Hal Ketchum argued in his 1991 song “Small Town Saturday Night” that the Earth drops off sharp at the edge of town: ”Lucy, you know the world must be flat / ‘Cause when people leave town, they never come back.”
Dozens of former Henry County residents responded to The Courier-Times’ call for insight into why they left.
Henry County expats had many reasons for living in bigger cities like New York City. Jobs, education, a change of scenery.
When asked why they moved away from Henry County, some found their worldview changed after leaving the community that shaped their childhood.
Politics and culture
Several people who responded to the call-out mentioned that they discovered, after moving, how much their personal social and political views differed from those they saw at play in Indiana and Henry County.
In those instances, the people answering the survey often asked to remain anonymous, so their new political views wouldn’t upset their family members still living here. At least one respondent mentioned the current local leadership as a reason she wouldn’t move back to Henry County.
Laura Cronk, NCCHS Class of ’95, has been excited to watch a younger generation of people get politically involved in the Henry County and New Castle governments.
“I think that I took the easy way out and admire the people who have stayed and are working to build a vibrant and inclusive community in New Castle,” Cronk said.
Cronk, a poet and writing teacher at The New School in New York, has lived on the East Coast since 2002. She credits the New Castle arts community for giving her the foundation she needed to try making a life in a creative field.
Zachary Phan-Everson graduated from New Castle in 2003 to study law and also ended up in New York.
Phan-Everson said he often felt like the community here didn’t value education and culture.
“I have a lot of respect for people who do try to keep arts and literature active in Henry County,” he said.
Meredith Sauter and her husband also feel it is important that any children they have in the future be “surrounded by more diversity than what a small town like New Castle can offer.”
“Now that I’m a bit older,” Sauter said, “I do recognize the many good things about New Castle and living in a small town, and I appreciate growing up there ... Despite that though, I just don’t think I could reacclimate myself to living in a small town again.”
Marley Bell is a more recent New Castle graduate, getting her diploma in December 2019. Bell joined the Army and is now a combat medic in Missouri.
“In my opinion, getting out of New Castle and Indiana was the best decision I ever made,” Bell said. “Freedom is a real feeling when you step outside of what’s comfortable. I’ll never stop finding new places. The world is too big to spend it traveling in the same grid square.”
A focus on culture and community
The New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) focuses some of its efforts on highlighting the culture of Henry County as a draw to visitors, prospective employers and former residents.
The “Living Here” page of the EDC website says living in Henry County means belonging to “a caring community with excellent educational opportunities and extensive recreational amenities.”
Henry County, Indiana, boasts a variety of cultural amenities at the local and regional levels. Highlights include an active art association, the Guyer Opera House, large local library with an active programming schedule, the Henry County Historical Society Museum, the Wilbur Wright Birthplace and Museum, and two farmers markets.
Many of these places were hurt by the COVID-19 shutdowns. Henry County and town governments found new uses for tax dollars to help save as many of these mainstays. Local non-profits like New Castle and Knightstown Main Streets also collected thousand of dollars from private donors to help these facilities keep their doors open.
The Guyer is planning to keep the show going on in 2021, the Henry County and Middletown farmers markets added COVID precautions and the New Castle-Henry County Public Library shifted programming online to keep the community engaged.
Regionally, residents can visit the Ball State Planetarium, Emens Auditorium, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Minnetrista Cultural Center, Muncie Civic Theater, numerous art galleries, and extensive cultural experiences available in nearby Indianapolis.
EDC President and CEO Corey Murphy pointed to efforts in Knightstown in terms of new housing and downtown development and New Castle’s “downtown renaissance” at 1400 Plaza and new Broad Street businesses.
“That kind of development and improvement is important to all ages,” Murphy said.
As Murphy said in part one of this series, the hope is that people from Henry County go out into the wider world and bring those ideas and different pieces of different cultures back home.
Visit the EDC website at https://growinhenry.com/living-here to learn more about what each community adds to the overall picture of Henry County.
The final chapter of our Brain Drain series will look at local tourism efforts by the EDC.