Culver, Indiana, Is Putting its House In Order

Culver Featured in Bloomington newspaper

Editorial States Our Town Shaking Off Lethargy

Editor's note: Our series of articles headed, "What's Wrong With Culver?", has gained recognition among Hoosirr newspapers. notably the Blomington Herald-Telephone ((circulation 12,568 which recently published the following two-co1umn editorial "Culver, Indiana, Is Putting Its House In Order, we are sorry that the sender of the flipping, probably a Culver area student at Indiana University at Bloomington, did not identify himself. Many thanks, anyway!

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Like many other Hoosier small towns Culver has been visited repeatedly by industrial site surveyors seeking factory locations.

But they left and nothing more was heard. Obviously something was wrong.

Recently an anonymous letter to The Culver Citizen, so Inter esting that Editor Chester W Cleveland, breaking the paper's policy against unsigned communications, ran it under the heading, Just What's Wrong With Culver?

Now The Citizen would like to tell other communities what actually happened to a town whose lethargy is so apparent that it was one of the few places in Indiana that lost population from 1940 to 1950. Actually it had 54 fewer persons but 51 more houses, an extremely unhealthy condition because most new construction was occupied by widows and retired couples with relatively small buying power. There were nearly a hundred business proprietor turnovers in years in a town of 1,500

This letter created much interest but it remained for a veteran Indiana newspaperman turned public relations counselor, 20 years a resident of Culver who commuted to his offices in Indianapolis and Chicago, to turn the trick that really set the town to turning its eyes inward. He made the first public attempt for an honest appraisal of the good and bad points about the community.

The following week The Citizen article was headed: More Comment On Just What's Wrong With Culver A Spade Is Called A Spade By Robert K. Kyle. Mr. Kyle analyzed the community's difficulty in attracting investors by first pointing out that The Spirit of the Community was most important and that the community at present was not ready to meet industrial problems. He then brought out the failures he had observed:

(1) Six divided stratas of society;

(2) Comparative high living costs;

(3) Extravagant govern ment;

(4) Transportation facilities;

(5) Obsolete water system;

(6) Lack of zoning ordinance:

(7) No traffic 'control;

(8) Streets, alleys and properties neglected;

(9) Town Park a honky-tonk.

On the good side were beautiful churches doing more than their share of community betterment, adequate restaurants and stores, a first class theatre and a summer playhouse, direct dial telephone service, a military academy of international reputation, a bank adequate for a population of 100,000 and known throughout the Middle West as a model for size and service, and a well-trained volunteer fire department.

This highly critical articld bringing into open the smoldering fires against the misgovernment, lack or planning and pure selfishness, much to the editor's surprise was met with almost unanimous support. Letters from prominent citizens and former residents poured in congratulating Mr. Kyle and the citizen for having the courage to bring the community's shortcomings into the open.

A week later a movement, was already underway to organize a united front and show surrounding towns and "cities that Culver is finally going places and has hopes of attracting some industry after it puts its house in order.

Part One ~~ Part Two ~~ Part 3