Converse, Indiana: Innovation Rooted in Reality
Converse, Indiana, has never waited for permission to evolve.
With a population just over 1,100, the town sits at the edge of Miami and Grant counties, quietly defying the assumptions about what small towns can or cannot do. What makes Converse distinct is not nostalgia alone, but a pattern of innovation grounded in reality, a willingness to acknowledge what has changed, adapt to what is possible, and act decisively when opportunity presents itself.
Preservation is Economic Development
On a typical weekend, cars with license plates from neighboring counties line Jefferson Street to browse antiques, shop for handmade fudge, and savor slow-smoked barbecue, all hallmarks of Converse’s locally owned business district. For many urban-weary Hoosiers, the appeal is an authentic small-town experience: they come to Converse to eat, shop, and relax far from big city bustle. Local business owners have capitalized on this dynamic, building a revitalization strategy around homegrown shops and eateries rather than recruiting outside chains.
From Vacant to Vibrant: A 15-Year Transformation
Fifteen years ago, Converse’s downtown faced familiar rural challenges: vacant storefronts, aging infrastructure, and deferred maintenance. Through the creation of a TIF district, the Town invested directly in infrastructure: replacing water lines, upgrading sidewalks, and installing period-appropriate lighting. Facade grant programs followed, sparking not only exterior restoration but internal upgrades as well. What began as a targeted improvement triggered something larger: an awareness that historic preservation is economic development.
That awareness caught on.
Today, the downtown business district is home to a boutique, vintage markets, two coffee shops, a fudge shop, a specialty retailer selling exclusively Indiana products, and food destinations. Nearly 90% of downtown buildings are now listed in the Converse Commercial Historic District, allowing owners to access historic tax benefits when improving their property. The mix of offerings is eclectic but cohesive, united by a common theme: local owners with deep roots in the community.
Many of these proprietors grew up in or around Converse and felt pulled back by nostalgia and pride. Lindsay Baker, for instance, opened Jefferson Street BBQ in a once-vacant building that she and her team renovated. For Baker, maintaining these historic downtown buildings is about preserving community identity as much as it is about commerce.
Women Leading the Way
A notable and often overlooked outcome: female owners and managers now represent a significant share of downtown leadership, and their long-term success rates exceed national averages after ten years. This isn’t accidental; it reflects intentional local support, access to tools, and a community culture that rewards initiative.
A Shop-Local Strategy That Works
Local officials have actively nurtured this shop-local strategy. The Converse Economic Development Corporation, first established by the town council in the 1980s, focuses on empowering existing businesses with an emphasis on small-town values and personal touch. In practice, this has meant offering small grants or loans to spruce up facades, and promoting merchants through social media “Business Spotlight” features. The approach has paid off: Converse has quietly become a day-trip destination for people from larger nearby cities like Marion, Kokomo, and even Fort Wayne.
Building Community Through Recreation
Thriving shops are one pillar of Converse’s resurgence; lively public spaces and events are another. Over the past year, the town has invested heavily in recreation and quality-of-life improvements, guided by a belief that a vibrant community will draw both visitors and new residents. On the north side of SR 18 sits Bordermen Park, a once-dated playground and athletic field that is now in the midst of a major revitalization effort. In 2023, the Converse Park Board rallied residents and secured grants to overhaul the park’s amenities, from installing a new basketball court to replacing rusty swings and adding accessible walkways. A crowdfunding campaign surpassed its $15,000 goal (matched by state development funds), and by early 2024, crews had torn out old equipment and broken pavement to make way for modern upgrades. The Town of Converse pledged $50,000 to assist with a matching grant from DNR for the project.
Bordermen Park: A Community Rallies
The park board’s fundraising pitch promised to make Bordermen Park a safe, accessible recreation space for all ages, thereby improving the quality of life for the community. Phase I of the project, completed in mid-2024, delivered a refurbished basketball court (complete with new hoops and spectator seating) and cleared the site for a future playground. Phase II added new play structures and shaded picnic areas, ensuring that children and families in Converse have a welcoming place to gather and play.
The Converse Junction Trail: Connecting Communities
In 2015, the Town of Converse developed the Converse Junction Trail, a three-mile paved trail for biking, running, and walking. The Converse Junction Trail connects to the east with the Sweetser Switch Trail and to Cardinal Greenway. The Cardinal Greenway is the longest nonprofit-owned trail in the United States. The Converse Junction Trail is also part of the American Discovery Trail, a trail that connects the East Coast and the West Coast of the United States. This linear park provides Converse residents with an excellent trail for recreation and also brings in people from outside of Converse, which benefits our local merchants.
School Playgrounds Get an Upgrade
Even the local school system has pitched in to enhance recreational facilities. Converse is part of the Oak Hill United School Corporation, and in 2025, the district invested approximately $451,000 to upgrade playgrounds at all three of its elementary schools, including Converse Elementary, to ensure safe, modern play spaces for students. When the plan was announced, officials noted that renovations would start at nearby Swayzee Elementary and emphasized that each community school in the district would see improvements to playground equipment and grounds as part of the project. By summer 2025, new slides, climbing frames, and rubberized fall surfaces had been installed, and Converse families found the school playground open after hours as a de facto neighborhood park. These enhancements, while not generating headlines, are crucial to small-town life; they signal to young families that the community is investing in its youth and its future.
Christmas in Converse: 15 Years of Holiday Magic
Perhaps nothing showcases Converse’s community spirit more than its annual traditions. Each December, downtown Converse is transformed for “Christmas in Converse,” a holiday festival that just celebrated its 15th year. On a chilly evening, Jefferson Street is closed to traffic and bathed in the warm glow of string lights and luminaries. Storefronts stay open late, offering treats and special deals; Jefferson Street BBQ smokes a batch of holiday turkey chili and ladles out free hot cocoa to hundreds of revelers. Lindsay Baker, the restaurant’s owner, has thrown her doors open for the festival every year and watched it grow exponentially. The event now draws as many as 1,000 people through town some years, packing the tiny downtown with celebrants. The evening features horse-drawn wagon rides, carolers, and live music along the sidewalks, and even the spectacle of an ice-skating rink brought in one year on a whim.
By design, the festival highlights everything local. Andy Horner, the town’s librarian and one of several organizers, describes Christmas in Converse as a celebration of the town and its businesses, an event designed to showcase all the wonderful shops and services Converse has to offer. Santa Claus visits First Farmers Bank & Trust to welcome hundreds of children who sit on his lap and share their Christmas wishes. The result is a hallmark evening where residents and visitors mingle freely. People reconnect with neighbors they haven’t seen in a while, enjoying the safe, close-knit atmosphere of a town where everybody knows everybody.
Red Rooster Fall Market: Small Town, Big Draw
Converse is also home to the annual Red Rooster Fall Market, which just completed its eighth year for this event. The event takes place on the first Saturday in October, and the downtown is closed to vehicle traffic to accommodate more than 100 vendors who display and sell their unique goods and products. Typically, up to 2,000 people will attend this event. Such events might seem humble, but they are the social glue of the community. They also bring economic spillover; every gathering provides a bump in sales for local shops and often attracts first-time visitors who “discover” Converse and vow to return. Town leaders recognize the importance of these shared spaces. At a recent community forum, one local volunteer observed that turning vacant downtown lots into green spaces or event venues can breathe life into a town center, filling spaces left by demolished buildings with something that draws people together. Converse has embraced that ethic wholeheartedly, ensuring that its revival is not only about commerce but also about community connection.
Real Hoosier Horsepower: The Fairgrounds Legacy
One of Converse’s oldest continuing traditions revolves around horses. On the north edge of town, the half-mile dirt track has long served as a gathering place for horsemen, families, and fans of harness racing. More than a century ago, around 1900, the Miami County Fair staged its harness races here, cementing Converse’s place in Indiana’s early racing circuit. Through the decades, local families sustained that tradition, including the Shirley family, whose Standardbreds raced out of “Shirley Stables” and carried the sport forward from one generation to the next.
Locals are also clear-eyed about change. What once drew crowds 30 years ago is not exactly what exists today. The fairgrounds sit on land now worth millions, and like many historic sites, its future is often viewed through the lens of real estate potential. Yet despite shifting economics and evolving community dynamics, the track itself remains very much alive and highly relevant to modern racing.
Training Ground for Champions
In fact, the Converse Fairgrounds quietly punches above its weight in the Standardbred world. Some of Indiana’s best pacers and trotters are trained here, with training times dropping an average of nearly ten seconds as horses develop on the track. The surface is respected for producing sharp, race-ready horses, and matinee racing draws strong participation. Surprisingly large purses, bolstered by Indiana’s racing establishment, make these daytime meets competitive and worthwhile for owners and trainers alike.
The Summer Race Program
Each summer, the grandstand still fills with energy during the Converse Race Program, which traditionally kicks off Indiana’s county fair racing season. Two- and three-year-old Standardbreds from across the state make their first starts here, beginning their journey toward the Indiana Governor’s Cup. In recent years, including during a four-day race stretch in early June 2022, Converse has served as one of the opening legs of that statewide championship series. Admission is typically free, reinforcing the fairground’s role as an accessible, family-friendly window into authentic Hoosier racing culture.
Behind the scenes, the fairgrounds operate year-round. Horses are stabled and trained through every season, with the track used daily to condition young prospects. For many horsemen, this isn’t just a venue, it’s home. One local trainer, Zach Miller, grew up jogging horses here before kindergarten and won his first official harness race at Converse at age 18. Today, he and his wife stable their horses on the grounds and remain fixtures at the summer meets. As Miller often notes, Converse is where it all begins, less about flash, more about foundation, education, and preparing horses for larger stages.
Beyond the Track: Boyer Equestrian Enterprises
Equestrian life in Converse extends beyond the racetrack as well. Just outside town, Boyer Equestrian Enterprises contributes to the area’s horse culture through riding instruction, training, and boarding. With both indoor and outdoor arenas, the facility supports year-round equestrian activity across multiple disciplines, from hunter/jumper to Western riding. Programs like these ensure that horsemanship traditions continue beyond racing and that new generations are introduced to life with horses.
Earning Relevance Through Performance
Together, these efforts reflect a deeper truth about the Converse Fairgrounds. While nostalgia alone no longer sustains it, and while its land value sparks ongoing conversation, the site continues to earn its relevance through performance, participation, and purpose. Backed by statewide racing organizations and local commitment, the fairgrounds remain a working, living example of “Real Hoosier Horsepower”: a place where Indiana’s equestrian heritage is not only remembered, but actively trained, tested, and passed forward.
Hometown Heroes: Legends of Converse
Ray Creviston: The Fastest Man in Converse
Converse’s heritage isn’t only about horses; it also includes a homegrown hero on two wheels. Generations after Thomas Creviston helped found the town, his descendant, Ray Creviston, put Converse on the national map in the early 1900s as a motorcycle racing star. Ray Creviston first cut his teeth as a teenager on the Converse fairgrounds’ dirt track in 1912, and by 1914, he had set a one-mile motorcycle speed world record at a race in St. Louis. He soon turned professional and joined the famed Indian Motorcycle racing team, becoming one of Indian’s top riders and a fierce competitor against the dominant Harley-Davidson squad in the sport’s early years. Known for his fearless riding, Creviston raced in major events across the country and overseas and claimed several distance track records during his career.
After traveling the racing circuit around the world, Ray Creviston eventually returned to his hometown as a celebrated champion. He purchased a farm outside Converse and, as local legend fondly recalls, “never drove above thirty miles per hour” on the local roads. His exploits, a world-record holder and internationally competitive racer hailing from a tiny Indiana town, remain a point of pride in Converse. The story of “the fastest man in Converse” endures in community lore, exemplifying the town’s tradition of punching above its weight. It’s a legacy that continues to inspire pride and optimism among residents, reminding them that Converse’s identity is built as much on its remarkable people as on its places.
A Tradition of Athletic Excellence
Converse has always been known for its love and success in Athletics. Converse has been home to five Indiana Hall of Fame members. Bob Macy was inducted as both a basketball player and a basketball coach. Phil McCarter inducted as a basketball coach. Jim Law inducted as a football coach, Andrew King as a wrestling coach, and Monte Towe inducted as a basketball player. Monte was the most recognized nationally as he was not only an Indiana All-Star but also started on the North Carolina State Basketball team in 1974 that won the NCAA Basketball Championship. Monte later went on to play professionally in both the former ABA and the NBA.
Bordermen Crossing and the Future of Housing
37 Homes, Infinite Possibilities
While Converse’s core may be historic, a key part of its future lies on the edge of town in a cornfield-turned-construction site. Bordermen Crossing, a new subdivision spearheaded by the Town of Converse’s Neighborhood Development Corporation, is the most ambitious housing project here in decades. Launched in 2021 on former farmland at the town’s southwest corner, Bordermen Crossing will eventually include 37 single-family homes, a significant addition for a town that had just over 550 housing units in 2010. By late 2025, roughly a dozen houses were finished or under construction, with new families already moving in as others eagerly await completion. For Converse, the development is not just about adding houses; it’s about reversing a population decline and attracting young families with modern homes and small-town charm.
Local leaders had long stressed the need for fresh housing stock. Like many rural Midwestern communities, Converse saw its population slip over the past decade as older residents passed away or moved, and younger people were slow to replace them. Census figures show the town’s population dropped from 1,265 in 2010 to 1,161 in 2020, roughly an 8% decline. That trend was a wake-up call. The town formed a nonprofit development corporation, acquired land, and developed the subdivision. Ideal Builders, an Indiana homebuilder, is working with the Town of Converse Neighborhood Development Corporation to build homes. The project offered the promise of new three-bedroom homes (all including the modern perk of a three-car garage) aimed at middle-income buyers who work in the region but crave a quieter place to live. Ideal Builders, the contractor, touted Converse’s location, approximately 15 minutes from Marion, Kokomo, and Wabash, as close enough to larger employment centers but far enough away to feel rural. By pricing the homes in the high-$200,000s to mid-$300,000s, the development targets first-time homeowners and those looking to upgrade from aging farmhouses common in the area.
The Oak Hill Schools Advantage
Early demand for the new homes was strong. Lots were being reserved even before the subdivision’s roads were paved, according to Brenda Williams, a realtor for the project. The appeal is partly the houses themselves, with open floor plans, energy-efficient construction, and customizable finishes, and partly from the draw of Oak Hill schools and Converse’s quality of life. Oak Hill High School, located in Converse, is a well-regarded institution known for strong academics and competitive sports programs. Students from around southwestern Grant County attend Oak Hill, which consistently posts above-average test scores and boasts a trophy case full of athletic championships. Several of the first buyers in Bordermen Crossing were Oak Hill alumni who had left the area for college or careers and decided to return once they started having children. The combination of a new home in a familiar community with good schools proved enticing.
If Bordermen Crossing builds out as planned, it could boost Converse’s population by nearly 10% in short order, a reversal of fortune few rural Indiana towns have seen in recent years. Already, after years of decline, the population appears to be stabilizing. The latest estimates put Converse at around 1,125 residents in 2024, with a slight uptick to 1,127 projected in 2025. That modest growth rate (about 0.2% annually) may seem trivial, but local leaders celebrate it as a sign that the bleeding has stopped, and a corner has been turned.
The town has taken proactive steps to welcome these newcomers: extending water and sewer lines to the subdivision, and updating zoning codes for these significantly larger lots. In return, local officials hope to broaden the tax base and infuse fresh energy into the community. Many of the new residents commute to companies in Marion or Kokomo, but some are now telecommuting thanks to high-speed fiber internet recently installed in town. The influx of young neighbors brings a jolt of vitality – new parents joining the PTA, volunteers signing up to help with the next festival, and perhaps entrepreneurs who might launch Converse’s next beloved business.
How Curiosity Built a Movement
Innovation in Converse hasn’t been limited to bricks, roads, or business.
It also began with a question.
“How did Converse get its name?”
That unanswered question sparked curiosity. Curiosity sparked organization. Organization led to the creation of the Converse Historical Society, now a 501(c)(3) corporation and steward of the former Converse United Methodist Church, a covenant property preserved through vision, discipline, and partnership.
The Society did not act alone. It actively sought mentorship and best practices from Indiana Landmarks, the Indiana Historical Society, the Lilly Endowment, and the Miami County Community Foundation, while also building credibility through accessions, contributions, and endowment giving.
Today, it stands as a model of community-driven preservation paired with institutional alignment, a reminder that innovation often begins with asking better questions, then refusing to stop.
Looking Forward: The Delicate Balance
Converse’s Carnegie library offers an example of balancing old and new. Built in 1918 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, the stately Classical Revival brick-and-limestone building still serves its original purpose as the public library. In recent years, library officials recognized that to stay relevant, the facility needed updates, more space for programming, modern amenities — but without sacrificing its historic charm. Plans were drawn up for a modest addition off the back of the building, and by maintaining the exterior style and materials, the library aimed to remain a vibrant, active community space while honoring the legacy of its quiet original reading rooms. Construction of the new wing began in 2019 and was completed by the end of 2020, adding a community meeting hall and kitchen while leaving the original Carnegie structure untouched in front. Today, the Converse-Jackson Township Public Library is a hub of activity, hosting everything from book clubs to yoga classes, and it stands as an example of how Converse is embracing improvements without losing its historic character.
Regional Collaboration and County-Wide Vision
As 2025 turns into 2026, Converse finds itself at an inflection point familiar to many small Midwestern towns: how to sustain momentum in the face of larger forces. Rural depopulation and industrial shifts have challenged this region for decades. Yet Converse’s narrative over the past year suggests a cautious optimism. New sidewalks, new businesses, new homes, and renewed civic pride all signal a town pushing forward. The Grant County Economic Growth Council has taken note of Converse’s proactive approach, even as other towns in the county undertake their own revitalization plans. There is a sense that collaboration will be key, whether through county-wide initiatives, regional tourism marketing, or simply sharing ideas among neighboring towns. At a recent meeting of the county commissioners, leaders lauded Converse as “a model of what is possible when a community pitches in together”, a nod to the volunteer spirit evident in everything from park fundraising to festival organizing.
Residents like Andy Horner and Lindsay Baker will tell you that Converse’s strength lies in its people - many of whom wear multiple hats (business owner, volunteer firefighter) to make their hometown better. Horner often points out that high school sports are such a big part of small-town life, you see whole communities rally around the Friday night game, and that rallying spirit now extends beyond sports to the broader cause of community development. In Converse, everyone is on the home team, and the past year's progress—the store openings, the park improvements, the new houses—is like points on the scoreboard.
The Challenges That Remain
The challenges ahead are real. Converse will need to ensure that as it attracts visitors, it also remains a livable, affordable place for longtime residents. The balancing act between welcoming change and preserving heritage requires constant calibration. But the town’s trajectory shows a community refusing to fade away. As Town Council President Joe Lenon has bluntly put it, Converse refuses to be a footnote; it aims to be a place where something is always going on, and where the next generation wants to stay.
In Converse, Indiana, the evidence of that ambition is on full display: in the glow of renovated storefronts on Jefferson Street, in the laughter of children on new playground swings, in the thunder of hooves at the fairground track, and in the sight of fresh foundations rising where cornfields once stood. A small town that once quietly went about its business is now making a gentle, confident noise - the sound of renewal, one local step at a time.