An editorial from The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Huntington has not made the list of Best 50 College Towns – yet.
The groups that put these lists together look at a variety of factors from livability to cultural offerings to simple “presence” of the school in the community. But when you look at the communities on the top of the list, you understand that the physical interconnection between the college and the town is a big part of the magic.
According to the Best College Reviews, the top five “college towns” are Boulder, Colorado; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; Ithaca, New York; and Ames, Iowa. From our region, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and State College, Pennsylvania, made the Top 10. Charlottesville and Blacksburg, Virginia, and Morgantown, West Virginia, made the Top 20.
University life is woven into the fabric of all those communities, and each has its well-known streets and neighborhoods, where town and gown come together. We think that is happening in Huntington, too.
Since 2008, the Old Main Corridor project has been gradually building a stronger link between the Marshall University campus and downtown Huntington…