DOWNTOWN! Part Three

The 100 Block of North Main Street

"Fish fowl flood Water lily mud My life"  ~Lorine Niedecker

If I were to say to you "the 100 block of North Main Street," would you know where I meant? Me neither. If I said, "the corner of Sherman Avenue and North Main," you might have a better idea, but you wouldn't know which of the four corners I was talking about. Neither would I. But if I said "the corner where the Lorine Niedecker poem is painted..." Aha! Then you'd know exactly where I was talking about. This photo, (above) looking south, shows the northern-most building on the 100 block of North Main Street, formerly Honey Bear's Tavern (as well as many others over the years!) And this begins the subject of Part Three of my DOWNTOWN! blog: The 100 block of North Main Street. The Lorine Niedecker mural is relatively new (as I write this). It's only been up for a few years. To the left (circular inset) is a photo taken back in the 1970s or 80s, before the poem was painted. And I believe -- correct me if my memory forsakes me -- but before that, there was a Pepsi ad painted on this wall which read, "Say Pepsi Please!" (Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) The image to the right is computer generated, based on my memory, but I will certainly be on the lookout for an actual photo from that era. Currently this building houses The Filling Station Bar and Grill.

The East Side of the Street : the 100 block of North Main

Above is a 1960 view of the 100 block. On the extreme left of the photo, you can see the front of the building where the Loraine Niedecker poem is painted, the current Filling Station. Next to that, where the sign says "Eat" is The Eat-Mor, (I already made the joke elsewhere in this blog that "Mor" must've come later.) And of course the old Uptown Theater and the old Sears Store, both of which remained well into the 1970s.

Fun With Mouse-Overs #1

Mouse-overs are images that change when you roll your mouse over them. In this blog you will find several images that you can roll your mouse over and view Before and After shots of the same scene, 100 years apart. (This is about the only internet "trick" I can do.) (I'm over 50, dontchyaknow!) Those of you using them newfangled hand-held "Smarty Phones" I have no idea how these images work. I'm not part of the "Touch-Screen" generation yet... For now, use your mouse.

The west side of the 100 block of North Main today. Roll mouse over image to see similar view a century ago.

In this 2013 photo, above, you can still see part of The Filling Station to the extreme left, and the modern day Eat-Mor next to that, but this is mainly a view of the west side of the street, looking south towards the Municipal Building. Roll the mouse over this image to see a similar view over 100 years prior.

It's hard to imagine, sitting at the Eat-Mor, or The Filling Station, or Kit-Cho Japanese Restaurant, and hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves as they pull a wagon down the dirt road that was Main Street. Notice, in the rollover image, that this is a transitional-period photo with horse and wagon on the right side of the street, heading south, and one of them newfangled horseless carriages parked on the corner on the left side. Notice too that most of the stores and establishments had hitching posts out front, (someday soon to be replaced with parking meters.)

Fun With Mouse-Overs #2

Another 2013 photo from a slightly different angle. Roll mouse over this image for antiquated view.

Here's another fun set of "Now and Then" photos (above) of a slightly different angle of the 100 block of North Main Street, also looking south. See the taco truck on the right side of the bridge way down the street? Rollover this image to see similar view from a century ago.

Fun With Mouse-Overs #3

The former Wilson's store. The W above the two center windows was a Wilson's monogram.

Honestly, I don't know what the PR stands for on the balconies. (More as it develops...)

The southernmost building on the east side of the 100 block of North Main Street is shown above (I nearly got every direction in that sentence!) It was at one time the Wilson's store. Rollover this image for a view from 50 years earlier...

The rollover view of this building dates from around the late 1950s or early 1960s. The car in the photo is a 1959 Ford, so... that's what I'm basing my asumption on. Mannequins in the front display window of the building imply that this was a fashion store, but I'm unsure if it was Wilson's back then. Notice Arndt's Bakery where Kreuger Jewelry is now and behind Arndt's sign you can barely see the marquee of the old Uptown Theater. I can't quite make out what movie was playing, but maybe someday if I find a bigger photo I'll be able to read it.

And speaking of the taco wagon...

Prank photo of the Main Street Bridge taco wagon, late 1800s. 

You don't really believe there was a taco wagon on the Main Street Bridge in the 1800s, do you? Well, I had some people fooled... "But they didn't have Photoshop in 1899!" ~Anon.

 Stay Tuned... There's More to Come... 

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