We’re Still Out Here
What Happened to Main Street Bob Pest
Beginning in the late 1800’s, Main Street became the center of small rural communities across the country. It began with small “mom and pop” stores that sold everything from sugar and flour to shoes, clothes, and candy. Families “came to town” on Saturday to shop, visit with their friends and neighbors, and catch up on the local gossip. Downtown buildings usually had several tenants -- typically a ground-floor store and often several upper-floor offices or apartments; together, these tenants provided enough rent for property owners to keep their buildings in good condition. The presence of the post office, library, banks and local government offices added to the steady flow of people downtown. With the coming of movies and other entertainments, people also frequented Main Street in the evenings, especially on Saturday night. As communities grew, the demand for products also grew. 5&10 Cent stores, carrying a much wider variety of merchandise and featuring soda fountains, became the “next big thing.” The Kress stores (later Kresge’s), Murphy’s, McCrory’s, Ben Franklin, and Woolworth’s replaced many of the small, locally-owned businesses. These chain stores attracted shoppers from a wider area and, for a while, helped Main Streets thrive. But once the development of and move to suburbia began to take hold in the post-WWII years, many of them moved to the outskirts of town, where parking was plentiful. The creation of the interstate highway system also took its toll as improved transportation opportunities drew shoppers away from downtown; later, bypasses designed to direct traffic around small rural towns, added to the decline. Small towns that were once the heart and soul of the community became dotted with neglected, abandoned, and boarded-up buildings. As shoppers dwindled, so did property values, sales tax revenues, and services provided by local governments. The charm that once defined Main Street became replaced by empty, dirty streets and sidewalks littered with trash. People forgot that Main Street was the repository of their heritage; the historic commercial buildings that once made people proud fell into disrepair and neglect; and Main Street lost its identity as the center of the community. The worst was yet to come for Main Street. In 1962, Walmart opened its doors and quickly expanded. By 1975 there were 175 stores, mostly in largely rural states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. The “one stop shopping” convenience and low prices added to the death knell of Main Street. The final blow, urban sprawl and shopping centers, left Main Street more or less abandoned. The shopping centers not only contained a large selection of stores, they also offered popular chain restaurants, multi-screen cinemas, and acres of free parking. Fortunately for America’s small towns, a pathway 10
Promoting Independence
to restoration and revival became available. Since 1980, the National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street Center has launched over 2,000 affiliated programs in 43 states to assist communities in saving their historic buildings, reviving their commercial district, strengthen local businesses, control urban sprawl and its negative impact, and remind citizens of the history and value of their Main Streets. Facing these issues, over 1,600 communities have adopted the Main Street approach in the past 25 years to look again at Main Street, their heart of the community, to save its historic buildings, to revive its commercial core, to strengthen business, to control community-eroding sprawl, and keep a sense of place and community life in America. The Main Street Center has developed a four-step plan for revitalization that involves Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring. These four steps have proven to be effective in communities that have created nonprofit corporations to activate and guide the process as well as energizing the business community. A strong board of highly-respected and effective directors has also proven to be an essential element. One of the greatest strengths of the Main Street strategy is collaboration, especially in situations when state, regional, or municipal programs oversee and supervise the local units. In Arkansas, for example, statewide meetings enable Main Street directors to share ideas, solve problems, and discuss plans for the future. However much assistance is available from federal, state, and local entities, the success of Main Street ultimately depends upon the business owners, residents, and customers who call it home. In the words of Russell Thomas, Mayor of Americus, Georgia, “For the longest time, we all waited for a white knight to ride into town and fix the problem. But the Main Street people made us realize that the only way to get it done right was to do it ourselves. N Main Street picture above taken from wjmc.blogspot.com
T TAURI MOVIE CAMP 2 to 4 Day Filmmaking Workshops
Script to Screen Acting on Camera Claymation
see-think-create
July 16-28 | Batesville www.ttauri.org 870-251-1189
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