Post by David Sechrest on May 31, 2006 14:50:53 GMT -5
The most drastic change to our downtown began in the early 1960's. Death Valley cleaned up. The demolition of entire corridors along Jackson Street, Washington Street, and others entirely changed the face of our downtown area. The demolition of the entire city block where the Commons Mall is today destroyed many historic buildings. One of Columbus' earliest Opera Houses was demolished, as well as public eye-sores. With the building of the Commons Mall, Jackson Street no longer continued on south of 4th Street, and Jackson Street probably saw the most loss of buildings from 2nd Street up to 8th. Railroad tracks, which ran smack dab in the middle of Jackson, were taken out. It's hard to imagine Jackson Street lined with businesses and homes, yet it once was. Places like the Columbus Motel, Everroads Garage, a host of bars and taverns, and homes came under the city's desire to "spruce up the place." The demolition of Jackson Street homes and businesses didn't stop at 8th Street, but continued on north, wiping out many old shotgun style homes that sat on the west side. My family lived in one of those homes when I was very young. In fact, just about every Jackson St. home was demolished from an area just north of the back of the old Roviar Building on the corner of Washington and 12th St. The old railroad switching yard, which was located just west of Jackson Street (more or less behind the old Roviar building), was relocated. One of the few places not demolished was the old Cerealine Building, which was incorporated into the overall design of Cummins headquarters.
If I remember correctly, 11th Street had yet to run west of Jackson. If you wanted to catch Highway 31-A (State Road 11), you drove to 8th Street, headed west, and picked it up on the other side of the railroad tracks.
The redevelopment project ran well into the 1980's, with Cummins headquarters being the final touch.
Did downtown Columbus gain a lot through this redevelopment? Well, it made for a more attractive looking downtown area. But what role did the redevelopment play in the fate of our downtown area as a major shopping area? If you look around today, not much was added in the way of attracting businesses. Instead, large chunks of business properties changed to parking lots, headquarters (Cummins), industry (The Republic building), city county buildings, a jail, and more parking lots. The downtown lost scores of stores and businesses. Penneys Department Store pulled out of downtown and relocated in Columbus Center (where Office Max is today). Sears moved from Washington Street to the Commons Mall around 1973 when the Mall opened its doors.
Downtown also lost a large number of residential places during this time, which most likely affected the downtown shopping demographics.
The redevelopment was definitely a push to change our downtown. I'm sure it could be argued that it was only a matter of time before more and more shopping centers would be built, thus driving the commercial aspects to our suburbs. But these changes beginning in the 1960's didn't do much to enhance businesses to locate downtown either.
To see some of the changes, be sure to check out the Downtown Pictures: 1966 link on the Historic Columbus Indiana website www.historiccolumbusindiana.org/redevpro/redevpics.htm
If I remember correctly, 11th Street had yet to run west of Jackson. If you wanted to catch Highway 31-A (State Road 11), you drove to 8th Street, headed west, and picked it up on the other side of the railroad tracks.
The redevelopment project ran well into the 1980's, with Cummins headquarters being the final touch.
Did downtown Columbus gain a lot through this redevelopment? Well, it made for a more attractive looking downtown area. But what role did the redevelopment play in the fate of our downtown area as a major shopping area? If you look around today, not much was added in the way of attracting businesses. Instead, large chunks of business properties changed to parking lots, headquarters (Cummins), industry (The Republic building), city county buildings, a jail, and more parking lots. The downtown lost scores of stores and businesses. Penneys Department Store pulled out of downtown and relocated in Columbus Center (where Office Max is today). Sears moved from Washington Street to the Commons Mall around 1973 when the Mall opened its doors.
Downtown also lost a large number of residential places during this time, which most likely affected the downtown shopping demographics.
The redevelopment was definitely a push to change our downtown. I'm sure it could be argued that it was only a matter of time before more and more shopping centers would be built, thus driving the commercial aspects to our suburbs. But these changes beginning in the 1960's didn't do much to enhance businesses to locate downtown either.
To see some of the changes, be sure to check out the Downtown Pictures: 1966 link on the Historic Columbus Indiana website www.historiccolumbusindiana.org/redevpro/redevpics.htm
