The Hilltop Inn, originally known as George J. Marx’s Grocery and Saloon, lies atop a hill in Perry Township in an area formerly known as Perryville. The community was established in the mid-19th Century by Colonel John Rheinlander, a veteran of the Mexican-American war. By 1874, according to local lore, the area acquired its more common name of Babytown.
\nIn the mid-1850s Colonel Rheinlander built a cigar factory in Babytown. Other area businesses included the Stocker Malt House, the Sander Wagon and Blacksmith Shop, the Bunker Hills Mills, and the Evansville Brewery. The Hartmetz and Wimberg families, who owned the brewery, merged with other breweries and moved to Fulton Avenue in Evansville in 1893.
\nPerryville Becomes “Babytown”
\nThe exact origin of the name Babytown is unknown. According to a story that George Marx Jr., the then owner of the Hilltop, told the Evansville Press in 1984, it came from a whiskey salesman who planned to spend the night there. The inn owner at the time, George Marx Sr., told the salesman that they had a new baby in the household, their tenth, and could not rent a room. The salesman went to several more nearby homes and was told the same thing. “We have a young baby and can’t take you in.” He then inquired at the home of John Reiss who told the salesman that his wife had just delivered their sixteenth child, and he had no room for a guest. The salesman replied, “I thought this was Perryville but it must be Babytown.” The nickname stuck.
\nWhen the streetcar line came through in the early 1900s, the area became officially known as West Heights and remained so until Evansville annexed the community in 1952.
\nAccording to a 1976 Evansville Sunday Courier and Press article, around 1900 Babytown contained “three brickyards, eight saloons, a sandpit, a flour mill, a hardware store, malt house, a brewery, and the Babytown Volunteer Fire Department.” Babytown’s first schoolhouse, a one room school that operated from 1869-1888, was on Babytown Road. The schoolhouse eventually became the home of the volunteer fire department.
\nGeorge Marx’s Saloon and Grocery - Late 1800s
\nGeorge J. Marx opened a saloon in Babytown in the late 19th century. The original building was a tavern and grocery with sleeping rooms above. The store, in a building attached to the saloon, served as a gathering place for local farmers selling their livestock, dairy products, and produce.
\nGeorge Marx, Jr. Takes Over - 1920s
\nBy the time of Prohibition, George’s son, George Marx Jr., had taken ownership of the bar. An interesting family story about those days comes from Butch Marx as told to him by his uncle Walt Sitzman.
\n“During Prohibition he [Walt Sitzman] and my uncle Elmer would go to Chicago to buy hard liquor from Al Capone’s mob to sell at our saloon. [If the bar received] a call from someone downtown that they were coming to check them to see if they were selling booze, they would hide it outside in a safe place.
\nOn Sundays after church Father Hillenbrand from St. Boniface Church would come visit to play clabber and drink. One time my grandpa asked, ‘Father, is it wrong that we are doing this?’ Father answered, ‘It is if they catch us.’”
\nThe Hilltop Inn Today
\nAs of 2020, Tyler Marx (many “greats” removed from his uncle George, and the grandson of Butch Marx) runs the Hilltop Inn. The menu still contains old favorites such as pork brain sandwich, fried chicken, sliders, fiddlers (catfish), and chicken livers. The Hilltop has a salad bar and now serves barbeque and fresh-baked pies from Marx Barbeque which has operated from a building behind the Hilltop for decades. The Marx family has also upgraded the bar, bringing in fine bourbons, vodka, and craft beers.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["Evansville Press, December 10, 1984
","Evansville Sunday Courier and Press, May 16, 1976, page 17
","The Evansville Press, August 24, 1971
","Evansville Courier, June 17, 2019, p A06
"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/1753e21096d415f63e28b99bb7ce8401.jpg":{"id":2189,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Hilltop Inn","description":"The Hilltop Inn is still open for business and run by the Marx family. This is a fine place for pausing and sampling the food and drink. | Courtesy of Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science. | March 2018 | Tom Lonnberg","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/1753e21096d415f63e28b99bb7ce8401.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/34e8e103017d8770dc64646e75751d5d.jpg":{"id":2191,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"George Marx Saloon","description":"George Marx’s Saloon was much more than a bar. It was a place where local farmers could trade products for dry goods, food, and hardware. “From Wadesville and Parker Settlement and St. Joe the farmers came. And watermelon men from Posey County came, sometimes with fifteen wagons in a caravan, some staying several days in rooms provided by Marx. They didn’t leave town during watermelon season until their wagonloads were sold” (Evansville Press, 1971) | Courtesy of Tyler Marx, Hilltop Inn | ca 1900","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/34e8e103017d8770dc64646e75751d5d.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/93cddba8b39e9013eedf14098e699a33.jpg":{"id":2193,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Advertisement for West Heights Cave Park","description":"Cave Park was a favorite recreation destination in Babytown. It began as a beer garden on top of a cave. Eventually, the Park owners put lighting in the cave. It featured “a dance hall, picnic area, and barbeque pit. The attraction was so popular that at times as many as twenty bartenders were needed to keep the beer flowing.” | Courtesy of Vanderburgh County Historical Society | 1903","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/93cddba8b39e9013eedf14098e699a33.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/58ca91d0f6af2df1ca4cff12873b9db0.jpg":{"id":2194,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"West Heights and Cave Park Map","description":"The area once called “Babytown” can be seen on this map. According to a 1976 Evansville Sunday Courier and Press article, around 1900 Babytown extended “one mile from Harmony Way at Mount Vernon Avenue, north to Cave Avenue. Originally a dirt road, Harmony Way used to be referred to as Babytown Road and the hill it traverses was called Babytown Hill.” | Courtesy of Vanderburgh County Historical Society | ca 1900","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/58ca91d0f6af2df1ca4cff12873b9db0.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/a6470475ffe10e0a657aa6479aedebab.jpg":{"id":2190,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"George Marx Jr. behind the Hilltop Bar","description":"George Marx Jr. took over the saloon from his father, George Marx Sr., who had founded it. The establishment has been owned by the same family for over 100 years. | Courtesy of Tyler Marx, Hilltop Inn | ca 1950s","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/a6470475ffe10e0a657aa6479aedebab.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/fullsize/586ac15290f3f2536787168c4a1057e1.jpg":{"id":2192,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Kenny Kent and George Marx Jr. with Sterling Beer","description":"Hartmetz had a fondness for saying the beer he brewed was “a sterling beer.” When the Hartmetz and Wimberg brewery merged with others in 1893, the new brewery was named Sterling Brewery. In this 1955 advertisement, George Marx Jr. hands a case of Sterling Beer to Kenny Kent right in front of the Hilltop Inn. | Courtesy of Tyler Marx, Hilltop Inn | 1955","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/586ac15290f3f2536787168c4a1057e1.jpg"}}}