|
Unlike many smaller communities in White and surrounding counties, Brookston is not withering. No commercial property ever sits vacant very long. We have a healthy complement of businesses, including: grocery store, antique mall, car washes, two storage facilities, liquor store, German specialty bakery & restaurant, two banks, two gas stations with full mini-mart, Pizza King, eight restaurants in all, three taverns, physical therapy clinic, hand made paper mill, house furnishings store, ice cream parlor, dentist, two lawyers, three insurance agents, pharmacy, video store, computer store, internet service, paper box factory, art center, instrument builder, database programmer office, potter, massage therapist, aroma therapist, chiropractor, welding shop, wrecker service, barber, three hairdressers with tanning beds, grain elevator, Ford dealership, used car business, three churches, beautiful new library, new middle and elementary schools, three town parks, a new water tower, a cemetery, numerous day care providers, an agricultural research facility, grain dealer, grain elevator, auto body shop, US Post Office, fire department, telephone company, wholesaler of tobacco and candy, an antique dealer, concrete construction company, a number of general contractors, a funeral parlor, bottled gas & water softener dealer, popcorn research group, an industrial park one mile to the south and another to the north, two companies which manufacture specialty agricultural equipment, heavy farm equipment repair service, company working on ways to make farming more profitable, numerous farms. We have an annual town festival that celebrates two of our local agricultural products (apples and popcorn) which is attended by over 10,000 people. It is now in its 28th year, and still growing. Brookston is very close to Lafayette and West Lafayette. Purdue University and the diversity of industry and business there make Lafayette's economy robust in both good and bad economic times. Brookston to a great degree has become a suburb of Lafayette. There is a good deal of traffic to, from, and through Brookston. SR 48 runs North/South and SR 18 East/West through town. In 1990 between 12,000 and 15,000 cars passed through Brookston on SR 43 daily. Today that number would be higher. (The Family Pantry on SR 43 sells more lottery tickets than any store in White County.) We one a stop light at the intersection of SR 43 and Third St. (SR 18). Interstate 65, a major artery between Chicago and Indianapolis is 6 miles west on SR 18, and 6 miles south on SR 43. Brookston is served by a railroad, formerly the Monon, running from Lafayette to the South, and Chicago to the North. Brookston was originally platted by railroad men as they surveyed and laid out the route. The new bridge across the Wabash to the south of West Lafayette now provides a more direct route between Crawfordsville and points north of Brookston. The state park at Prophetstown, 5 miles to the south will bring more tourism trade and interest in this area in the near future. In addition to having the good fortune to be close enough to Lafayette to benefit from its economic growth, Brookston also benefits from having a number of business people who have invested in the town with an understanding of the ways small town life is changing. Residents have elected to improve assets, such as: library, schools, water tower, sewage plant, as well as improvements to houses and commercial buildings.
|
