A SMALL-TOWN SAMPLER
By ERIC POOLEY
A riverboat cruise out of Hannibal, Mo.; a bluegrass band picking in a park in Danville, Ky.; a turreted 1898 Victorian near Nappanee, Ind., that just sold for $136,500--these are the warm enticements that draw suburbanites to small towns. But before such lures can work their magic, the towns must remake themselves into places where people want to live. To learn how, more than 1,200 communities since 1980 have turned to the National Main Street Center, a branch of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Best known for its work protecting landmarks, the trust also deserves credit for teaching local leaders how to revive dingy business districts and make specialty shops flourish in the age of big-box retailers. The 10 towns that follow were once struggling. Today, thanks in part to the Main Street project, they're going strong.
RANDOLPH, VT.
Population: 5,000
Median Housing Price: $85,000
Why It Didn't Die: After fires in 1991 and 1992 wiped out five landmarks in the 19th century downtown, Randolph wasn't sure whether to bother rebuilding. But people rallied, flocking to town meetings and raising cash to reconstruct in the period style. The newcomer-fueled housing market is the strongest in a decade.
Reasons to Move There: Skiing, hiking, country inns and an annual New England Mountain Bike Festival. Controlled growth, above-average schools and hospital, and plenty of Ben & Jerry's.
Reasons to Have Second Thoughts: Higher taxes than other area towns. Yankee reserve and mountain isolation make for long winters--but for those in need of a hip-city fix, Burlington is an hour away.
LEXINGTON, VA.
Population: 7,000
Median Housing Price: $90,000
Why It Didn't Die: Two colleges--Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute--kept the place afloat during lean times. Alumni moved back when the kids left the nest.
Reasons to Move There: Rolling Shenandoah Valley farmland surrounds the village--and fast-food chains are barred from the historic downtown. Students and townies get their sugar fix at the Cocoa Mill Chocolate Co., founded by transplanted New Englanders, that ships nationwide.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: Urban refugees bemoan the lack of diversity.
DANVILLE, KY.
Population: 15,500
Median Housing Price: $93,000
Why It Didn't Die: Smart planning kept rapid commercial and industrial growth from choking off the town's charm. When Wal-Mart wanted in, Danville made the discounter downsize its signs and plant screens of trees around its big box.
Reasons to Move There: An unusually diverse racial mix, a first-rate cultural life (recent visitors: Wynton Marsalis, the Royal Philharmonic), and a rock-solid economy (tobacco, livestock, seven Fortune 500 companies) all wrapped up in streetscapes borrowed from Norman Rockwell.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: David and Maggie Crain just sold their general store--an area gathering-place for generations--to interlopers from Ohio.
NAPPANEE, IND.
Population: 5,500
Median Housing Price: $85,000
Why It Didn't Die: Built its comeback on tourism--visitors drawn to the culture of the area's 2,500-member Amish community.
Reasons to Move There: Depot Plaza, where Amish shoppers park their horses and buggies, is a downtown meeting place and festival site. Nice mix of old and new: John's Butcher Shop uses 500 meat lockers to store food for the Amish, who shun electricity at home; sports agent Mark Simpson, who lives here, shows his clients the money via fax or modem.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: A devout town. Hell-raisers need not apply.
PONTIAC, ILL.
Population: 11,500
Median Housing Price: $72,000
Why It Didn't Die: It has been called Pontiac's Second Rebellion (the first began in 1763, when the eponymous Indian chief made war against the English). People here rose up against high-volume discounters draining the life from downtown. The old city hall was turned into a low-rent "business incubator" for successful niche shops that went on to colonize Main Street.
Reasons to Move There: Brick-paved streets, canoes in the Vermilion River beneath a swinging wooden bridge that leads to the town park. And gooseberry pie at the Appletree Restaurant.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: 1,600-inmate, maximum-security Pontiac Correctional Center.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, WIS.
Population: 13,000
Median Housing Price: $65,000
Why It Didn't Die: Once home to one of the world's largest sawmills, the town moved from wood chips to microchips, attracting supercomputer maker Cray Research.
Reasons to Move There: It's Annie Hall's hometown. After hours, computer mavens snowmobile across Lake Wisotta and drink Leinenkugel Beer, a small regional brand founded in 1867. Want to live downtown? An old shoe factory is now a sparkling, affordable apartment building.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: If you're not a Packers fan, you'll be awfully lonely on Sundays.
HANNIBAL, MO.
Population: 18,000
Median Housing Price: $70,000
Why It Didn't Die: Mark Twain's "white town drowsing" on the banks of the Mississippi was regularly swamped by floods until a breakwater was built in 1992. When it held during the Great Flood of 1993, downtown's comeback was assured.
Reasons to Move There: Twain Memorial lighthouse anchors a grand riverfront park; next to the bronze Tom and Huck statue is the Twainland Cheesecake Co., a booming business (producing 110 varieties) run by a formerly homeless woman and staffed by onetime welfare moms. Requisite latte bar just opened downtown.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: That big river could jump its banks again.
OKMULGEE, OKLA.
Population: 13,500
Median Housing Price: $60,000
Why It Didn't Die: When the oil refinery closed down in 1982, this boomtown went bust--22,000 of its 30,000 residents moved away, J.C. Penney and other retailers shut down, and arsonists torched parts of downtown. But in 1986 it joined the Main Street program, began renovating 200 buildings and cashed in on the "heritage tourism" craze (Okmulgee is the capital of the Muskogee Indian Nation).
Reasons to Move There: Trophy bass in Dripping Springs Lake, trophy pies at the Pecan Festival. The town is watching The Grapes of Wrath in reverse as Okies from California--whose families left here in the Dust Bowl '30s--come streaming home.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: 500 miles to the nearest beach.
GEORGETOWN, TEXAS
Population: 18,000
Median Housing Price: $108,000
Why It Didn't Die: Business owners anted up special taxes to pave sidewalks and bury power lines, and banks came through with low-interest loans to polish up downtown's Last Picture Show facades. Austin cowboys rode in searching for a piece of hill country to call their own.
Reasons to Move There: Blue cornmeal-encrusted catfish at the Wildfire grill. One of the nation's fastest-growing towns, with 100% downtown occupancy, yet people here still find time for weekly quilting bees.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: If growth continues at this pace, expect 61,000 neighbors by 2020.
GRASS VALLEY, CALIF.
Population: 9,500
Median Housing Price: $135,000
Why It Didn't Die: Folks like to live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.
Reasons to Move There: This old-time gold-mining town has drawn new prospectors: artists and craftsmen, telecommuters and Silicon Valley refugees who took pay cuts, hung out their shingles as consultants and hit the quality-of-life jackpot. Ornate homes are tucked away in the gorges, and Mayor Mark Johnson sells some mean orchids at his family's Foothill Flowers shop.
Reason to Have Second Thoughts: Blissed-out mecca for the self-employed--but job seekers beware.
--By Eric Pooley. Reported by Aisha Labi and Daniel S. Levy/New York
With reporting by AISHA LABI AND DANIEL S. LEVY/NEW YORK