METAMORA — Four years ago, Metamora lost one of its signature attractions, a horse-drawn canal boat.
Earlier this month, the very canal that has sustained tourism in this tiny Franklin County town for generations brought historic flooding, damaging dozens of businesses and homes.
But once again, Metamora is paddling on.
Volunteers descended on the village of 450 residents almost as soon as the water receded and helped tear out soggy drywall and haul away debris. A faith-based disaster group went door to door helping residents clean their homes.
Shop owners began racing to reopen, some within days of the flood and many others hoping to be back in business by Labor Day weekend, when Metamora hosts its music festival.
Others are targeting Canal Days, traditionally one of the community’s biggest tourism weekends, on the first weekend in October.
And beaming just beyond the immediate cleanup is another reason for optimism: a $14.4 million state-funded restoration of the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site. The project’s aim is to preserve Metamora’s most important historic structures and, residents hope, eventually lay the groundwork for bringing back a horse-drawn canal boat for visitors to ride.
For Connie Wendel, a Metamora native and longtime historic preservation advocate, the latest setback hasn’t changed her hopeful outlook for one of southeastern Indiana’s most visible tourist attractions.
“This is not a question of if Metamora will rebound,” Wendel said. “It’s just when.”
Flash flooding
The flood came Aug. 12 and 13 after heavy rains upstream sent the Whitewater River and Duck Creek surging through Franklin County.
Residents of Metamora and other low-lying areas evacuated as the river crested at 25.29 feet in nearby Brookville, more than five feet above flood stage. The water ultimately reached places that had rarely, if ever, flooded before.
Alan Stenger, president of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and the nonprofit I Love Metamora, said more than 40 residences and more than 40 businesses in Metamora were affected — all but a handful of the town’s shops and restaurants.
Damage varied widely. Some shops took on only a couple inches of water. Others had a couple feet. Wendel said properties south of the canal suffered the heaviest damage.
Near the historic canning factory building that’s used for musical performances, the canal levee was breached in two places.
Water pushed against the side of the building and seeped inside. Gravel and other material washed from the levee covered the grounds and gouged the parking area.
Wendel and her husband, Jim, brought in a large skid loader from their farm to move gravel and debris and repair the parking area. Other volunteers cleaned the building’s interior, dried it with fans and dehumidifiers and treated the affected area for mold.
Within days, the property was usable again and scheduled to host a fundraiser for flood victims.
More than a boat ride
The flood is only the latest challenge confronting a community whose tourism economy has struggled through other recent setbacks.
For decades, the slow clip-clop of draft horses pulling a boat through the canal was the sound that defined tourism in Metamora.
Families lined the towpath waiting for their turn to board the Ben Franklin III to learn how Hoosiers traveled in the 1840s before the railroad era. After stepping off the boat, visitors wandered through the shops of Indiana’s only surviving canal town.
But more than four years after the state pulled the canal boat from the water for what was expected to be a routine inspection, the aging vessel is gone and has never been replaced.
While that was a significant loss, locals are quick to point out that there’s more to Metamora.
The Duck Creek Aqueduct is the nation’s only operational covered wooden aqueduct of its kind and a national historic civil engineering landmark. The grist mill demonstrates how canal water once powered industry and is still used to grind cornmeal.
The locks and canal itself are remnants of Indiana’s ambitious effort to build a statewide transportation network in the 1800s, an ultimately ill-fated venture that helped push the state to the brink of bankruptcy before railroads supplanted canals.
The $14.4 million restoration package approved before the flood will concentrate on repairing historic infrastructure including the Duck Creek Aqueduct, Laurel Feeder Dam and Lock 24.
But there is one significant omission. The project doesn’t include a new canal boat or the horses to pull one.
State officials say the irreplaceable canal structures have to be stabilized first. Residents hope that once that work is done, another project can put a boat back in the water.
Brink of closure
The situation wasn’t so hopeful a year ago. That’s when the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites announced it expected to close the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site after the fall season.
The announcement came after years of deterioration and unsuccessful attempts to secure enough money for major repairs. Then the State Museum’s operating budget was cut, forcing officials to consider where they could reduce staffing and expenses.
Eric Todd, chief operating officer for the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, said the threatened closure wasn’t intended to pressure lawmakers into acting. The agency simply had run out of options.
While the museum was struggling to find money, one southeastern Indiana lawmaker had already spent several years trying to draw attention to Metamora’s deteriorating condition.
State Sen. Jean Leising’s involvement began after legislative redistricting in 2021 placed Metamora in her district. Although Franklin County was her home county, Leising hadn’t visited the village in years.
So she and her husband took a drive. What they found shocked them.
“We were like really upset with the condition we found in Metamora, the Whitewater Canal, the grist mill,” recalled Leising, an Oldenburg Republican. “A terrible condition.”
She took photographs and began asking questions at the Statehouse.
In 2022, she began pressing state budget officials for money. The following year, she took her photos to Senate Appropriations Chairman Ryan Mishler and challenged him to look at the deterioration.
Leising initially thought she had persuaded legislative leaders to fund the entire $14 million project. Then came the final night of the 2023 legislative session.
Mishler returned to the Senate chamber with bad news: The state budget would provide only $7 million and require supporters to find another $7 million in matching funds.
Leising couldn’t envision tiny Metamora or Franklin County raising that much money. When the search remained unsuccessful after two years, the State Museum announced plans to close the site.
Then regional economic development officials became involved, and another $7 million was secured through the state’s READI 2.0 program.
The arrangement still required approvals from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and State Budget Committee before all of the money could be released.
That finally happened earlier this year. But while the money was being assembled, the price went up.
Inflation and updated engineering estimates eventually pushed the cost of everything envisioned in the restoration to about $17.5 million — requiring a new canal boat and other elements of the original project to be cut.
Engineering work has gone out for bid. Once designs are completed, Todd expects the state to seek bids from general contractors, most likely in early 2027.
The recent flood didn’t worsen the condition of the structures targeted by the restoration. Stenger said the aqueduct and locks were inspected afterward and found to be in essentially the same condition as before.
Stenger hopes local involvement and competitive construction bids can stretch the $14 million restoration dollars as far as possible.
“Our hope is at the end, the money’s sitting there for the boat,” Stenger said. “I can’t promise that, but that’s my goal.”
Prepping for visitors
Even before the flood, Metamora’s residents and merchants had learned not to wait for someone else to boost the town’s prospects.
Community groups organized festivals. Merchants became more aggressive about promoting Metamora online. New businesses opened even as uncertainty hung over the state historic site.
Stenger, who owns The Sap Bucket general store and candy shop, has been part of that effort.
He believes Metamora was gaining momentum before the flood. Now the immediate task is getting its businesses back on their feet.
The flood damaged Stenger’s own shop, though only a few inches of water got inside. Rather than reopen immediately, he turned the property into a recovery hub where residents could get food and information.
When the cleanup crews eventually leave, Stenger said, the best thing outsiders can do for Metamora will be much simpler than tearing out drywall or hauling debris. Just visit the historic canal town, he urged.
“The one way you can support the businesses here is to come to Metamora,” he said.
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Greg Weaver is an FPI News freelance contributor. You can reach him at gregoryeweaver@gmail.com.
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