Hey all,
There's a lot of debate regarding small historic cities in the Northeast, and even the South, but not really that much regarding the Midwest. On the face of it this seems odd, because a lot of the Midwest was pretty heavily settled by 1900, with plenty of urban neighborhoods. They tended to fare pretty poorly in the mid 20th century, since industrial demands often led to the clearance of "slums" which could have had potential for revitalization, but some areas have to exist.
I'm aware of some very small touristy towns like
Galena, IL which survived almost totally intact, but these seem to be exceptions rather than the rule.
In terms of qualifications for the discussion, we're automatically excluding the big cities of the Midwest here (so no Chicago, Milwaukee, Cinci, Cleveland, St. Louis, etc.). Aside from that everything from a mid-sized metro down to a city of just a few hundred is fair game. However, at minimum the city should have a well-preserved business district (few to no parking lots visible) and have at least one nice historic neighborhood within walking distance of downtown (preferably something more interesting than the typical American Foursquare/Craftsmen Bungalow mix).
I have a few ideas, but the Midwest isn't my area of expertise, so I figure I'd throw it out to the crowd first.