Kankakee Valley Area - Starke, Pulaski, Jasper, Newton, White Co., etc. (South Bend: middle-class, house)

[summer22]

The name of this thread probably isn't quite accurate, but I don't really know how to categorize this area. Newton, White, Starke, Jasper, Pulaski counties, part of southern LaPorte, part of southern Porter, maybe into Cass.

I'm basically thinking of this area as West of 31, South of 30, North of 24. These would probably be towns that would get their weather and high school sports coverage from WNDU Channel 16 or Channel 22 in South Bend and are not represented in Chicago media. I'd include DeMotte and Lowell because they don't really fit the suburbanized "Northwest Indiana" category. Hebron to me seems more developed and similar to Valpo and NW Indiana, so I would probably not include it. Plymouth is sort of on the line but I think it does fit with these others. If the town/city would connect more with Kokomo, I wouldn't include it here. I'm drawing the southern boundary at 24 because south of there, I think the area would connect very closely with Lafayette.

Its sort of a region that's off the beaten path and off most people's radar. Some people love this area; some people find it forlorn. No major city -- just a lot of county seats. These areas are just a little too far south to have a strong connection with Lake Michigan. For many of these, its an hour's drive to any major/modern mall or medical center. There's a lot of ag and a local newspaper. Some of these are on Central time with Chicago and some are on Eastern time with South Bend and Indy. There's not a lot of retention of college graduates. There's a good amount of poverty. Also a decent amount of well-kept subdivisions and neighborhoods that house a middle-class and upper-class that stays loyal. You have a good amount of small-town pride. Not much development. Rural roads, two-lane highways. Many of these locales have a choice of what larger municipality to travel to for services. Its not a clear-cut choice, so in a way, these towns stay independent of the influence of any one city. Some people from the same town might choose Michigan City, LaPorte, South Bend, Merrillville, Valpo, Crown Point, or Lafayette just depending on which direction they like to drive, where their doctor and hospital are, or where their kids relocated to.

I'm not making judgement of this area -- it is what it is, but there isn't much written about it and I'd like to find out more, both objective information and others' perceptions.

So this thread is just to talk about this area. Comment on any portion of these questions you wish!

--How would you characterize or describe this region as a whole?

-- How do the towns differ from each other, and how are they similar?
(Winamac, Wanatah, Culver, LaCrosse, North Judson, South Central area, Medaryville, Francesville, DeMotte, others)

-- How are the cities alike and different?
(Logansport, Knox, Plymouth, Renssalaer, etc.)

-- Which municipalities are stagnant and which are standing out as doing more?

-- Do the counties each have their own personality? What are the main influences in each (religions, churches, business, industry, geography, politics, historical influences, problems, etc.)

-- What do you think the future holds for this region? Where do their greatest hopes lie, and greatest challenges? What holds them back?

[richb]

Lowell is more part of NW Indiana then anything else. Yes, its the first town that is more rural, but there are plenty of subdivisions that are more oriented toward NW Indiana and Chicago. It will become even more of the suburban area when the Illiana Tollway gets built. Also there are more commuters in DeMotte then you probably think. They may not be going all the way to Chicago, but the idea of living in a more urban (or suburban) area is unthinkable.

They may not be on many peoples radar, but most residents of these areas like that it isn't.