This thesis reports on a study of a small rural Iowa population that is struggling with issues relating to socioeconomic change. This research addresses three fundamental questions. First, how does sense of place influence the choices people make about where they live. More specifically, what about a "country culture" makes some people want to stay and others to return. Second, how is the rural community adapting to the pressures of socioeconomic change and an ever-encroaching urban lifestyle. An integral compoenent of this questions is its degree of success in balancing its desire to retain a unique country culture and its desire to secure economic vitality. The third question concerns what this small town does to capitalize on its unique sense of place, and how it might exploit this special image to promote economic development. This discussion is significant as the rural sectors of so many states wrestle with the transition from relative isolation to incorporation into a global economy.