Yesterday … and Today
“In River Park [in 1940] informal socializing
spilled out into the street and into places of
commerce … The more gregarious or less busy
citizen might take an hour to negotiate one
block of Main Street, for there were always a
good many people walking or lounging along
it during daylight hours. … The old-timers
liked nothing better than to talk with the more
active people of the community and keep up
on things.
If one were to visit River Park today, one
would see quite a different place from that
which existed in 1940. … The people are largely
gone from the street now, as are the physical
amenities that earlier accommodated them.
The architecture of Main Street has
changed noticeably. The earlier storefronts featured
large windows and the majority of them
had outdoor seating, in most cases integral to
their architecture. Wide steps and Kasota stone
slabs that flanked the entrances were heavily
used by those who found them cool places to
sit in the summer. … Large windows and the
encouragement to lounge at the portals combined
to unify indoors and out and to encourage
a ‘life on the street’ as well. That outdoor
seating is all but gone now. The new storefronts
are tight against the street and their
much smaller windows allow little seeing in
or seeing out.”