Strong Towns

7Productive Places

A few blocks from my home there is a restaurant with several historic photos hanging on the wall. I’ve seen them many times but had never stopped to look closely at them, until one day I was waiting for a table and my eyes lingered on a photo of a circus parade passing through a historic downtown. It was a fantastic scene.

The stagecoaches were traveling in procession down the middle of the dirt street. Crowds had turned out to watch the spectacle; they were standing on the wooden walkways, lining the public realm. The men were wearing suits and hats while some of the women had parasols. A few kids ventured out into the street, many holding hands with an adult.

As a person, I loved the energy of the space, but as an urban planner, I also marveled at the design. The buildings lined up to create a strong edge. They were perfectly spaced across the street at the just the right ratios to create that sense of place. The structures themselves were grand: two and three stories with strong vertical proportions and pleasant symmetry, all with subtle ornamentation. The stores opened onto the street, with large windows, sometimes covered with awnings and balconies.

I was in awe of this place, and then I realized it was a photo of my hometown from 1904. A handwritten inscription near the top read, “West Front Street, Brainerd Minn.” It was a street I knew well. Yet, while Front Street was a mere block from where this photo hung, the image I was looking at was a world ...