Nappanee’s Downtown Master Plan, an outcome of the Vibrant Communities Action Agenda 2.0 report, comes into view with the recent completion of Cartoon Alley
Booth Tarkington. Hoagy Carmichael. Theodore Dreiser. Howard Hawks. Sydney Pollack. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. These are names many Hoosiers can recognize as remarkable Indiana creatives who found artistic success and national recognition during their lifetimes.
What folks in Elkhart County, and even residents of Nappanee, may not know is that Nappanee, Indiana—at one point in its history—could boast of having more nationally known artists-cartoonists per capita than any other U.S. city.
According to Mark Collins, Nappanee’s Director of Development since 2023 and one of the driving forces behind its Downtown Master Plan, the city’s recently completed Cartoon Alley—located between Clark and Main streets in downtown Nappanee—is a way to honor Nappanee’s illustrious cartooning past while bringing more vibrance and energy to downtown.
“Cartoon Alley is a downtown Nappanee public art project that literally transforms a once-ordinary alley into a vibrant cultural attraction and community gathering space,” said Collins, who helped develop the public art project along with the Nappanee Redevelopment Commission and Nappanee Arts Council. “This project highlights and celebrates Nappanee’s unique connection to American cartooning history while supporting our downtown revitalization plan. The alleyway features large-scale murals inspired by Nappanee-born artists such as Bill Holman, creator of the Smokey Stover comic strip, and other Nappanee cartoonists who left their mark on the Sunday funnies and American humor.”
Honoring the Nappanee 6
Nappanee’s history of successful and influential cartoonists began with Merrill Blosser, who was born in Nappanee in 1892. Blosser was considered the patriarch of what is known as the “Nappanee 6”—a group of six renowned cartoonists who lived and began their careers in Nappanee. Blosser won a writing contest for National Magazine in 1904, at age 12, and would eventually go on to create the popular and long-running cartoon, “Freckles and His Friends.”
Francis Mike Parks, an editorial cartoonist; Henry Maust, a commercial artist for Kraft and others; Fred Neher, creator of “Some Pumpkins” and “Life’s Like That”; Bill Holman, creator of “Smokey Stover”; and Max Gwin, who wrote “Slim and Spud” for Prairie Farmer, were the other five members of the Nappanee 6. Five of the six were said to be influenced by an art teacher at Nappanee High School named Bessie Brown, who encouraged her pupils to doodle and experiment with drawing.
Featuring large-scale murals inspired by the Nappanee 6, Cartoon Alley—once an ordinary and quiet corridor—presents a whimsical thoroughfare that evokes a vintage Sunday comics page. Colorful panels line the alley, creating an interesting and engaging visual effect, and visitors can scan QR codes to learn more about the Nappanee 6. Contributions from local artists and organizations give Cartoon Alley even more of a hometown feel. The space includes artwork by the Nappanee Arts Council and Nappanee artist, Jeff Stillson, who—along with recent high school graduate Addison Holmes—painted the alleyway murals. Cartoon Alley is outfitted with benches, lights, and a mantel sign crafted in Nappanee, and a number of Nappanee businesses—including Hoosier Coatings, Pro Time Metal, Amzie’s Electric, and Blooms on Main St.—played roles in preparing the public art space.
“As a small Indiana city, we wanted to embrace our creative heritage in a big, imaginative way,” said Collins, “and turning an ordinary space into an exciting and visually appealing public art destination is the type of placemaking endeavor we can pursue to bring in more visitors, strengthen our small businesses, and enhance our quality of place for our residents and the entire community.”
According to Collins, the ELC Heritage Collection, City of Nappanee employees, and many members of the community played a role in helping breathe life into Cartoon Alley, which will be officially dedicated with an Oct. 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
Bringing quality-of-place initiatives to life!
Like our original Action Agenda from 2016, our 2024 Action Agenda 2.0 report was created to give Elkhart County residents a voice in strengthening and improving our communities. In 2022, community engagement sessions with the public provided input and feedback that led to the prioritization of five pillars, or themes, for quality-of-place improvements throughout Elkhart County.
In 2023, municipalities used those priorities as a framework for creating specific action items within each community. The process has since led some communities to incorporate additional pillars into their priority action items, and the Action Agenda 2.0 report—since being introduced—has been directly responsible for completed projects, projects currently underway, and planned projects throughout Elkhart County.
To review the priority action items in your community, visit the Action Agenda 2.0 landing page!
Mark Collins (top), Nappanee’s Director of Development since 2023 and one of the driving forces behind the city’s Downtown Master Plan, worked closely with the Nappanee Redevelopment Commission and the Nappanee Arts Council to help bring the commemorative Cartoon Alley—Nappanee’s newest public art space—to life.
