For the first time in its history, Indiana University’s School of Art, Architecture + Design will offer an M.Arch degree out of its Columbus campus. Dean Peg Faimon’s Monday announcement felt like an inevitable step for the small Midwestern town, which, for decades has taken pride in its built environment and is recently gaining national attention.

The reputation of Columbus, Indiana, as a “mecca of architecture” began officially in 1954 when the town’s successful industrialist J. Irwin Miller established a foundation to bring the work of prominent Modernist architects—including Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stern, James Stewart, and Myron Goldsmith, to name a few—to the city. Miller’s legacy continues today with recent projects such as Deborah Berke Partners’ 2006 Irwin Union Bank and will now include a cohort of homegrown talent.