CHAMPAIGN – Effingham developer Jack Schultz couldn't help wondering: Why do some small towns thrive, while others wither?

Schultz's question led him on a nationwide hunt for clues. One place he researched was Leavenworth, Wash.

Leavenworth once had 5,000 residents. But hard times caused the population of the sawmill-and-railroad town to fall to just 1,000.

Eleven women in town realized there were no opportunities for young people. Something had to be done.

After working with a consultant from the University of Washington, they decided to reinvent Leavenworth as a Bavarian village – even though Leavenworth had no Bavarians.

One woman reopened the local hotel as the Hotel Edelweiss. Orchards on the outskirts of town were turned into boutique wineries. The Audubon Society opened a bird-watching center there.

The result: Leavenworth's population doubled to 2,000, and chamber of commerce membership rose to an astonishing 500.

The town has been so successful that 40 families have moved there – from Bavaria, Schultz said.

Stories like that inspired Schultz to write "Boomtown USA: The 7 Keys to Big Success in Small Towns." The book, published by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, is now in its third printing.

Meanwhile, Schultz has embarked on a second career as an author on the speaking circuit. In the last year and a half, he has given 130 talks in 35 states.

He recently spoke in a half-dozen towns in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. Soon he's heading out to Oklahoma to speak in all four quadrants of the state.

On Thursday, Schultz shared some of his small-town findings at a Champaign County Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

One of his conclusions: "It's more important to have one person of passion than 50 or 100 who are kind of interested in what's going on."

He also credits leadership, vision and entrepreneurial spirit for making a difference.

Schultz is chief executive officer of Agracel Inc., an Effingham-based industrial development company that manages 4 million square feet of industrial space in eight states.

In East Central Illinois, Agracel has tried to redevelop the General Motors Powertrain site in Danville. The company has also tried to jump-start industrial development sites in Mattoon and Paxton.

Schultz took a particular interest in development more than a decade ago when Effingham lost two major employers and faced cutbacks in two other industries.

"You couldn't sell cars. You couldn't sell houses. Bankers couldn't make loans," he recalled.

Local business people took the situation into their own hands and tried to diversify the industrial base. It was at that point, Schultz said, that he learned economic development was a long-term project and not something as simple as "falling off a log."

But imagination, vision and hard work paid off. Site Selection magazine eventually recognized Effingham as the fifth-best small community in the nation in terms of creating new jobs.

Schultz's research has led him to other conclusions about the future for small communities.

In the 1800s, the advent of the railroad and electricity fueled movement from farms to urban areas. Later, the automobile and the telephone spurred people to move from urban areas to the suburbs.

Now, he predicts, new technologies will precipitate a move from the suburbs to what Schultz calls the suburbs to what Schultz calls "agurbs."

The development of small jets, cost-of-living issues and the work-from-anywhere flexibility afforded by the Internet will lead people back to areas where quality of life is high, he said.

That's good news for small communities prepared to position themselves for those changes.

Schultz pointed to Mooresville, N.C., where leaders realized a shrinking textile industry would hurt local employment. The city sold the local hospital to a private company and used the $5 million in proceeds for economic development.

Mooresville became the home of 49 racing teams as well as companies that service and supply the teams – businesses that rebuild engines and train pit crews, among other things.

The city's quality of life has become so good that Lowes, the home improvement retailer, decided to move its headquarters there, Schultz said.

At Thursday's chamber of commerce breakfast, a Tuscola resident asked Schultz what could be done to help resurrect the economic energy of her Douglas County community.

Schultz recommended gathering a group of 30 "positive" people and maintaining e-mail communications among them. Whenever a critical issue arises, the group should attend county board and city council meetings to speak up for whatever needs done.

"Too often, the people everyone hears are the curmudgeons," Schultz said. But if people supporting something positive speak up, "the curmudgeons will wilt."

In response to another question, Schultz said he has done a "180-degree turnaround" on the importance of downtowns. At one time, he said he didn't see much sense in favoring downtowns over a city's outskirts. But now he sees the worth "in creating a sense of place" and understands how important a downtown can be.

He mentioned the effort to bring restaurants, bars, coffee shops and entertainment venues to Champaign's city center.

"What you're doing in downtown Champaign is creating a sense of place," he said.

By DON DODSON
© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online April 17, 2005

back