What's your down town like - if you have one?

[perennial]

Had to go to City Hall today - i've been avoiding down town for about 3 months because it's so busy - what a shocker!

Glad to be home now.

What's your downtown like? Do you even have one?

[Cyngbaeld]

Not bad, actually. Historic town square with city hall in center and shops etc around it. If I really need much of anything I have to drive up to Clinton, but I've figured out how to go around and miss the traffic.

[Little Quacker in OR]

The first time we came to the Northwest to survey for a place to "vacation" year around(read reitiredment! LOL)we fell in love with this little town. We kept looking at the whole Northwest but kept coming back here.

No lines at the postoffice..no lines at DMV, just coffee and doughnuts..no lines at the pharmacy..just a table and a sink where you can keep your own coffee cup...at the market someone ALWAYS asks you if you need help finding something and if you do they grab your basket and haul it to where the item is. And..when it rains, someone walks you and your groceries out to the car with an umbrella!


Traffic is seeing a few cars traveling about when I go into town.
And yes, they know your name. LOL

LQ

[mommymushbrain]

My downtown is quite nice, other than the traffic issues. There is an old train depot that has been restored and goes through the mountains. All the old time shops are great. But the traffic is just icky. It's one of those times I am glad those roads are crappy, because it keeps the traffic slow. LOL

[Ross]

We live int eh rural part of Ottawa, we don't have to go near down town to get traffic woes, if you do venture into the inner city the only real problem is parking and yahoo drivers. As cities go its very nice, mostly good people, not unpretty, very clean, and not overly poluted either. Its only pushing a million strong so its not a huge city. I'd rather be just outside it, but you don't always get to choose do you!?

[ibcnya]

"Downtown" is a mainstreet by the river about 8 blocks long. Everything a person needs is there from a grocery store to a drugstore to a library. And of course a couple of taverns. There are no stoplights and in fact the only county in Iowa that has none. Traffic? What traffic.

[Cornhusker]

Downtown here consists of the bank, the post office, grocery store, 2 bars, co-op, our cafe, and the Senior Center. The whole works is overshadowed by the grain elevator, and the west half of Main Street isn't even paved.
Traffic is not an issue.

[Rod Torgeson]

My down town has a post office(very small) with a wood stove for heat, an outside porta-pottie for the postal employee, a fire station and about 5 or 6 houses, that's it. They just paved the road last year. Traffic is not a problem. To do any shopping I travel about 25 miles to The Dalles, Oregon or about the same distance to Hood River, Oregon. If I meet more then a couple of vehicles on the way down the hill(15 miles) to the Columbia River, that's traffic. Rod in Appleton, WA

[Jan Doling]

We don't even have one...just a volunteer fire station and a picnic area at the boat ramp. We drive past 2 on the way to Orlando:

Geneva is a quaint village with a feed store, 2 convenient stores, firestation school and numerous churches and a community center where every club meets sometime during the month.

Old downtown Oviedo has several small stores and a few churches, but best of all are the "Chicken Crossing " signs. Everyone stops for the poultry. the FHP tried to change things, but everyone set them straight...the chickens rule this town! I love it when I pull up to the drive thru at Popeye's and there's a live rooster staring me in the eye...makes me feel guilty for ordering!

[moonwolf]

Good question, brural.

I live north of a village which has a corner gas/convenience store, general store for groceries and some odd variety lumber and such, small post office, the municipal office, community hall and maybe a dozen houses there.
The town east is the 'hub' of about 9,000 population where most of the services are. It's a border town with the sister city of International Falls, Minnesota.
The Canadian side is Fort Frances, and the downtown is about 2 blocks long with several touristy shops, 3 banks, department store, a couple of video/audio stores, barber shop/salon, sporting goods, 2 large drug stores and at the end of that block is the beginnings of the sprawling Pulp and Paper Mill. The edge of downtown is a large Safeway store a business supply store, Sears pick up center, pizza stand, jeans store, donut shop, floral shop, a couple of government service centers, the big post office building and that about sums it up.

[thequeensblessing]

Downtown has two different meanings here. Actual downtown Winchester is a small post office, a couple of churches, 2 gas stations, and an insurance office along with the "downtown" residential area. Downtown covers less then 1/2 mile of main street. No grocery stores or any other stores to speak of. The town hall houses all the local government offices in a tiny old house of about 4 rooms. That includes the police department. Most people refer to Cincinnati as being downtown. Cincy is about 45 miles west of us. DH works in Cincy, and once a month or less often, we drive those 45 miles into "town" to do our shopping.

[antiquestuff]

Well, we have historic buildings that are wonderful but..........where a huge Victorian train station once was (torn down decades ago) there is........a mall-like shopping plaza! Walamrts the dominant store........ruins the whole downtown to me! Then, you go up to Main Street, and, well, wonderful 19th and even a few late 18th century (not colonial) homes in the center..........then at the ends, gas stations, car washes, mcdonalds, etc., and, the other end, pharmacies, more gas stations, etc., and, the newest addition, a Walgreens, for which they tore down several Victorians, some Arts and Crafts, and, true Colonial houses.........the last true Colonials left in the city! Talk about destroying history, especially with those colonial houses! I'll never give that company a cent..........ever! It seems to me that they must have bribed our local gov. officials........apparently, at the meetings about the proposals, everyone who wanted to protect the buildings was basically told to shut up-that they weren't right. That we "need" a new pharmacy. Whatever happened to letting the people decide issues? I hope the place fails..........but it sadly doesn't look like it will now that they have saturated the market with cheap prices! Sadly, there is another pharmacy up the road, one accross from walgreens, another around the corner, and a dozen more in the city! Didn't need another for sure.......okay, I've just ranted here! Sorry, but my downtown is ruined everytime I turn around for "progress". This city looks beautiful in old pictures, now it looks like trash. Big box stores everywhere, and talk about dirty and bad traffic....I'm glad I plan to leave in a few years!

[Montana Mom]

Its a little "T" shaped street, typical small town downtown with courthouse, city hall, a couple of eateries, a hardware store, gas station, farm implements, several specialty shops, 3 realtors, 2 mortuaries, and 2 banks.

Suits me fine.

[seedspreader]

Town of 25K (closer to 30 now) Medina.

Historic Downtown Victorian Style.




3 Sides of the central square look like this


The Gazebo in the center of the square.


View of the Historic Courthouse from the Gazebo in the square. (the 4th side of the square is the legal district as Medina is the county seat)


A.I. Root Homestead (The guy famous for making beekeeping a profitable industry.)

[perennial]

zealrouthguy,

What a beautiful town! Gorgeous architecture.

I'm finding it very interesting to hear what all your downtown's are like. On a day like today when it's snowing, I sit here and pretend that i'm in the country (for now) and pretend that every store you can imagine is within 10 minutes away.

You will all probably laugh, but i even order on line when i know that i can just drive to a store. I figure it's alot more enjoyable to order it and if i go the mall, the budget is blown.

We don't live near the downtown, but within 2 minutes is hardware store, gas stations, mcdonalds, two large shopping plazas, starbucks, etc. Hospital is 8 minutes away if not in a huge hurry. The so-called real downtown takes 20 minutes to get to with traffic and all.

It's amazing how it all seems not to exist if i just stay put at home.


Let me hear about more of your downtowns. If there isn't alot what do you wish there was and what you might not like.

[milkstoolcowboy]

Closest town is maybe 50 or so people left. Main street (only one that is paved) has: creamery/feed store (open), feed mill/elevator (open), hog buying station (open) Lutheran church (open for business on Sundays) and repair shop (open). Closed are the following: bar, gas station, grocery store, bank, post office, appliance store, dance hall and restaurant.

The main street is almost 200 feet wide and they push the snow up in the middle of the street in the winter.

A bit farther away is a town of about 800 with a 3-block long main street that has grocery store, couple gas stations, 3 churches, high school, bank, hardware store, barber shop, beauty shop, drug store, two restaurants, bar, liquor store, elevator+feed mill, post office. It's a pretty good little town and about 8 miles away.

Was in the service (early 1950s) with a guy from Wyoming who told me closest town was 70+ miles away and was 18 miles to mail box.

[Kathy in MD]

http://www.southbaltimore.com/cards/Downtown.jpg


Any one want to trade????

[susie snowflake]

Youth Zeal Guy--I had to go back to see where you were from after I looked at your pictures to make sure your weren't from our lovely town of Paso Robles, CA! We are about 23 - 25k people and our downtown is similar to yours. Our park in the center of town also has a gazebo/bandstand and the architecture is very similar. One difference here is that a few of our most historic buildings were torn down after a 6.5 earthquake about a year ago. That earthquake also opened a sulfur spring under the city hall parking lot that they have been unable to re-cap! So our town now has an "interesting" aroma!

[NancyinArkansas]

I live in a small town of 4500 but it is not a wonderful place-i am glad we live in the country-we have a tysons chicken plant here and the mexicans have taken it over- they drive without licences or insurance and the paper is ful of their fines .they live 20 to a trailor and trash is all over-now one of our radio stations is going mexican in FEB.- for the first time they have overtaken the anglos in births-they go in bunches and get all the free benefits because they dont own anything-I have one more child to graduate in a year and i hope to get out of here and move up north--you cant even get a job as a teachers aid here unless you speak spanish--well enough of that--when we moved here 35 years ago-it was a great town but in the last few years-we have been taken over--Nancy

[Rick]

Hey Kathy

That looks alot like (C)harm City!

If you move the camera two shots to the left- to the old monkey wards building in Pigtown- that is the area where I spend half of my time- Monday through Friday.

No more than 5 1/2 years left in the city though. I am hoping to cut the cords within 1 to 2 years, by taking a reduced pension (and wait 13 years to start getting it).