April 27- Columbus Indiana

We found Columbus to be a beautiful and unique city. It has kept a lot of its historical older buildings, as well insuring that any new buildings are designed with the use they were intended. Schools are built with the comfort of children in mind, churches are designed to enhance the worship experience of its members and visitors. Business buildings were designed already fifty years ago for energy conservation, and also with an eye on quality to attract other companies into the city. There are about seventy of these buildings around town, six of which are National Historic Landmarks. The Cummins company, known for its manufacture of diesel engines, had its beginnings here and now its world headquarters. When new buildings were needed in the city it offered to start a foundation to pay for the best architects around the nation to be the principal designers. It was Eli Saarinen who designed the First Christian Church in 1942 and his son Eero Sarrinen ( he designed the St.Louis Arch) who was the principal architect of the Irwin Union Bank and Trust in 1973. And quite often, especially with the churches, office buildings and parks, there was a "marriage of the buildings with the landscape". Hard to believe all of this beauty is in a town of 39,000 people. And seven more projects, exceeding $80 million dollars are in development. I will post here a picture of the "Exploded Engine" which we saw at the Cummin's headquarters ( in theory when all the pieces are cut down they will fall together in the right order to make an engine). And the other picture is of the old County Courthouse with the Veterans Memorial in the foreground.