said. “It’s just part of it I guess. It’s bound to hurt. With homeland security coming in, I hope that will take up the slack.”
THURSDAY: A look at the changing face of disability health care and its effect on Muscatatuck
Portions © 2004, The Republic, Columbus, Indiana