New Albany: founded in 1813, city preserves heritage, promotes technology. Fall festival is Indiana's third-largest.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT: SOUTH

New Albany won the 2006 Community Legacy Award from Historic Southern Indiana, an outreach program of the University of Southern Indiana, for its work to preserve, enhance and promote its heritage. Looking to the future, this community of 37,000 on the Ohio River will soon open a new technology park and business incubator.

Scribner Place, about to go up on Main Street downtown, will complement the city's historic architecture. Phase one will include a city-owned natatorium and the area's first YMCA. A second phase will include privately developed retail and commercial space and possibly a hotel. The project is partially funded by a $20 million grant from Caesars Foundation.

"We're seeing more activity than I have seen in a very long time," says Matt Hall, vice president of One Southern Indiana, a newly formed nonprofit development group serving Floyd County and adjacent Clark County "The business community is strong and supportive. And there's a sense of community that you feel here."

Paul Wheatley, economic-development director for the city of New Albany, echoes that sentiment. "We have a small-town charm. It's how we feel. But we've got the big-city amenities nearby."

Long history, History began in New Albany in 1813 when three Scribner brothers from Albany, New York, founded the town. Their Main Street home built in 1814 still stands, now owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution, which uses it as a meeting place. Another 400 early homes and buildings fill downtown's 16-square-block area, reports Jane Alcorn, executive director of the nonprofit Develop New Albany. "A lot of the buildings date back to the early 1820s."

They include the Conway Fire Museum, Culbertson Mansion, Carnegie Center for the Arts and History and Floyd County Museum. Two that don't remain--the courthouse and post office, demolished in the 1960s--were wakeup calls to the community, she says. "Those losses remind us to try to save buildings and history."

The community is doing just that. Since 2002, 40 downtown buildings owners have made improvements through the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association's matching facade grant program. The Southside Restaurant now operates in a downtown building constructed in 1855. And two large stores, Schmitt Furniture and Classic Furniture, remain downtown mainstays.

"Now we're starting to see a lot of residences on upper floors, and that's key," she says. "Downtown is ever-evolving."

The community is likely to get an...