Time Warp Towns

[LizzieMaine]

The single biggest factor in decimating older portions of American cities and towns was the so-called "urban renewal" movement of the sixties and early seventies -- where perfectly serviceable old buildings and facilities were demolished en masse to better reflect the car-oriented culture of the time. The result was the loss of innumerable commercial downtowns, and their replacement by repulsive concrete-brutalist office parks, shopping plazas, and parking lots.

Here, we lost our 1870s-vintage post office/custom house in 1970 in favor of a parking lot and a faceless concrete/fake brick bunker of a "Federal Building" across the street. Entire side streets in the downtown area were leveled for parking lots around the same time. Thousands of towns experienced a similar decimation thanks to the "vison" of urban planners and Robert Moses disciples who had no vision at all.

We still have our 1860s-era courthouse, though, which is still impressive even with the eye-bruising addition they stuck onto the side of it a few years back. And we have a deco-influenced public recreation building put up by the WPA in 1935 that's one of my favorite structures in town.

 

[David Conwill]

The single biggest factor in decimating older portions of American cities and towns was the so-called "urban renewal" movement of the sixties and early seventies -- where perfectly serviceable old buildings and facilities were demolished en masse to better reflect the car-oriented culture of the time. The result was the loss of innumerable commercial downtowns, and their replacement by repulsive concrete-brutalist office parks, shopping plazas, and parking lots.

Here, we lost our 1870s-vintage post office/custom house in 1970 in favor of a parking lot and a faceless concrete/fake brick bunker of a "Federal Building" across the street. Entire side streets in the downtown area were leveled for parking lots around the same time. Thousands of towns experienced a similar decimation thanks to the "vison" of urban planners and Robert Moses disciples who had no vision at all.

We still have our 1860s-era courthouse, though, which is still impressive even with the eye-bruising addition they stuck onto the side of it a few years back. And we have a deco-influenced public recreation building put up by the WPA in 1935 that's one of my favorite structures in town.

Is there a "hitting the nail on the head" emoticon to use here?

One needs to look no further than Saginaw, Michigan to see that short sightedness and the blight it has created. There's hardly a tenth of the walkable infrastructure left on the east side that existed pre-WWII.

In Detroit the only thing stopping a whole lot more of that kind of "progress" is lack of money. As a poster on the DetroitYES message board recently put it - "they want to make downtown look like Big Beaver Road", which is an entirely post-1960s sprawl area in Oakland County.

Urban areas shouldn't try to be suburbs - they're never successful, and they lose what makes them great in the process.

-Dave

 

[John in Covina]

Watched an overly simplistic show on planning communities on P-BS TV.

Planners today have "new ideas" which actually harken back to the some old ones. They discovered that small towns and inner city communities that are viable have the right mix of living areas, shops and businesses as a hub that's pretty much within walking distance for the majority of the community it supports.

 

[1961MJS]

Watched an overly simplistic show on planning communities on P-BS TV.

Planners today have "new ideas" which actually harken back to the some old ones. They discovered that small towns and inner city communities that are viable have the right mix of living areas, shops and businesses as a hub that's pretty much within walking distance for the majority of the community it supports.

Unfortunately some of the planners (Wichita's and the Disney town for example) attempt to FORCE walking by getting rid of parking (Wichita) or streets (Disney). The City of Wichita is entirely focused on DOWNTOWN, to the detriment of the rest of the place.

You also need to add recreation to the list of "right mix". Wichita bulldozed 4-10 (don't remember) baseball diamonds in about 1985 to make way for a wildlife refuge and didn't replace the baseball diamonds, so the kids on my side of town have a 10 mile drive either West or South to play baseball. The kids on the other side of town have a 15 mile plus drive to the soccer complex (5 miles out of town past me), neither has a bus route to it. You can walk forever in the refuge, but no skates, bikes, or playing ball (obviously).

Later

 

[Gene]

We still have our 1860s-era courthouse, though, which is still impressive even with the eye-bruising addition they stuck onto the side of it a few years back. And we have a deco-influenced public recreation building put up by the WPA in 1935 that's one of my favorite structures in town.

Lizzie, my town has to be the epicenter for stupid-minded people. New Albany, Indiana which is my hometown was the epitome of small-town charm up until around the 1980's when the Mayor and city council decided that all those "old buildings" needed to be torn down for...wait for it...extra parking spaces!!! Yes, parking spaces including demolishing a turn-of-the-century opera house for a parking garage that never gets used! Why? Because the downtown quickly became a ghost town and everyone moved outside the city limits where they put the Meijer, Wal-Mart and chain restaurants. Smart thinkin'!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

They keep tearing down around here, too. Pardeeville lost a beautiful old church a couple months ago, just a couple blocks from me. We lost our historic Hill Ford dealership, built in the 1910's, which now is just a vacant lot, numerous old houses, and the beautiful Portage Woolen Mills, which is now 'greenspace' I just don't get it.

 

[Mr. Hallack]

Well despite how much of Rockland has been torn down for parking lots and ugly buildings (I still have a hard time with the city tearing down the old post office) it still has more history preserved than my old home town of Simi Valley, California. Granted 60+ years ago there were only a few shops, the rest was farm land. Now there is literally no farm land left (and I remember as a kid still a few active farms) The whole city is nothing but surburbia, housing tracts, strip malls, now a new outdoor mall, and that is about it. It doesn't even have a downtown at all, never did that I remember. It considered to be a safe city and will have to agree. But I also consider it to be one of the most bland, souless places I've ever been.

 

[Chas]

Pretty soon the only "old town" areas will be in small towns where the economies aren't strong.

Less $$ for "development", you see. Talk about an oxymoron...."development". It's not just the vintage nuts that like "that old building", either. A lot of people do, but they aren't holding the cards.

including demolishing a turn-of-the-century opera house for a parking garage that never gets used! Why? Because the downtown quickly became a ghost town and everyone moved outside the city limits where they put the Meijer, Wal-Mart and chain restaurants. Smart thinkin'!

What's up with city council? They had to approve the zone change didn't they? Didn't they know that EVERYBODY wants to live closer to the IHOP, Denny's and Wal Mart. Who needs old buildings when you can bundle your fat butt and your 3 overweight children into the minivan to drive two blocks to Wal Mart so you can buy frozen pizza?

It's endemic, it happens all over. Some years ago there was practically a riot in Buenos Aries when they tore down an old jazz club to make room for condos.

 

[rotebander]

On a lighter note, here in Florida, Deland has retained a good portion of it's gorgeous downtown buildings, and lately it's been doing quite well. Even though it's quite a drive out, it's a very fun Saturday shopping trip.

My favorite building:

And right next to Deland, we've got the teeny-tiny area of Lake Helen, which retained some gorgeous 19th century houses.

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

I know there's quite a few of these towns, especially in the South. I especially like them when they still function as a town center, and not as a chi-chi district. (Sorry Franklin, I still love you!)
My home town of Versailles, KY is still nice..

And Murfreesboro, TN is pretty good.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

The house my mom grew up in, was one of the oldest in Menomonee Falls, built in the 1840s or so. The house next door, where my Uncle lives, was built by my Grandfather and Great-Grandfather in 1956. My uncle recently petitioned for both houses to be demolished for condo construction! The owners of the fieldstone farmhouse are trying to get the place on the National Registry of Historic Places. I am really hoping they do and am GREATLY disappointed in the heartlessness of my own uncle who has been in that location all his life.

 

[Tomasso]

The house my mom grew up in, was one of the oldest in Menomonee Falls.

Did she know the swindler?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

They keep tearing down around here, too. Pardeeville lost a beautiful old church a couple months ago, just a couple blocks from me. We lost our historic Hill Ford dealership, built in the 1910's, which now is just a vacant lot, numerous old houses, and the beautiful Portage Woolen Mills, which is now 'greenspace' I just don't get it.

Once there was an old residential neighborhood with some lovely bungalows from the 1920s and 30s near Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in Garden Grove. Sometime in the '70s the entire neighborhood was torn down to make way for a senior center. For some reason the plans fell through and the senior center was never built, leaving the area vacant for some 25 years. For years you could still see the old streets, sidewalks and the driveways of the long demolished houses. Finally the city sold the land and now there's a McDonalds and a community college.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

No, it's likely developers from Milwaukee, as the Falls is where a lot of the better off folks who work in the city live these days.

Did she know the swindler?

Stuff like this makes me really sad. I was sitting in the parking lot at the plant yesterday, thinking of the 5 blocks of old houses that were torn down in the 1960s to build the place.

Once there was an old residential neighborhood with some lovely bungalows from the 1920s and 30s near Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in Garden Grove. Sometime in the '70s the entire neighborhood was torn down to make way for a senior center. For some reason the plans fell through and the senior center was never built, leaving the area vacant for some 25 years. For years you could still see the old streets, sidewalks and the driveways of the long demolished houses. Finally the city sold the land and now there's a McDonalds and a community college.

 

[David Conwill]

Once there was an old residential neighborhood with some lovely bungalows from the 1920s and 30s near Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in Garden Grove. Sometime in the '70s the entire neighborhood was torn down to make way for a senior center. For some reason the plans fell through and the senior center was never built, leaving the area vacant for some 25 years. For years you could still see the old streets, sidewalks and the driveways of the long demolished houses. Finally the city sold the land and now there's a McDonalds and a community college.

The current home of the Chevy Volt has a similar story behind it. GM Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly is commonly known as “Poletown” to those familiar with its history and the legal decision that came from its conversion to a factory site.

Before 1981, the 362 acre site of the assembly plant was a stable, well-integrated neighborhood home to a large Polish community of 4200. Those familiar with Detroit and Hamtramck today will be aware of how rare a commodity such a neighborhood has become in those cities.

The city of Detroit, under the administration of Mayor Coleman A. Young, acquired the entire neighborhood including 1,400 homes, several churches, 140 businesses, and the old Dodge Main factory through eminent domain. Five years of protests and court battles followed, with the litigation eventually working its way up to the Michigan Supreme Court, which sided with the city; ruling that it was acceptable for a government body to use eminent domain for the benefit of a private entity (General Motors), in the hope of realizing some benefit to itself. It was the same reasoning that led to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London where Pfizer stood in for GM. The Michigan Supreme Court has since reversed itself, and a referendum prohibiting such takings passed a few years ago.

Probably the saddest ongoing story from the Poletown erasure is that of an old Jewish cemetery called Beth Olem. The cemetery remains on plant grounds with a block wall around it and visitation is limited to twice a year on the Sundays preceding Rosh Hashana and Passover.

At least Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly is still in operation. It would really compound the tragedy if this once-vibrant neighborhood had become just another abandoned factory in the space of thirty years.

-Dave

 

[Tomasso]

No, it's likely developers from Milwaukee, as the Falls is where a lot of the better off folks who work in the city live these days.

I was referring to this chiseller , whose firm was based in the Falls for 30 years.

 

[Mr Vim]

Juneau and it's architecture is in a serious time warp, I have a few photos I can post but I'm still waiting for a sunny day where I can take a few more.

I'll post what I have later today after some sleep. Night shifts are tough.

 

[plain old dave]

Couple nominees:

Oliver Springs, TN. Dressed up for "October Sky" but not much. Some of the store fronts are still as they were changed for the movie.

Clinton, TN.

Here. Oak Ridge. The majority of the homes are WW2 surplus, built for the Manhattan Project, and the East End shopping center, Jackson Square, is still going relatively strong.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Does that mean you're one of the Oak Ridge Boys? lol I'm sure you hear that plenty.

Here. Oak Ridge.

 

[Mr Vim]

Sorry for the delay, here are the photos I have of Juneau. You can see a lot of Art Deco architecture...