More Jobs than Citizens

Two of the small towns in Steuben County, IN that I visited this week have more jobs than they have citizens. You don’t find one of these type of towns very often and it is the first time that I’ve found two in one county.

Ashley, IN is a town of 1,010 with 1,560 people working in the community. They have 8 manufacturing companies, each with from 10 to 500 employees. In 2000 they ONLY had about 1,000 people working there. They lost two manufacturers in the early 2000s, but both buildings are now occupied with internal expansions.

Fremont, IN is a town of 1,600 with 2,000 working in the town. They also lost a couple of manufacturers in the early 2000s, but have continued to grow their industrial base as the economy has grown in the past several years. One of their companies is doing a $30 million expansion that will add 50 new jobs to their base of 250.

The town also has a brand new $2 million library that is very impressive. You can tell that it is a community on the move.

I love these small towns that are showing all of the nay sayers wrong.