Why Didn't Fort Wayne Decline? (Indianapolis, South Bend: insurance, how much, home)

[TheseGoTo11]

I'm not familiar with Fort Wayne, but find it interesting that the city has a manufacturing history and is larger now that it was mid-20th century. What has the city done to avoid the decline many other cities have faced?

[Bluefox]

They annexed. A lot.

https://www.cityoffortwayne.org/imag...story_2010.pdf

Since the early 1950's Fort Wayne has extensively utilized annexation as a tool to keep up with the patterns of suburban sprawl. In fact, over 175 individual annexations have been initiated by Fort Wayne over the past five decades. These annexations included both voluntary and involuntary annexations

https://www.fwcommunitydevelopment.org/planning

And, you know there’s a separate Fort Wayne subforum now.

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

They annexed. A lot.

https://www.cityoffortwayne.org/imag...story_2010.pdf



https://www.fwcommunitydevelopment.org/planning

And, you know there’s a separate Fort Wayne subforum now.

Thanks, makes more sense now. The subforum looked dead so posted here instead.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

They annexed. A lot.

https://www.cityoffortwayne.org/imag...story_2010.pdf



https://www.fwcommunitydevelopment.org/planning

And, you know there’s a separate Fort Wayne subforum now.

Fascinating to see how much they have annexed. Where did you get that if I may know?

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

I remember WOWO 1190 in the 1960's. It was the clearest am radio station that we could pick up in Muncie. It came in clearer than WIBC which was the clearest am radio station out of Indianapolis that you get in Muncie, but sometimes it came with alot of static and snow, which WOWO never did. WOWO had a very strong signal. It was in the dead of winter, 1971, about 4 o'clock in the morning, about 5 degrees below zero outside and me and my cousin were pretty much smack-dab in the middle of Kansas heading west on Interstate 70 and scanning the am radio dial for some good music and all of sudden WOWO came in clear as a bell. We were amazed, so we listened to it until it faded out.

[Veniceman]

I lived in Fort Wayne for 34 years. Many of the annexations took place under mayor Paul Helmke.

The Defense industry has always been pretty steady in Fort Wayne over the years and there used to be a decent insurance industry at one time. I always felt Fort Wayne was less dependent on the automobile industry as compared to central Indiana. Perhaps the city survived better after Harvester left due to more diversity of businesses.

[BabyBear1234]

Fort Wayne native and current resident here....What the others have said is true. FW went into a bit of a slump but pulled itself out rather quickly....currently I'd say our largest industry is healthcare. We've also focused a lot on revitalizing our downtown. I have a love/hate relationship with this place lol!

[HowardRoarke]

Originally Posted by Veniceman

I lived in Fort Wayne for 34 years. Many of the annexations took place under mayor Paul Helmke.

The Defense industry has always been pretty steady in Fort Wayne over the years and there used to be a decent insurance industry at one time. I always felt Fort Wayne was less dependent on the automobile industry as compared to central Indiana. Perhaps the city survived better after Harvester left due to more diversity of businesses.

I'm here in FW on business on a regular basis, and can back this up. Sure parts of the city which centered around specific companies like Harvester are fairly or pretty rundown these days, meaning no investment to speak of, the city is very stable economically and financially, as a whole.

My hunch is if the Electric Works project does get a bit of traction, that part of the city by downtown will perk up. Over the weekend I had a conversation with a local here who said some property purchases have happened just north of the RR tracks on Broadway, so the project goes beyond the former boundary of the GE complex, apparently.

Central IN by comparison has its share of really rundown Rust Belt towns, Marion is probably the worst.

I think too that FW's location being closer to MI and NW Ohio helps, the area is also very dependent upon logistics, as it has been since the 19th C. RR and trucking activity are both very robust, the area really is blessed with a steadily-growing economy.

[censusdata]

Really not about annexations, Allen County has also grown robustly during the same time frame similar sized counties home to cities like Toledo or Flint are that had major population loss. Most simply it is because Indiana is a far more business friendly and lower tax state so jobs were added rather than lost. This is true across most of Indiana other the NW suburbs of Chicago.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Really not about annexations, Allen County has also grown robustly during the same time frame similar sized counties home to cities like Toledo or Flint are that had major population loss. Most simply it is because Indiana is a far more business friendly and lower tax state so jobs were added rather than lost. This is true across most of Indiana other the NW suburbs of Chicago.

I think South Bend would be an exception, but overall I agree with your statement.