Looking for the Perfect Small Town (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne: houses, high school, university)

[Mrs.H]

I am looking the for perfect Small Town America" Town to move to. You know, like "Stars Hollow" in Gilmore Girls. With a Town Square and little businesses and a diner, mostly older style houses with big yards! and big front porches!

Do you know of any in Indiana?

[Ronzou]

Columbia City is like this kinda, there are plenty of old houses, and in some places you do get a big yard. Downtown is horrendously tiny, and there are small businesses and diners.

[domergurl]

I always thought one of the prettiest towns in Indiana was Jasper.

[paptofour]

I will second domergurl's comment on Jasper. It is very nice town with a town square and businesses and diners. I'm sure Indiana has plenty of these type of towns, Mt. Vernon and Booneville also come to mind in Southern IN.

[Spartanacus]

Originally Posted by Mrs.H

I am looking the for perfect Small Town America" Town to move to. You know, like "Stars Hollow" in Gilmore Girls. With a Town Square and little businesses and a diner, mostly older style houses with big yards! and big front porches!

Do you know of any in Indiana?

Columbus, IN??? North of 'the big city' Bloomington and South of 'the metropolis' Indianapolis. From what I've seen, Brown County, Indiana is one of the most beautiful scenic areas in IN...there are actually rolling hills and forested areas (not just flat cornfields)!

[Clarkx3]

Nashville
lived there during the late 80's for high school. It is touristy with craft shoppes and peddlers etc. The fall foliage is some of the most beautiful I've seen and I've lived all over. I'm sure it's grown alot, but I have fond memories of rolling hills, older homes etc. Also not too far of a drive to Bloomington or Columbus for shopping etc.
Good Luck

[dumpstermcnuggets]

Originally Posted by Clarkx3

Nashville
lived there during the late 80's for high school. It is touristy with craft shoppes and peddlers etc. The fall foliage is some of the most beautiful I've seen and I've lived all over. I'm sure it's grown alot, but I have fond memories of rolling hills, older homes etc. Also not too far of a drive to Bloomington or Columbus for shopping etc.
Good Luck

I second the mention of Brown County and Nashville, I loved driving through that part of the state, en route to visiting Bloomington, IN, a few years back!

I kinda also remember going through Crawfordsville and also Greencastle a few years back, and finding that both of those towns were pretty nice. Not sure of the economic shape of either of those towns, but those towns seemed pretty nice, from what I remember of them(Crawfordsville btw, is also the home of Wabash College, which I remember briefly doing a detour and driving by that college to look at it, which I thought looked like a nice college to me, although it isn't necessarily my cup of tea, as I prefer co-ed schools).

[dumpstermcnuggets]

^ Oops, forgot to say that Greencastle is the home of DePauw University(stupid me!).

[LilyNBlue]

I've lived all my life (more than 41 years) in various small towns in NE Indiana and could offer pro's and con's for several. Most have been just north of Fort Wayne, which is the second largest city in the state and offers almost anything you could want within reasonable driving distance.

Auburn is a nice small-ish town with a town square, historic homes, the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum, War Memorial Museum and Kruse Auction (nationally acclaimed automobile auctions) facilities. It also has its own hospital. It's library boasts a nice genealogy department (though it PALES in comparison to the genealogy department at the downtown Fort Wayne library -- which has been said to be second only to the LDS library in Salt Lake City, UT). Auburn is in Dekalb County.

Kendallville's Main Street is full of small businesses tucked inside historic buildings, and there are some beautiful historic residences in the downtown area, too. There are lakes nearby and even in-town. A new, multi-million dollar (HUGE!) library will be opening soon. The Noble County Fairgrounds are in Kendallville, as well. Kendallville also has its own hospital.

I saw others have mentioned Columbia City. It came to mind when I thought of "town square"... as did Albion (though downtown Albion is much smaller).

There are other great small towns in NE Indiana... some of which are too small to even have a "town square" but have a beautiful "Main Street", and other attractions that are appealing. So please keep an open mind to some of those places as well, as you may discover a treasure!

Good Luck to you!!

[cgballer]

I'd move to Jasper if I was you. It has pretty much exactly what you are looking for.