Wabash, Indiana

WABASH , INDI ANA he notes. “We want the character of our neighborhoods to remain intact and not build a modern home in a craftsman style neighborhood.” Going back to the city’s overall economic picture, the good news in Wabash is that there are some thriving legacy businesses that have been in town for years. “Our longest tenured factory is Ford Meter Box,” Long reports. “They make water fittings out of brass and meter covers for water meters. A lot of those, not only in America but throughout the world, are manufactured here in Wabash. We have a paper mill that employs 200 people, and, most recently, Living Essentials is a company that produces 5-hour energy shots; they’ve located in Wabash some years back and probably have about 350 people working for them in three different facilities in Wabash. We recently attracted a company called 10X Engineered Materials that will take waste materials from an Owens Corning/Thermafiber Rock Wool Insulation Plant that’s been here for years, and recycle that waste material into usable products. They’re in the process, right now, of converting an old warehouse into their factory and should be up and running in the next couple of months. “We contract with Grow Wabash County for our economic development needs,” Long continues. “Last year, this organization was streamlined when we combined the Economic Development Group (EDG) of Wabash County and the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce, to provide services for everything from small business enterprises, to industrial manufacturing businesses. This organization is located on the 2nd floor of Wabash City Hall which enables ‘One Stop Shopping’ when it comes to business development. This seems to work well for us. “Also, we’re trying to get away from the ‘us versus them’ when it comes to surrounding cities, towns, and counties; we’re trying to get everybody to work together to make them understand that what’s good for Wabash is good for your community and what’s good in your county is good for my citizens. We’ve got an entire group in northeast Indiana that’s working hard to do that. The goal is to boost the population of those pictured Wabash River and Huntington Street Bridge pictured Charley Creek Gardens foot bridge and walking path