Indiana Favorite Tips by Toughluck

Indiana's Small towns

Favorite thing: Indiana has numerous small towns dating from the end of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th Century. It was a time of rapid industrial growth. Much of which was not dependent on the exact location of the business as transportation was expanding, demand was rising for finished products and farm production was producing value. These towns grew up as the hub of business for there area. There is at least one substantial town in each county and if it's large enough or the geography splits it up, there may be 2 or 3.

Fondest memory: Kendallville is in northern Indiana and has retained it's turn of the century (18th-19th centuries) downtown.
Columbia City in northwestern Indiana, like many towns, the business' are moving out to the main road in strip malls, leaving the downtown undisturbed.
Greencastle, west of Indianapolis is still a thriving buisness center with an intact downtown. Here you can see change, but the retention of the historic structures.
Madison is down on the Ohio River, east of Louisville, Kentucky. The downtown is being restored to an earlier time period as the modern stores and chains are all 'on the hill', and downtown is returning to a period river town.
Valparaiso is on the edge of the spreading Chicago metropolis, yet it retains much of it's downtown.
Vincennes is the oldest city in the state and is located on the Wabash River at the Illinois border. Here, you'll be able to find several 'downtowns', although only one is the modern city center. The other are earlier commercial centers in the history of this city.

Indiana Courthouses

Favorite thing: Indiana Courthouses, have had a tradition of being similar. Square built with a central tower. Even with that tradition, the variation is wonderful. Of course, over the years, some have lost their towers, others have been replaced completely. Those remaining 19th Century (1880-1900) buildings are always fun to see.