Amish and Mexican cultures enrich Ligonier, an industrial river city
Ligonier is an industrial city in the Strawberry Valley, with Amish and Mexican influences. “All weekend you can hear mariachi music everywhere, and everybody’s just hanging out,” says Realtor Nate Hicks with Real Broker, who has over eight years of experience. “You’ll see people riding down the middle of the street on horseback sometimes, just one of those cool melting pots of people. Everybody gets along, and [home] costs are fairly low.”
Ligonier’s central region features a downtown area with historic architecture and several restaurants. An industrial park spans the north and south banks of the Elkhart River, which flows across the entire city. “It’s a lot of manual labor stuff over there, as far as employment, so a lot of trailer factories and Amish build crews,” Hicks says.
Historic downtown with a local focus and chains nearby
Downtown Ligonier’s Calvin Street is home to plenty of culture, with original Italianate-style buildings and dozens of murals portraying scenes from Ligonier’s past. La Michoacana Ice Cream’s storefront has the image of early settlers entering the region. “Many of the restaurants are small, family-owned. There’s a Subway and a Burger King, but they’re almost never busy spots except for lunch during the week. It’s all the mom-and-pop shops,” Hicks says. “The restaurant inside the Mexican grocery is fantastic, with like 20 different kinds of tacos,” Hicks says, referring to El Paraiso in La Conchita Supermarket. Kroger and Tractor Supply Co. are on Lincoln Way South.
Festival featuring muskets, cannons and period-specific clothes
During a fall weekend, Stone’s Trace Tavern, just south of the city, hosts Stone’s Trace Pioneer Festival & Rendezvous. “It’s all period-specific — no power or anything — everything is just campfires, and everybody is dressed in period-specific clothes. They have a musket range instead of a normal [range],” Hicks says. The event also features cannon demonstrations, a puppet theater and live music.
Traditional and ranch-style homes from downtown to plowed fields
Ligonier’s residential areas extend from gridded downtown streets to the outskirts of town, where farmland is abundant. The older homes include Traditional multi-story and Minimal Traditional homes built between the 1900s and 1950s. Their prices range from over $30,000 to $260,000. Ranch-style homes began joining the landscape in the 1960s and are priced between nearly $180,000 and $700,000. After 2000, developers erected communities, many featuring New Traditional homes priced from about $350,000 to $440,000. Some residences are near the Elkhart River and have an elevated flood risk that increases in the eastern region, where the river is closer to small lakes and streams.
Athletic facilities and recreation from the Elkhart River to the lake
Martin Kenney Memorial Park’s 40 acres consist of baseball diamonds, a disc golf course and pickleball courts. Ligonier Park & Recreation Center and Jennie Thompson Gardens are also in the park. In Woodlawn Plaza, a picnic pavilion overlooks a skatepark and playground. Strawberry Trail travels a mile along the Elkhart River between Bridge and Martin streets. Lake Wawasee and Syracuse Lake are both within a 15-mile drive and have public boat ramps.
Academics and extracurriculars in West Noble School Corporation
Ligonier is in the West Noble School Corporation attendance boundary. Schools include West Noble Primary, a kindergarten and first-grade school that Niche gives a B-plus grade. West Noble Elementary educates grades second through fourth, and West Noble Middle School oversees those in grades five through eight. Both schools earn B-minuses. West Noble High, a ninth through 12th-grade school, also receives a B-minus and offers electives such as Spanish club.
Industrial park near train tracks and highways to nearby cities
Freight trains travel on the tracks that passenger trains used in the 1850s. The city’s industrial park is near the tracks and includes milling and manufacturing companies. U.S. Highway 6 connects Ligonier to Goshen, including the Goshen Health hospital within a 20-mile drive. U.S. Highway 33 leads to Fort Wayne, nearly 40 miles away, and Fort Wayne International Airport, about 5 miles more.
