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In 1950, the classic American downtown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, centered on the six blocks of Main Street, was the bustling commercial heart of central Montgomery County, and had been for over a century. With depression and war in the past, downtown merchants looked forward to an extended period of prosperity. It was not to be.
By 1975, downtown's core stood largely shuttered and deteriorating, with 99 storefronts vacant and countless others lost to the wrecking ball, as first shoppers and then the merchants fled Main Street.
What Killed Downtown? Was it...
- The Malls? Commercial wisdom points to the King of Prussia Mall as the prime suspect. But were there accomplices?
- Municipal Government? The Main Street merchants always believed that the Borough Council was the culprit--and with good reason.
- The Downtown Merchants themselves? Did the shopholders blind themselves, then step into the firing line, ignoring the threats of a changing world?
- Or was it something else...something more fundamental?
Historian Michael E. Tolle's extensive research into the collapse of downtown Norristown reveals not only the answers to these questions, but also recreates the classic American downtown shopping experience, long an American characteristic, but now largely foreign to anyone below middle age. In so doing, Tolle lays bare the fundamental incompatibility between the urban grid and the automobile, as he recounts how a middle-sized American city struggled -- and failed -- to solve the the issues of traffic flow and parking, issues that are no closer to solution today, regardless of the size of the city.
- Sales Rank: #1697080 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Michael E. Tolle
- Published on: 2012-12-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .67" w x 6.00" l, .87 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 294 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
About the Author
After earning a B.S.F.S. (Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service) from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Michael E. Tolle spent a year studying the Vietnamese language before serving two years in Viet Nam with the Agency for International Development (USAID), as an Assistant Relief/Rehabilitation Advisor to the Vietnamese government’s refugee program. Upon returning to the United States, he and his wife Barbara settled in the riverside community of Port Indian, just upriver from Norristown (and downriver from Valley Forge), Pennsylvania. He was in succession a carpentry contractor and energy conservation consultant before entering into the most satisfying phase of his life, providing the primary care to his two sons. He will always be most proud of his efforts during this time. As circumstances allowed, Michael earned a M.A. in History at Villanova University, then began teaching history at local colleges, including both Montgomery County and Delaware County Community Colleges. His involvement with the Historical Society of Montgomery County provided him with much of the primary research material for this, his first book. After enduring the highly varied weather of Southeastern Pennsylvania for over thirty years, he and his wife currently reside in San Francisco, California, which experiences neither winter nor summer.
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Gone, but not forgotten.
By Jeanne C. hoff
Once upon a time, there was a small town in Southeastern Pennsylvania, a lovely place, the county seat. It had good schools, wonderful stores from which to buy everything we needed. My friends and I walked to school, played in the streets with our neighbors from all walks of life. When we were children, we didn't know the town was dying around us. We didn't know about corrupt politicians and lack of parking spaces. We remember the parades, the little league games, the Christmas decorations downtown, the window-painting contest in the stores in the West End shops, the championship high school sports teams. My sister's wedding reception was in The Valley Forge Hotel, as was our parents' 30 years before. We loved this town, but now it is gone. Well, not technically. There is still the court house, and there are still buildings standing, but downtown, as we remember it, is gone, and the old neighborhoods are changed beyond recognition. Children no longer walk to school. Store windows are boarded up, and the parking garages stand virtually empty because, as Michael Tolle's book ends, it turns out that all that was needed to end the parking problem was to eliminate the need to come into the town in the first place. Downtown Norristown is on life support. No one yet knows in what condition it will survive.
But, you see, this could be anytown USA, it could be your town, a place where factories closed, malls took the customers away from downtown stores. What happened in Norristown is not isolated to this town. It happened in lots of towns. Some few of them rose again like a Phoenix. It is doubtful if that will happen to Norristown.
Thank you, Michael, for writing an exquisite book that brings back wonderful memories of life in the town we loved, even though we know the book has a sad ending. 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
You're Driving It
By Jerry Spinelli
Maybe only a hometown junkie would read every word of this finely detailed autopsy, but in its own way WHAT KILLED DOWNTOWN? is a remarkable whodunit. Impressive research went into the compiling of how a classic American downtown slid from the center of a county's commerce into oblivion. In 1950 Main Street, Norristown, PA, bustled with shoppers, department stores, prospering merchants, and no fewer than four movie theaters. By 1975 it was dead. Why? You don't need to read the book to take a good guess: the automobile. Which led to highways. Which led to malls. Which killed downtown. There were other guilty parties as well, but knowing the culprits and knowing the sad outcome make this 20th century tale no less compelling.
This insightful study is all the more remarkable because the author never, so far as I know, lived in Norristown. And yet he writes with a genuine affection and compassion surely absent in the typical coroner's suite. In the end the author pens a loving epitaph for Main Street, America. Of Main Street's successor, he notes: "No one swept the patch of mall tiles in front of Sears, then leaned on the broom to tell passing shoppers about the great deal in aisle four."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
What Killed Downtown (Norristown, PA and many other downtowns across the country)
By James Palermo
What Killed Downtown is a look at the evolution of central business district of Norristown, PA. Founded before the Revolutionary War, the town came to be because of its location on the Schuylkill River and grew to be a regional shopping destination with the arrival of the railroads. However, in the 1950s the CBD slowly declined with the choking traffic and congestion brought on by the growing popularity of the automobile, the linking of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Schuylkill Expressway to Philadelphia and the coming of first suburban shopping centers and then enclosed regional shopping malls in nearby King of Prussia and Plymouth Township. While looking exclusively at Norristown, the reader will find parallels to almost any pre-WWII CBD. I see similarities to the town I grew up in (Suffern, NY) and the town I live in (La Grange, IL). Though the book ends in 1975, it is a great read for urban planners, elected official, real estate developers any anyone else interested in the history and revitalization of close in suburban downtowns.
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