free-market, philanthropic, architectural marvel: Columbus, Indiana

Radley Balko in Reason on a Hoosier gem with a separate link to some photos...

In most ways, Columbus is a typical Indiana [small] town....But as you emerge from the cornfields that surround Columbus and head into town, things immediately begin to look different.

To the west, Columbus welcomes you along the main highway with an arching 60-foot bridge. To the north is a twisting and fanning bright red triangular suspension bridge. The public library, a square brick building with tall rectangular windows and an open plaza, was designed by the renowned architect I.M. Pei. Noted modernist architect Harry Weese concocted a church and the town’s golf course. Even the city’s six firehouses look distinctive: The first is a brick and glass art deco station finished in 1941; the latest is a sweeping, modern, glass-and-steel structure completed in 1998.

Columbus, improbably, is one of the most architecturally rich towns in America. The American Institute of Architects ranks it the sixth most architecturally innovative city in the country, after Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston, and San Francisco. GQ calls the burg “an essential destination for the study of contemporary design and planning.” Smithsonian says it’s “a veritable museum of modern architecture.” National Geographic Traveler recently placed Columbus 11th in its list of the top 109 worldwide historic destinations...

None of this is due to strict zoning laws or preservationism. Little Columbus became an architectural magnet because J. Irwin Miller, a wealthy industrialist and philanthropist, decided 50 years ago to use his fortune to make his hometown a visually interesting place to live....Miller, who died in 2004, was the longtime chairman of the Cummins Engine Company, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of diesel engines....

In 1942 Miller and his family commissioned a new church for their congregation from the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. The result, the First Church of Christ, was one of the first modernist churches in the country....

In 1954 Miller decided to do something similar for local public schools, whose boring design he blamed for stifling kids’ creativity. So he made a bargain with the city: The Cummins Engine Foundation would foot the architect’s bill (though not the construction costs) for any new school building, as long as the city selected from a list of architects compiled by the foundation.

The bargain soon expanded to other public buildings, and by the 1960s Columbus had become a world-renowned magnet for privately financed modernist design. Even the county jail is art...

Columbus officials embrace and encourage the town’s architectural heritage, but they aren’t overly protective of it, as some boutique communities can be. The town still has plenty of strip malls, fast food franchises, and big-box stores, often right alongside its specially commissioned buildings....