Delphi fighting to boost image

Civic boosters in Delphi fear the town northeast of Lafayette will become just another bedroom community, so they’re fighting back.

They want the town, population 2,977, to become more of a destination for shoppers and tourists, according to the Journal & Courier of Lafayette.

Once a commercial hub on the Wabash and Erie Canal, Delphi can attract shoppers by rejuvenating the downtown and expanding a museum dedicated to the canal, backers believe.

The Wabash & Erie Canal Interpretive Center is getting a $1.3 million addition of a warehouse, canal boat and dock next summer, the newspaper noted.

Boosters fear the town will lose its identity when the final leg of the four-lane Hoosier Heartland Highway between Lafayette and Fort Wayne is finished. Construction on the 35-mile stretch from Lafayette to Logansport is scheduled to begin in 2010. Delphi is located along the stretch.

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