By Dr. Richard Thomas

(Professor Emeritus of History, Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa)

We should have known! Not content to fabricate 19th century storefronts and make-believe main streets at theme parks in California and Florida, Disney has joined developers and built a city, Celebration, Florida. It is a small town right out of Iowa's past. Streets and alleys, small parks, churches, schools and civic facilities (complete with town square) replicating what most of us see daily. In Celebration, Florida, Disney teamed up with New Urbanism planners. They want to create an ideal community along the lines of an imagined small town. They seek a quality of life not found in the sprawling suburbs of large cities.

This movement to build new old communities has come to Iowa, near Ames and another projected in Iowa City. How ironic! Iowa, a state of small towns that seem to be disappearing, yet giving birth to new old small towns! These new community planners are searching for a strong sense of local identity with superior quality of life, both already exists here and are elements of pride for Iowans. We are building new small towns at a time when the authentic small towns of Iowa are endangered. Our quality of life derives much from our strong sense of local identity conferred by knowing one's neighbors, belonging to and caring about what happens in one's community.

In the last 20 years we have seen declining rural population and economic factors pinch the small town business base to the point where main streets have as many empty buildings as active stores. Several Economic Development groups are involved in programs to stabilize and rebuild small communities. Despite the many intangible values of the small town, it is a tough time for countless communities under 5000 inhabitants. This is especially true of smaller communities outside the great urban magnets of our larger cities which reach far into rural areas for workers.

There are difficult questions ahead: