This newspaper’s Esbon community correspondent, Kate Gurka, regularly contrasts life in the rural Midwestern town of Esbon and the much larger out-of-state city she previously lived in. I enjoy reading Kate’s column and getting to see the community of Esbon through the eyes of a transplant.

Though I am far from a transplant, being the third generation of Blauvelts to have been born and lived within 15 miles of Superior, this week I personally experienced both the joy of living here and sadness that accompanies changes in our communities.

I have accepted the fact that many residents of my home...