And the Winner is? LOGANSPORT !

We have always have had a knack for knowing when a place has a future. And people often say where we go, "coolness follows" and much in the way we pioneered in many Indianapolis neighborhoods, restored in old Louisville and in Charleston after Hugo , we have always been able to see the preservation opportunity in places others pass by.

My first exposure to Logansport was in the 1980's when I went to a funeral with a friend of mine and his family and on the way back the route took us through Logansport and , being the architecture nut I am, I was taken by the architecture and I recall seeing the Octagon house and literally said out loud "an Octagon house , do you know how rare those are?"

So Logansport was filed away in the back recesses of my mind and when we began a multi state search a few years ago to relocate our antiques and design business from Indianapolis, well here we are. Everyone knows we found an amazing building, in an amazing neighborhood, that most would not even notice and as usual when we show up the 'gentrification train" follows. People are moving here from Indy, Carmel, Westfield and Chicago. Its noticeable to us, because these people come into our shop looking for an elusive doorknob or stained glass. This migration however is largely lost on many locals who see nothing positive about the place they have grown up in and lament what they see as its demise. They lust for the long dead Mall to revive itself or the "magic factory" to come that will restore the town to some sort of 1960's prosperity.

So while many local people have not been paying attention, things are happening, homes are being bought and restored, new shops are opening all over town like Legacy Outfitters or the Record Farm and lo and behold there are people raising money to reopen an old brewery to be reinvented as a craft brewery.. the trail system is getting better, the farmers market is improving. You have great venues like the State Theatre, and a out of town developer is building market rate apartments in the old Logan hotel building downtown. Things are happening so against this backdrop?

Realtor.com makes the announcement that Logansport Indiana is the Number 1 small city in the US being selected out of 500 small cities !

Some people are stunned and amazed their town was selected, but it makes perfect sense to us. It's the beginning of major changes. It means real estate prices go up, It means more new people and it means change is about to happen.

Yes the gentrification train is coming. There is a reason why our neighborhood fought a low income house project a couple of years ago. Logansport deserves better than "development for development sake". We have an ability to chart our future, control sprawl and  keep the quality of the city high. Will local leaders understand this? I hope so, because the next 5-10 years are going to be exciting and I'm personally glad we are here to be a part of it.