Page 39 - 14 Wabash County Visitors Guide

Wabash
is a stellar
community

By Joseph Slacian

Ask anyone in the City of Wabash, and they will tell you that Wabash is a Stellar Community.
It’s not just their opinion. It’s a fact. For in August, Wabash was one of two Indiana cities named
Stellar Communities Designees for 2014.

The Stellar Communities Program is a collaboration Photo: Joseph Slacian
between the Indiana Housing and Community
Development Authority (IHCDA), the Office of Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann awards the
Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Honorable Robert Vanlandingham with the
Department of Transportation (INDOT). It is designed Stellar Communities Designation from the State of
to support comprehensive community development Indiana.
projects to make wide ranging quality of life impacts
through the collaboration among public agencies and City of Wabash, Wabash County and the Town of North
community partners. Wabash has nine initiatives with a Manchester has grown to proportions it has never been
price tag of $28,335,517, of which $15,640,999 is pledged at before, he noted.
from city coffers, private investment and other sources.
That figure represents 55.2 percent of the total, meaning “This here is the final step in that direction,” he said.
that another 44.8 percent, or $12,694,650. He also praised the influx of youth that have returned
to the city and who are helping to lead it into the future.
“Wow,” an emotional Wabash Mayor Robert Ellspermann praised community representatives
Vanlandingham said in August 2014 and the rest of the
Wabash contingent took to the stage at the Indiana State
Fair in Indianapolis after Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann
announced Wabash and the city of Huntingburg were
named the Stellar Communities Designees.

“I’ve been trying to think for some time about what
to say. I thought I had it all figured out until I heard
Wabash, Indiana, and I totally lost it,” the mayor
continued. “I am so proud of my community, my people.
I think it’s neat to be able to stand up here before all these
winners – and we’re all winners.”

The mayor, as he did throughout the entire process,
said Wabash’s success was due to a total community
project. Over the last 12 years, cooperation among the

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