Whatever Happened to Main Street? From My Backyard History Book by David Weitzman Does your town have a Main Street, a Center Street, a First Avenue or an "A'' Street? If it does, I'll bet it's the oldest looking street in town. And, if you were to look closely for dates on the cornerstones and arches along that street, you'd find that it's lined with some of the first buildings ever built in your city. Say, come to think of it, why have those streets got names like that when they're so far off the beaten path? I hardly ever go there. You don't, and chances are they're not the main street, center street, or first avenue any more. But they once were. The city council may have already made plans to tear down the old part of town; it's so dingy, so colorless compared to the new, thriving downtown. No doubt there are already empty lots between the old buildings, filled with the broken bricks and rubble of a once colorful life. So before it's too late, take a walk down Main Street, and take a stroll into the past. Here on Main Street you can close your eyes and imagine the sounds; old cars putt-putting and beep-beeping their way down streets filled with the noise of horses, clanging trolley cars, and clattering carts. On the sidewalks there are women in long skirts and high-top shoes, and a bustle of workers in overalls, and clerks in stiff collars and vests. Here you can begin to understand something of your town's history if you watch carefully for the small but unmistakable bits of the past .... cobblestones showing through the pavement glimpses of old trolley tracks an iron drinking trough for horses with a little bubbly fountain for people elaborate cast-iron lampposts gas lamps jutting out from old brick building fronts little fire hydrants This is where it all began. Perhaps being here, you can discover by yourself how your town began. Like people, towns have a birth, a youth, maturity, and old age. Like people, towns also have personalities; they are serious and they laugh. Cared for, they flourish; unloved and neglected, they perish. But unlike people, who sort of grow in every direction at once, towns tend to start at one point and grow outward. There are any number of ways a town gets started. Lots of towns have railroad tracks running right through them. And there, just off Main Street, is the old yellow and brown station calling our attention to its role in the town's growth. It's probably very quiet now. Go take a look inside its windows and let your imagination take you back into the past Seventy or a hundred years ago that station stood alone, nothing for miles around; alone, that is, until the cattle drives began and thousands of head of cattle arrived for shipment by train to the slaughterhouses in the big city. Then, over the years, things changed. Bigger cattle pens were built. Hotels and saloons popped up, as did general stores, banks, firms that bought and sold cattle, and, of course, houses for all the people running these businesses. Soon manufacturers arrived to take advantage of the access to the railroad, and the town gradually became a large transportation and manufacturing center, with more houses and stores. So, the city grows out and away from its reason for being - the railroad tracks. Other cities began as transportation centers too, but of a different kind- ships and shipping. These towns grew around the wharfs and docks along rivers, or around natural harbors on the sea coast . Even today, you can see the pattern of growth of river and seaport towns when you walk away from the port's docks and notice how the city becomes newer and newer the farther out you get. And still another kind of city started at a crossroads. It began with a gas station, then a restaurant and a bus stop, then a general store, and then - when a lot of the people who got off the busses didn't get back on- some houses, churches, and schools. And there are still other kinds of beginnings for cities. There are university towns, manufacturing cities, county seats, state capitals, and mining towns. More recently, whole cities have grown around recreation areas and retirement communities. Now, does that give you any ideas on how your town began and why? It may be a little difficult to tell just what the original purpose of your city was: things have changed so much. ( For example, because railroads are not as important as they used to be, many railroad towns may have changed colors and become manufacturing towns. If you don't come up with an answer right away, there are some suggestions coming up for finding out more about the history of where you live, preserving some of that past, and most important, enjoying being where you are.

*This lesson plan was adapted from My Backyard History Book by David Weitzman.

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