Posted July 3, 200915 yr Kendallville, Indiana June 6, 2009 All Photos Copyright © 2009 by Robert E Pence Kendallville, population 10,018, is located in Noble County, Indiana. There's a lot more to see than what I have pictured here; there's a beautiful new public library, Bixler Lake, attractive residential neighborhoods, and a nearby windmill museum features full-sized, restored, working windmills to commemorate an important part of the community's industrial history, the manufacture of windmills and water pumps that found use on many farms in the local area and around the world. The city's worst natural disaster was a 1992 tornado that did millions of dollars in damage to businesses on Main Street. Repair and recovery in some cases involved restoring nineteenth-century facades that had been covered over with metal cladding for many years. It's a handsome small-town downtown. For the most part, the photos speak for themselves. The 750-seat Spencer Opera House opened in 1890, and in the early 1900s hosted Vaudeville acts. It closed during World War I and reopened in 1919 as the Strand. In 1956 it was remodeled and updated with stereo sound, and in 1980 it was again remodeled and made into twin theaters. Some houses overlooking the railroad The former New York Central main line between New York and Chicago passes through town. This portion of the line is now owned by Norfolk Southern. Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited pass through Kendallville; the nearest station is at Waterloo, 17 miles east. Kendallville Auto Parts occupies part of a building that once was the Kelly House, one of the few brick buildings that survived an 1886 fire that wiped out much of the east side of Main Street. The proud owner of this beauty was kind enough to give a peek under the hood. He showed photos of what it looked like when he started, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Some very major work went into it.
July 3, 200915 yr What a wonderful little town! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
July 3, 200915 yr Huh, Kendalltucky. (don't blame me - a guy I worked with in Ft. Wayne who grew up there clued me in.) Amazing - a vibrant small town that people actually live in. Those seem to be illegal in Ohio. Quite amazing. Excellent photos.
July 3, 200915 yr Huh, Kendalltucky. (don't blame me - a guy I worked with in Ft. Wayne who grew up there clued me in.) Amazing - a vibrant small town that people actually live in. Those seem to be illegal in Ohio. Quite amazing. Excellent photos. These were taken early on a Saturday afternoon. I don't know how the pedestrian traffic is on a weekday. I don't know how many times I've heard "Kendalltucky." The town is pretty blue-collar and more than a little redneck in spots, and a lot of the people there, like folks in many midwestern auto-industry-centered towns, have Appalachian roots. There are lots of Harleys, most of them with loud pipes. Still, the downtown speaks for itself and almost entirely, the people I've met there are hospitable and polite. Friends of mine, a gay couple, live in a nice house on a nice residential street where they are friends with their neighbors and respected by the people who know them. It's a nice town; I think I probably could live there comfortably.
July 3, 200915 yr Yes, it seems really nice, and very interesting. It sort of has the feel of a larger city with a varied commercial district and residential settings, but scaled down proportionately. You just don't see that over here in Ohio. By strict definition, any small Ohio down that isn't a) a bedroom suburb or b) attached to some exceptional tourism area is DEAD, dead dead. It's jarring to see this and realize exactly what we've lost over here by Walmartizing everything. When I lived in Ft Wayne I kind of thought of rural Indiana as an undifferentiated wasteland. Silly and ignorant me. This is much superior to 90% of the Ohio small towns I have been through.
July 3, 200915 yr Looks nice! My great-grandparents came to the US from Germany and settled in Kendallville.
July 4, 200915 yr Looks nice! My great-grandparents came to the US from Germany and settled in Kendallville. They probably found quite a few other German-speaking folks there; the city has a strong German heritage.
July 4, 200915 yr I love the intactness of the town. Very little of the historical buildings have been lost
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