Paoli, Loogootee among Radius communities chosen to work with IU on placemaking projects

Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report

BLOOMINGTON – Paoli hopes to create an inviting greenspace on the town square, a Loogootee group wants to call attention to the city’s downtown buildings with historic architectural features.

The two communities are among 16 rural Indiana organizations that will partner with Indiana University this year for the next round of the Rural Placemaking Studio, an initiative that links IU faculty and students with rural Indiana residents to enrich their communities through innovative public art and design.

The list includes four communities from the Radius Indiana region. In addition to Paoli and Loogootee, organizations in Marengo and Shoals will collaborate with the Rural Placemaking Studio. 

Launched in 2024, the Rural Placemaking Studio is a collaborative initiative between the IU ServeDesign Center at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design and the IU Center for Rural Engagement. 

Paoli parklet project

Arla Frazier, president of the Paoli Redevelopment Commission and member of the Paoli Town Council, said the Paoli RDC plans to turn a vacant lot on the Paoli downtown square into a parklet, or greenspace for gatherings. 

The lot on the southeast corner near Windhorst for the Home has been empty for several years. The RDC acquired the lot and applied for a grant from the Rural Placemaking Studio.

Frazier said a focus group is planned to gain community input.

“From there, Possibilities in Paoli, our Main Street organization, and the Paoli Redevelopment Commission will take that information and work with the students and architects to design a plan,” she said. 

“We want a space where small community events can take place.  A gathering space that could feature art/music, outdoor seating, a farmers’ market, food trucks, sidewalk murals, interactive installations that promote the community’s needs and desires and bring revitalization to the Historic Paoli Town Square,” she said. 

Enhancing the town square is also top of mind. A tornado in 2023 caused damage to downtown buildings and the historic Orange County Courthouse. Since then, Possibilities in Paoli formed and there’s been a focus on the Paoli downtown, with spruce-up days and seasonal activities like painting windows of downtown businesses.

“The tornado was devastating and we did lose two buildings and that was very eye opening to see how that impacted the square,” she said. 

With the new focus on revitalizing downtown, Frazier said organizations like the town council and redevelopment commission are excited to see how this current project comes together.

“We are hoping to capture and create a vision that reflects our rich heritage and imagines a possibility for our future,” she said. 

Loogootee downtown

Downtown Loogootee has seven historic Mesker facade buildings and will work with IU to create interpretive signs identifying the buildings. Timothy Brown-Salsman, president of Community Action Leading Loogootee, said this will lay the groundwork for a future walking and driving tour highlighting the city’s distinctive 19th- and early 20th-century architecture.

Beyond the downtown, CALL hired a consultant to identify important architecture and found 33 contributing buildings in styles of Victorian, Gothic, Neoclassical, Italianate craftsman-style homes.

The Meskers were family-owned companies in Evansville and St. Louis that made pressed metal pieces such as tin ceilings, cornices and lintels used on the facades of downtown buildings from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Mesker storefronts were in every state and more than 4,000 were in Indiana.

Part of CALL’s mission is to raise awareness about Mesker features in Loogootee. 

“People are just now realizing it,” he said. “But I don’t think they have a real understanding of how significant it is for southern Indiana. It could bring a lot of interest because people actively seek out these Mesker buildings.”

CALL also applied for the area to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

“This grant is a great step forward,” said Brown-Salsman.

“The IU Rural Placemaking Studio makes community heritage, hopes and dreams visual and tangible,” said IU Center for Rural Engagement Executive Director Denny Spinner. “All rural communities have something that makes them special, and the IU Rural Placemaking Studio helps residents create connection around their unique assets.”

Community-identified projects include murals, parklets, pre-architectural designs, wayfinding signage and public art installations. The Rural Placemaking Studio will facilitate community feedback sessions, develop a scope of work and create designs for implementation on a timeline that aligns with the project.

The studio will also offer dedicated support and technical assistance that empowers residents to bring their vision to life.

Students studying comprehensive design, creative placemaking and community arts engagement will use their talents to collaborate with community partners, working alongside Jon Racek, program director of comprehensive design at the Eskenazi School and director of the ServeDesign Center, and the Center for Rural Engagement team.

“When students and community members work together, the result is more than just a mural,” said Racek. “These collaborations help build relationships and give communities a sense of momentum to keep making positive changes.”

“There is no substitute for the kind of experiential learning the Rural Placemaking Studio provides IU students,” said IU Eskenazi School Dean Peg Faimon. “When they are serving real clients in small communities not unlike those they may have grown up in, our students have an organic engagement experience that grows their capacity to design with the user in mind. The students rank their involvement in the Rural Placemaking Studio among the most meaningful experiences of their college career.”

HWC Engineering has pledged $100,000 in support of student engagement in the Rural Placemaking Studio. HWC Engineering is a multi-disciplinary firm that serves both public and private clients across Indiana through a wide range of services including economic development, planning, landscape architecture, water resources, transportation, and land development. This funding will support students who work alongside local partners to develop concepts and design plans that fit communities’ visions while bolstering their professional design and community development skills.

“We are thrilled to partner with the IU Center for Rural Engagement in their work to support both IU students and rural communities as they identify and implement impactful quality of life projects,” said HWC Engineering Chairman and CEO Terry Baker. “Our decades-long experience working in rural communities across the state allows us to serve as a resource for IU students in this program and assist in their efforts to create meaningful placemaking projects in rural Indiana communities.”

The selection process for the 2025 Rural Placemaking Studio sought applications from rural communities of 50,000 people or fewer and located within an approximately 90-mile radius of Bloomington.

Partners and projects include:

• The Nashville Lincoln Pinch Park in Brown County, which will design a parklet that provides ample seating and features public art created by local artists.
• The Jeffersonville Township Public Library in Clark County, which will create a pocket park at the Clarksville Library branch that serves children and highlights the history of Clarksville as Indiana’s first English-speaking settlement and home of General George Rogers Clark.
• The Town of Borden in Clark County, which will design signage to be installed on the back of the Borden Business Park that highlights key historical sites and local landmarks.
• Friends of Marengo Big Springs Old Town Church in Crawford County, which will design a parklet on the public site of a 167-year-old historic building, as well as a logo and signage reflecting the site’s history.
• Alquina Blue Arrows Park in Fayette County, which will develop a piece of public art to be installed at the park.
• Hoosier Action Resource Center in Floyd County, which will create pre-architectural plans to transform two former houses and the adjacent grass lot into a Community Center and Resilience Hub.
• Main Street Brookville in Franklin County, which will design two murals to help activate Printers Alley located off Main Street. One mural will honor the philanthropy of the Franklin County Community Foundation, and the other will celebrate 200 years of local journalism.
• The Town of Edinburgh in Johnson, Bartholomew, and Shelby counties, which will develop designs for a year-round downtown plaza that is suitable for drive-in vendors and events.
• Friends of Knox County Library in Knox County, which will create a welcoming, permanent parklet at the Knox County Public Library centered around the theme “The Story of Indiana Began Here.”
• Pantheon Business and Innovation Theatre in Knox County, which will design an outdoor seating area and a mural on the exterior of the historic theatre that honors the founding of Vincennes.
• Community Action Leading Loogootee in Martin County, which will design signage to identify the seven remaining Mesker facade buildings in Loogootee, eventually contributing to a Mesker featured historic architecture walking and driving tour.
• Knox County Association of Remarkable Citizens, which will develop pre-architectural designs for the redevelopment of Launch 99 Co-Working and Entrepreneurship Center.
• Martin County Alliance for Economic Growth and Historic Shoals River District, which will continue to work with students to create sign designs for Main Street Shoals businesses, building off the 2024 Rural Placemaking Studio project.
• Paoli Redevelopment Commission in Orange County, which will design a parklet on a vacant lot located on the southeast corner of the Historic Paoli Town Square.
• Pike County Economic Development, which will design three place-specific public art pieces to be installed along the new Buffalo Trace Trail.
• The City of Tipton in Tipton County, which will design gateway signage greeting visitors.

The Buffalo Trace Trail project in Pike County is supported by a private grant to the Community Foundation Alliance in partnership with the Pike County Community Foundation. The project will advance trail construction, address blight and develop public art with support from the Rural Placemaking Studio.

The 2025 Rural Placemaking Studio initiative will conclude in the summer with a public open-house celebration.

The 2024 Rural Placemaking Studio achieved significant milestones by partnering with 13 rural Indiana community organizations to develop innovative and practical designs for murals, wayfinding signage, architectural and park designs and downtown revitalization efforts. Participating communities included Shoals, Charlestown, Linton, Elberfeld, New Pekin, Spencer, Washington, Crane, Paoli and Lynnville.

A future call for proposals is planned for winter 2025. More information about the Rural Placemaking Studio and upcoming events is available on the Center for Rural Engagement website.