(Above) Downtown Fort Wayne from the south. At lower right, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge over St. Marys River. Photo by Nicholas J. Klein. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

By Pamela Dittmer McKuen

19-Aug-24 – It is impossible to traverse the streets and alleys of Fort Wayne, Indiana, without encountering some form of art. Murals, sculptures, and light displays – more than 250 and counting – wrap the city in color and creative thought. Even storm drains and bicycle racks are reimagined beyond their obvious utility.

It seems like the entire city is one big canvas. (Left) Lion’s Dance by Tokyo-born mural artist JUURI on the Brokerage Building at 128 West Wayne Street. Photo provided by Visit Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne wasn’t always the kaleidoscopic jewel it is today, but a wealth of revitalization projects in recent years has instilled the state’s second-largest city with new vigor and an abundance of artistic expression. As an enthusiast, I had to see for myself.

The Bradley, a 124-room boutique hotel swathed in Vera Bradley textile artistry, was the ideal place to anchor my visit. The luggage and handbag design company is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and the hotel is a collaboration between co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Provenance Hotels.

The interiors are colorful, to be sure, but designed with sophisticated pattern play punctuated with occasional bursts of neon.

It’s not like a Vera Bradley store exploded in front of you at the mall. The walls are decked with works from both Backgaard’s personal collection and those of local artists. The Bradley Hotel

If you love-love-love Vera Bradley, mark your calendar for the annual outlet sale traditionally held the first weekend of May.

The Bradley puts me in an artsy mood, so I left the hotel to explore further. Download the Fort Wayne Public Art Trail app to your phone for locations and information about the works and their makers. The works variously inspire and amuse, portraying a gamut of cultural touchstones, motivational messages, goofy animals, and total abstractions.

Holding court at the entrance to Promenade Park on the riverfront is a towering tri-winged structure called Convergence (left) by large-scale sculpture artist Linda Howard. Photo by Ray Steup

It’s a reference to the city’s setting at the confluence of three rivers – St. Marys, St. Joseph, and Maumee – and their coming together as a unifying force. (And perhaps a metaphor for all mankind.)

While you’re at the park, hop aboard the Sweet Breeze flat-bottom boat, and you’ll see all three rivers, and learn about the city’s early history and loads of fun facts.

Glass art and kimono

In just a decade, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art amassed one of the largest collections of studio glass in the Midwest, to the point of dedicating an entire wing to the sculptural form. The museum, designed by Chicago architect Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1984, also has extensive holdings in printmaking, sculpture, and the works of American artists and Indiana Impressionists.

Many museums and critics have long dismissed glass as a medium of craft rather than art. But the permanent installation in the Glass Wing embraces it by tracing the progression of the Studio Art Movement from early experimentation to contemporary innovation. The Dale Chihuly chandelier crowning the foyer is a mere tease into the glass galleries’ wonders.

A recent acquisition left me almost breathless: A life-size kimono, titled Spring Dawn (right) by Markow & Norris, is composed of smidgens of colorful woven glass, gold and silver foil, and glass beads.

Only four such pieces exist, each one representing a different season. The others are in private collections.

At the Rolland Center for Lincoln Research, you’ll peer into the intimate archives of President Abraham Lincoln, who grew up in Indiana. The center, housed in the Allen County Public Library, marries precious vintage photography with powerful interactive technology to create larger-than-life projections. Within its holdings are 30,000 photographs of Lincoln, his family, cabinet members, and generals; letters to and from the late president; diaries of Civil War soldiers; personal artifacts and more.

Culinary arts

The Bradley will indulge your tastes from early morning through nightcap cocktails. Pick up your morning grab-and-go at the lobby coffee shop or unwind with sit-down service at the all-day Arbor restaurant, which specializes in Italian-American classics. End your day at Birdie’s, the rooftop bar with an outdoor terrace, serving small plates and desserts. “Birdie” is Baekgaard’s childhood nickname.

Diverse dining options await at The Landing, just a block from the hotel and a few steps from Promenade Park.

Look for the four-story bison mural on Columbia Street, and you’re in the right place. (Left) This Land Is Your Land by Tim Parsley at 126 West Columbia Street.

The Landing is a historic neighborhood built as a commercial district in the mid-1800s when water transport was the lifeblood of the burgeoning city. Today the block-long, pedestrian-only stretch has been revitalized as a buzzy gathering spot and lively live-work-play hub, lined with a cornucopia of fine eats. Among them are Asian-inspired NAWA, Cali-Mexican cuisine at Mercado, and upscale chef-driven Marquee.

Fort Wayne’s breakfast icon is Cindy’s Diner, a circa 1950s, 15-stool trailer-style diner heralded for “garbage” (the actual name on the menu). The dish is a scrumptious scramble of eggs, hash browns, cheese, onions, and ham bits. Save room for homemade peanut butter pie.

The historic 39-acre General Electric manufacturing campus is undergoing titanic revitalization as a mixed-use development named Electric Works. Some of the buildings are more than a century old. At the height of World War II, the facility employed about one-third of the city’s workforce.

Now open is Union Street Market (right), an upscale food hall teeming with local foodie entrepreneurs and styled with vibrant murals. Visit Fort Wayne

The Oyster Bar has stood in its original location since 1888 – and it looks like it, much to the delight of a loyal fan base. Fresh seafood is a staple, and so are steaks and pastas. And 62 premium bourbons are on the menu. During the Prohibition Era, you needed a password to enter a secret door to a small back room where cocktails and moonshine were sold. Today you walk through the galley kitchen to reach a cozy second dining area. The chefs graciously put down their knives and wave you through.

Artisans further afield

The creative DNA of Fort Wayne expands beyond its borders into Northeastern Indiana. Warsaw Cut Glass Company purveys glassware embellished in-house by master glass artisans using belt-driven stone wheels, just like when the business opened (without electricity) in 1911.

You can select a blank vase, bowl, or stemware, and they’ll cut a pattern of your choosing. (Left) An artisan uses a stone wheel at Warsaw Cut Glass Company.

The building, which was constructed from rejected street bricks, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Call in advance for a tour and demonstration of a vintage world.

Whetstone Woodenware in Silver Lake hand-crafts wooden kitchen tools for home and professional chefs worldwide. What’s trending in culinary essentials? A straight-edge curved spatula, available for right-handers and left-handers.

The Village at Winona (right) is a darling enclave of bungalow-style homes converted to chic boutiques and sit-down eateries. Visit Fort Wayne

Bordering a picturesque canal that connects to Winona Lake, the village is a former summer retreat now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photos by Pamela Dittmer McKuen except where noted otherwise.