Lagro Canal Foundation members Jennifer Long-Dillon, Beth Gillespie, and Richard Wolfgang spent part of Saturday helping to renovate a building on Washington Street. The hope of the foundation is to restore the structure back to a neighborhood market for the residents of Lagro. David Friese Nelson / Wabash Plain Dealer Editor
LAGRO — The citizens from the Town of Lagro take pride in their community, and its townspeople are committed to bringing many of the old, abandoned buildings back to life, brick by brick if necessary.
Members of the Lagro Canal Foundation got together on Saturday during one of their workdays to help foster such a goal. On these particular workdays, a dozen or more members of the group, as well as other community members, roll up their sleeves and dirty their hands to help continue renovations on one of the downtown’s historic sites. This particular building is a one-time market located on the corner of Washington Street. The old structure, built by the Stephenson family, has been around since 1950.
Hopes are to return the site to its former glory, according to Jennifer Long-Dillon, a member on the Lagro Canal Foundation. According to Long-Dillon, the foundation has already raised $60,000 for the building.
“We want to restore the building back to a market because this community needs one,” she said. “But, also have it as a deli that would provide, not only the much-needed market, but also as another destination location site for this community.”
Foundation founder and board member Beth Gillespie, no stranger to renovations and restoring things in Lagro, said the yet-to-be named building has a total capital campaign of $750,000. Because of the lofty price tag, and the project being dependent on donations, a completion date has not been determined.
It’s the latest of several buildings in the community that are in the process of renovations or have been refurbished. Storefronts and eateries continue to pop up on regular basis. The latest being Station 1 Firehouse Café, 910 Main St. Purchased at auction in 2006, the building became a project and labor of love for John Potter and Jodie Cohen. They saw their dream come to fruition recently in November as they celebrated a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The couple is from Las Vegas, Nev. and fell in love with the community while visiting friends. They also became enamored with one particular building – an old, abandoned fire station. Subsequently the café was born, and mornings are now bustling in downtown Lagro with residents bringing their appetites to enjoy breakfast fare.
The success stories keep coming for the entire community as just recently Lagro was awarded $40,000 in grants from the State of Indiana. The town was among seven Indiana communities receiving $375,320 in planning grants from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) through its Community Development Block Grant program. The communities will use the funds to develop plans for the implementation of community and economic development projects. Economic Development Planning Grants help communities assess the current economic conditions and identify strategies to support existing businesses, attract new ones and compliment current technology and work skills initiatives.
“Planning grants are often the first step in a community’s redevelopment efforts and are crucial to the success of future projects,” said Christmas Hudgens, OCRA’s Community Development Block Grant director. “Congratulations to these seven communities on earning this grant funding. We look forward to seeing the continued growth and success of each community as they create their strong community and economic development plans.”
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