The communities that we live in have been evolving since time immemorial. No facet of American culture has undergone more transformations than the downtown business district.
Every town with more than a couple hundred residents has one. And the odds are that it has seen its share of ups and downs over the years. And I'm not just talking Boomer years, either.
In the area where I grew up, there was a boom in the formation and growth of communities about the turn of the 20th century. In Oklahoma, many of these were given the names of Indian tribes that had been forcefully relocated there during the Trail of Tears era. In Arkansas, where I currently reside, communities are often named after railroad executives, who were often responsible for their formation at key points along the routes.
Stroll along the downtown sidewalks of these communities, and you will likely see durable old buildings dating from this era, from the late 1800's to the early 1900's.
Those buildings have probably seen much in the way of both glory and ignominy.
When we grew up in the 50's and 60's, downtowns were on the rebound. They started off strong, but when the Great Depression hit, many of the businesses that had originally inhabited the buildings dropped out of sight. Many downtown structures were unoccupied while the country 's economy convulsed.
However, the economy eventually woke up and began roaring during WWII, and once again downtown buildings became inhabited by thriving businesses. After the war, prosperity was in the air, and every downtown was filled with shoppes run by returned vets who were doing a brisk business.
Many a downtown of this era sported a business or two selling the Next Great Invention, television. A big store window might feature several powered-up models, and it was a popular place for the less fortunate who could not yet afford one to enjoy the hypnotic effects of the one-eyed monster.
Then there were the dime stores. We all fondly remember the downtowns of our youth containing at least one Woolworths, or TG&Y, or Kress, or Ben Franklin.
There would also be banks, a hardware store, a shoe store, and a single-screen movie theater.
Thus ended the sweet 60's. The next two decades would lead us to believe that the downtown business district was dead.
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows, and vacant stores
Seems like nobody ever wants to go down there no more
In 1984's My Hometown, Bruce Springsteen summed up downtown's plight in that era. The 70's were brutal on the economy. Things were turning around in the 80's, but the effect had not yet reached downtown, and many of us remember the thriving Main Streets of our youth had become depressing places, indeed. Family-owned dime stores, hardware stores, and shoe stores were being attacked on all fronts by suburban shopping malls, massive retail chains, and tight dollars.
But our venerable downtowns showed that they still had life left in them.
Today, many communities proudly tout their "historical districts." The downtown buildings that we knew and loved have new tenants. Upscale coffee shops, restaurants, and clothiers are often found in formerly run-down buildings that have been the beneficiaries of downtown renewal projects.
Of course, not every community has been able to afford to resurrect their downtowns. But enough have that we Boomer kids can smile with satisfaction that not every up-and-down story has to end down.
Comments (1)
Family-owned dime stores, hardware stores, and shoe stores were being attacked on all fronts by suburban shopping malls, massive retail chains, and tight dollars.
The decline in the fortunes of downtown America originates from several phenomena as well as those mentioned above. One was the mass migration to the outskirts of town toward suburban living after WW2 abandoning the urban districts to those who chose for whatever reasons (monetary or otherwise) to remain.
Demographically, lower income, elderly, and indigent people were disproportionally represented among the remaining denizens. This was a double whammy to the downtown area; the tax base was shrinking which meant civic improvements were delayed or eliminated and more upscale stores lost clientele due to the seedification of the neighborhood. (Fear of being accosted by undesirable elements and general unappealing aesthetics (I think aesthetics with the “a” is more aesthetic than “esthetics”) of the area were just a few excuses to patronize malls instead not to mention parking meters and a dearth of spaces.)
The modern shopping malls were a huge death knell to downtowns, many downtown stores foresaw the “writing on the mall” and moved out to the edge of town where mall zoning was unopposed, and those that didn’t such as the A&P grocery store almost disappeared. Even the First National grocery stores have virtually vanished. The malls offered convenient one-stop shopping at hundreds of stores in a climate controlled ambience that protected shoppers from the elements plus scads of free parking, restaurants, and arcades to amuse or babysit (heaven forfend) the kinder.
A more recent cause of destruction to venerable downtown businesses (as noted above) was the emergence of the BIG BOX mall anchor stores (Target, Best Buy, K-mart (formerly S.S. Kresge’s before they left downtown) which could by virtue of large quantity purchasing power could and would dramatically undercut the small businesses prices who only had niche items and service with which to compete.
The biggest club of all (Sam’s) used to bludgeon the downtown merchants was and is Wal*Mart. The king of predatory capitalism with a relentless drive to quash all competitors by over saturating an area with redundant stores and the virtual dumping of products until the competition is defunct and then closing less productive outlets and renting the space to an eclectic variety of tenants, then raising the prices of goods to be profitable.
Yes many downtowns have rebounded with boutiques, ethnic restaurants, and coffee shops with umbrellaed tables sporting the Cinzano or other chichi logos out front. Many like Burlington VT have turned the main downtown street (Church St.) into a no motor vehicles allowed stroller’s promenade.
My childhood hometown of Rutland VT (pop.18000) had in its downtown, four 5 & 10 cent department stores, F.W Woolworth’s, S.S Kresge’s, W.T. Grant’s and Fishman’s (a 20 or so store chain in VT and upstate NY). It contained 3 shoe stores, 3 clothing stores, 2 sporting good stores, a homemade candy store, 2 hotels, 4 grocery stores, (1st National, A&P, IGA and Grand Union,) 2 hardware stores, the Economy (an inexpensive clothing store,) Monkey Wards, 3 banks, 2 movie theaters, 1 Chinese restaurant, 4 drug stores, the Post Office, and various and sundry other shops.
In VT most cities & towns with populations greater than 2K did have classic downtown layouts but when I was considering a move to NH, many good sized towns did not have a classic downtown. After looking at houses in Bow NH, I stopped to ask some teenagers where the downtown was. They replied “What do you mean?” I said “You know, streets with lots of stores, and businesses in the center of town.” They go “You mean the mall?” I was all “No, I mean in the middle of the town.” They were like “Oh, you’ll have to go to Concord for that.”
o tempora! o mores!
Posted by Burt | October 29, 2008 7:40 PM
Posted on October 29, 2008 19:40