Pendleton : planning an exciting future

Abstract

Pendleton, Indiana is an historical small town located in Madison County, Indiana, just northeast of Indianapolis along the Interstate 69 corridor. Pendleton's long history encompasses important events of national and regional significance relating to Indiana's settlement, the social unrest leading up to the Civil War, Indiana's industrialization, railroads, and the gas boom, and the recreational culture of the roaring twenties.

Ongoing themes that emerge from this history and have been continually reinforced into the present day include Pendleton's role as a transportation hub, the town's identity as a recreational destination, and the town's local exceptionalism. This exceptionalism is expressed in the local community's active and ambitious nature, is evident in the town's high quality of life, numerous community resources and strong economy, and is best symbolized by the falls on Fall Creek. Historically, the falls on Falls Creek served as a nexus for the town's growth along a progressively increasing number of highways and railroads.

This plan examines the goals and community input from the 2006 Comprehensive Plan update against a thorough analysis of local and current (2011) conditions to derive a set of specific, actionable goals for the Town of Pendleton. One of the most significant results of that process is that a multi-use, multi-function trail along the former right of way of the Indiana (Interurban) Railroad would serve as a catalyst and physical magnet for progress (as defined by the 2011 Plan Goals). As such, the plan then suggests an incrementally more-detailed design framework for construction of this trail and concludes with site-scale design of the most important node of this trail located where the trail intersects State Street (SR-38) in downtown.