Town INC.: Grow Your Business. Save Your Town. Leave Your Legacy. by Andrew Davis

Author:Andrew Davis
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: -
Publisher: Monumental Shift
Published: 2015-10-04T14:00:00+00:00

Digging Deep in Greensburg

Before the tornado, Greensburg’s most famous attraction was the world’s deepest hand dug well. Using shovels, picks, and barrels, Greensburg’s early settlers dug the 109-foot deep, 32-foot wide water well in 1887. The well provided the town with fresh water for 44 years. In 1937 the well was turned into a tourist attraction. For the next seventy years it attracted an average of 43,000 tourists a year.

The attraction had become a novelty, like so many other American roadside attractions (giant ball of paint included), it was something to do as people drove by on their way to somewhere else, until the museum was swept away by the tornado.

The original museum wasn’t much more than a shack, but as the town mulled over the liberal idea of “green washing” the town as some “tree-hugging” community, they realized something opinion-altering: their town’s forefathers were this nation’s original sustainability engineers.

The world’s largest hand dug well represented an entire agricultural movement that their fathers and grandfathers had subscribed to. Their relatives, and the town’s founders, were the original ‘green’ Greensburg residents. They believed in simple tried and true conservative values. They lived within their means. They survived off the land. They preserved what they could and relied on conserving their most precious resources to ensure their future. The world’s largest hand dug well represented all these ideas.

It wasn’t long before many of the residents began embracing the idea that putting the Green back in Greensburg wasn’t an empty marketing slogan. It was a reality deeply rooted in the heritage of the town’s forefathers. The 1887 hand dug well that illustrated their commitment to this idea had been sitting on Sycamore Street in the middle of town all along. The world’s largest hand dug well became proof that, political affiliations aside, we should honor our forefathers and fulfill their vision for a sustainable Greensburg.

Instead of debating whether to rebuild the museum, the question became how can we build something that showcases the significance of the role the well played in the past while it points the way for the future?

They decided to build a sustainable wonder.

The new museum is an architectural marvel and a showcase of modern sustainable living. Its geothermal energy system, high-performance air conditioning, and even the landscaping make the museum a shining example of green technology, architectural innovation, and it typifies the new vision of Greensburg. The story told inside the museum positions the town’s forefathers as the original “sustainable settlers” living off the land. Today, the world’s largest hand dug well isn’t a sideshow roadside attraction. The historic site is an important part of the claim they’ve staked.

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