Rensselaer, Indiana
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Rensselaer, Indiana

Rensselaer, Indiana

Small northern Indiana county town with a courthouse square, Carnegie library, and unhurried Main Street.

Rensselaer is a small city of around 4,000 people in northern Indiana, the seat of Jasper County, sitting along I-65 between Lafayette (one hour south) and Chicago (two to three hours north). It is a quiet county town with a handsome courthouse, a Catholic college (Saint Joseph's College), a fine Carnegie library, some antique shops, and the kind of unhurried Main Street that characterises the Indiana flatlands.

The Busy Bee ice cream stand a couple of blocks from the courthouse is worth a stop in warm weather — though locals will warn you that the high sulphur content in the local water takes a day or two to adjust to. Rensselaer can be reached by both bus and Amtrak.

Guide

Eating Out

Rensselaer's eating choices are limited but honest. The square has a couple of cafes and family-style diners — DeMotte's Coffee Cup Restaurant and Embers Venue and Tap House (in a restored former bank building) are the two best-known sit-downs. Standard American breakfasts, burgers, and Friday fish fries dominate.

The Busy Bee ice cream stand on Cullen Street, a couple of blocks from the courthouse, is a local institution from May to September and worth a stop in warm weather. For full meals on the road, a strip of fast-food and chain restaurants lines IN-114 near the I-65 interchange a couple of miles east of downtown.

Guide

Getting There

Rensselaer sits on Indiana 114 immediately west of I-65, the main north–south highway between Chicago and Indianapolis. Driving times are about 90 minutes from Chicago, two hours from Indianapolis, and an hour north from Lafayette.

Amtrak's Cardinal (Chicago–Cincinnati–New York City) stops at the unmanned Rensselaer station three times a week in each direction — one of the few small Indiana towns with a passenger rail service. Greyhound buses also stop in town on the Chicago–Indianapolis route.

Guide

Things to Do

Rensselaer is a county town with a handful of pleasant historic sights clustered around the square. The 1898 Jasper County Courthouse is the centrepiece, and the surrounding block of brick storefronts has been listed as a national historic district. Within a short walk you'll also find a fine Carnegie library, several handsome Victorian houses, and the campus of Saint Joseph's College just south of town.

For most visitors the town is a stop on a longer drive along I-65 rather than a destination. An hour or two is enough to see what there is to see — though the unhurried pace and small-town hospitality are easy to enjoy if you have longer.