Kindred spirits: a top-ranked college, a hot restaurant and a stringent growth plan earn Davidson a 4.0.

• Author: Leggett, Page
• Position: TOWNSQUARE: Davidson

Remember when every small town had a thriving Main Street? There were a few essentials: A barbershop. A locally owned meat-and-three restaurant. And a pharmacy. Davidson, a carefully preserved college town that's home to Ingersoll-Rand's North American headquarters, still has a Main Street like the one the fictional Barney Fife used to patrol.

But it's been updated. While the old pharmacy retains its exposed-brick interior and a marble counter, it has become one of the hottest restaurants in the country. The new pharmacy is a national chain, but its building blends in with downtown's architecture.

And the barbershop? Raeford's can trace its history back to the 1920s. The current shop opened in 1993.

Davidson, with a population of about 13,000, didn't retain its charm by accident. Town planners make and play by their own rules. About 15 years ago, CVS proposed a new prototype one-story store with a drive-thru pharmacy. Planners said no; it needed to be two stories, with parking behind the store and no drive-thru service. "All new commercial buildings in Davidson must be two stories," says Jason Burdette, the town's planning director. "The intent is that we'd rather grow up than out," to limit sprawl. CVS "balked and walked," he says.

But they came back, ready to abide by the guidelines. (It's hard for a business to turn up its nose at a median income of [dollar]105,000, more than double the state average.) The store is thriving, says Kim Fleming, Davidson's economic-development director, and serves as a frequent meeting spot for, among others, residents of the area's senior-living centers. Joanne Rawson, who lives at The Pines retirement community, visits CVS a couple of times a week, though she doesn't necessarily linger over conversations. Instead, most mornings she heads over to nearby Summit Coffee Co., another Main Street institution.

But what really gives the town its character and pedigree is Davidson College--which was the community's official name for its first 50 years in the 19th century. "The college gives the town its identity," Fleming says. "It helps insulate the business community from spikes and dips in the economy."

While many private colleges are scrambling financially, Davidson has an endowment of [dollar]700 million, an annual budget of more than [dollar]120 million, about 179 full-time faculty and a distinct selectivity for its 1,950 students. About one in five applicants is accepted, with average combined SAT math and...