Economist, Sept 14, 2019 (I)

choi

I.M.probable | Modernism in the Cornfields; COLUMBUS, INDIANA   A small town's big architectural legacy.         
https://www.economist.com/united ... rchitectural-legacy

paragraph 3: "It was also home to Joseph Irwin Miller, a native son who built the Cummins Engine Company into an industrial powerhouse. In the middle of the last century, he began commissioning rising architects to design the city's public buildings in the hope of attracting young engineers to southern Indiana.

part of paragraph 5 (last paragraph): "Across a school designed by Gunnar Birkerts sits a Lutheran church. Parishioners liked his work so much they hired him to build an addition. * * * Miller did not just give his home town some important buildings. He gave it an identity.

Note:
(a) paragraph 1
(i) Columbus, Indiana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Indiana
(ii) Cleo Rogers Memorial Library
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleo_Rogers_Memorial_Library
(completed in 1969; is named for Cleo Rogers (1905-1964) who was the county librarian for 28 years)
(iii) Eliel Saarinen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliel_Saarinen
(born Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen; 1873 – 1950 (born in Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire, died in Michigan, Nationality Finnish); section 3 Significant works: First Christian Church/ Columbus, IN/ 1942)

Finland: as an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire (1809-1917). In Dec 6, 1917, Finland declared independence from Russia -- a month after October Revolution in Russia (Nov 7).
(iv) North Christian Church
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Christian_Church
(completed in 1964)
(v) Robert Venturi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Venturi
(section 6 Selected works: Fire Station #4/ Columbus, Indiana / 1968)

(b)
(i) "Cummins is an American Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. * * * The Cummins Engine Company was founded in Columbus, Indiana [still based there], in 1919 by William Glanton Irwin and Clessie Cummins, a local mechanic."  en.wikipedia.org for Cummins.
(ii) J Irwin Miller (Joseph Irwin Miller (1909 (born in Columbus, IN)-2004; 1931 to 1933 he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College [founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner: en.wikipedia.org], Oxford)  en.wikipedia.org.
(iii) About J Irwin Miller. Columbus, Indiana, undated (under the heading "Getting to Know Community Leaders and Benefactors J Irwin Miller and Xenia Miller")
https://columbus.in.us/j-irwin-and-xenia/
("Irwin Miller attended Yale University, majoring in Greek and Latin and graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1931. He then received a master's degree from Oxford University in 1933. In 1934, Irwin Miller began working at Cummins Engine Company—founded by his great- uncle [Clessie Cummins]—which builds diesel engines in Columbus")
Xenia was his wife.
(iv)
(A) Cummins is a variant of Cummings, both of which are Irish surnames -- with the "s" denoting child/descendant of. The surname Cumming is "of disputed origin." All items in this entry comes from Dictionary of American Family Names, by Oxford University Press.
(B) Xenia (name)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(name)
, where the "e" is pronounced as "i" in the same word.

(c)
(i) Gunnar Birkerts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Birkerts
(section 2 Architectural work: [sub-section:] Work Done while Faculty at The University of Michigan (Birkerts & Straub, Birkerts & Associates): St Peter's Lutheran Church/ Columbus, Indiana/ 1980–1988)
(ii) St Peter's Lutheran Church, Designed by Gunnar Birkerts, Was Built in 1988 in Columbus, a South-Central Indiana City That Has Become a Destination for Fine Art and Architecture Lovers. Library of Congress, undated.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016631804/