Our Town: Spencer

Hosted by resident Jim DeCoursey, OUR TOWN: SPENCER explores the rural Owen County community of Spencer, Indiana from the perspective of the people who live there.

The program begins with genealogist Vivian Zollinger considering the pioneer heritage of the area and how the values introduced by the first settlers persist today. Important historic companies such as Spencer Wood Products and Honey Laymon’s “counter-card” company then are considered, as well as contemporary businesses such as printer/publisher World Arts, Inc., the 80-year-old Babb’s grocery store, and Chambers Restaurant, a local eatery whose fame has spread.

OUR TOWN: SPENCER profiles nationally renowned artist Ken Bucklew, and local “walker” and patriot Tom Hamilton. It shows neighboring McCormick’s Creek State Park in its spring glory and then stops in at the YMCA and at a local auction to reveal some of the town’s ordinary sites and sounds. The visit ends with a brief look at how the medical devices industry in the form of Boston Scientific Corporation and Cook Urological offer a prosperous present and an optimistic future. A consistent theme threads throughout the program—it’s the character of the people of Spencer that makes, and has always made, this community of 2700 residents a wonderful place to live.