City spotlight: Delphi.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Indiana

A content community that qualifies its growth

Not many Indiana towns of 3,000 residents have a logo, city colors and upscale brochures. Nor do many towns that size involve 175 residents in a year-long strategic-planning process. But Delphi, located 68 miles northwest of Indianapolis, bucks the trend.

Its logo in turquoise and maroon captures the Wabash & Erie Canal, responsible for bringing in much of the community's lasting wealth. And its strategic plan sets forth a cautious, qualified set of goals for a town that encompasses just 2.5 square miles.

Only one of the plan's 19 objectives relates to growth, and that's to attract new businesses downtown.

"We have to grow," acknowledges Mayor Sam Deiwert, now in his fifth year in office. "Our approach has been anticipated, orderly growth. We know that a smaller community can be hurt by a lack of planning, so my first year focused on identifying the assets of our community and how people wanted to see our community develop."

That led to a year of citizen meetings and work, and finalization of Delphi's strategic plan in 1994. "We use it as a blueprint for everything we do," Deiwert says. It addresses beautification, education, infrastructure, downtown, housing and tourism.

Housing is the one area that seems to be most in need. It's in short supply largely because the 5-year-old Indiana Packers, a hog-processing plant not far outside Delphi's city limits, employs 1,200. The strategic plan is to meet the housing needs and, at the same time, preserve historic housing and residential areas.

Delphi has more than 125 historic buildings, including the Civic Hall, built in 1928. Today, the red brick building houses city offices and the volunteer fire department.

Many of the historic structures are homes. The architectural variety includes Federal, Italianate, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival and Second Empire. Its library is a Carnegie Library, with more than 542,000 volumes. And the Carroll County Courthouse, a baroque renaissance style, also houses a county museum. Picture these along tree-lined streets, and you'll get a glimpse of Delphi today.

Delphi was established in 1828. The canal reached it in 1840, and the railroads in 1856. Its charter is dated 1866. Early industries were lime, paper mills and furniture. The latter still remains.

Chromcraft Revington Corp., a "generational and stable employer," Deiwert says, employs about 450 people who make casual furniture. Another local industry is...