Bobtown is an unincorporated community in Hamilton Township, Jackson County, Indiana.(4 March 2016). ‘We do anything we get called for’, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana) (article mentions Bobtown as among the unincorporated areas served by the township's volunteer fire department)
Location and history The community is located in northern Jackson County along N. County Roads 525E and 500E, about five miles northwest of Seymour, or about eight miles by road.
The community once had a school and a store, and there was also a gunshop from 1870 to 1895.Belden, Roy H. Early Gunsmiths of Jackson County, p. 145, Indiana History Bulletin, Vol 27, No. 7 (July 1950) The one-room schoolhouse was open from 1897 through 1939, and closed due to school consolidation.Spicer, Zach (15 August 2015). One-Room Memories, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana)(23 August 1941). Sale of School Property, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana) (notice for public auction of "Bobtown school grounds, schoolhouse and out buildings located on said grounds") Residents in the 1990s reported that the community was named after Bob Chasteen, who owned the grocery store.(11 May 1996). Small Community undergoes changes, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana) Chasteen's 1926 obituary notes he ran a general store at Bobtown for 35 years, but doesn't mention whether the community was named after him.(10 March 1926). Hamilton Township Man Dies After Long Illness, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana)
One source describes Bobtown as likely established after 1900 because it does not appear on prior maps. A 1900 plat map of the county shows the schoolhouse and multiple smaller residential lots around it, but without a place name affixed.Descriptive atlas of Jackson County, Indiana, 1900 Local newspaper references to "Bobtown" appear as early as 1895.(19 September 1895). Notes, Jackson County Banner ("N. Nelson was our guest on Sunday and piloted us to Bobtown on Monday.")(27 November 1899). Notes, The Tribune (Seymour, Indiana) ("The Bobtown school was closed this morning on account of scarlet fever near there") The community does appear on local maps as early as 1917 and USGS maps as early as 1957.Plat book of Jackson County, Indiana (c. 1925)USGS - Jonesville Quadrangle (1957)Map of Jackson County, Indiana (1917) It also appears on official county maps.Road Map of Jackson County, Indiana (Updated:March 22, 2005), Jackson County Board of Commissioners (2005)
The working title of John Cougar Mellencamp's 1987 album The Lonesome Jubilee was named Bobtown, because his grandparents had lived there after they were married.White, Timony (8 December 2001). A Portrait of the Artist, Billboard, p.19
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