siuDE.com

Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: City

When Daniel Harmon Brush rode his horse east from Murphysboro in 1852 he found a flat, one-mile long stretch of wilderness along which the Illinois Central Railroad would soon run.

Brush knew he had found the perfect place to establish a new city - Carbondale.

Within months, Brush and others purchased 360 acres bordering the newly placed railroad. They laid out 172 lots in a rectangle around it, including a large public square, which served as the center of the fledgling city, according to "The Historic Town Square," a booklet prepared by Thomason and Associates Preservation Planners for the Carbondale Development Services Department.

Over the next 155 years, Carbondale grew into the city it is today by surviving depressions, the decline of railroads and the constantly changing dynamics of a small southern town. Throughout the history of the city, the town square remained intact and the railroad continued to serve as the city's focal point.

With the loss of the town square as the economic center of Carbondale, especially between the 1950s and the 1980s, many of the original buildings were razed and the area along the railroad fell into decline.

But a renewed sense of historical preservation and efforts by groups such as Carbondale Main Street have helped revitalize the town square and the Strip - Illinois Avenue between Mill Street and Jackson Street.

Carbondale Main Street Executive Director Roxanne Conley said the renaissance of the Strip has progressed steadily over the past decade, but the perception of it has been slow to change.

"I am bound and determined to change the perception of what so many people think that downtown is dead or that there is nothing here," Conley said.

Hed 2: A checkered past

Carbondale has a rowdy reputation and is well known as the place to find boisterous parties. Whether it was the anti-Vietnam marches led by students from the university in the 1970s or the mostly drunken and sometimes violent Halloween parties throughout the years, the Strip has been the breeding ground for this volatile reputation.

The Strip garnered its moniker because of the large number of bars that traditionally lined either side of Illinois Avenue. Though some such as Merlin's and the American Tap have dissolved, others such as Hangar 9 and Tres Hombres have been mainstays, helping to fuel the party scene reputation.

Doug McDonald, owner of Phoenix Cycle since 1987, said the image of the Strip is typical for any college town.

"In any college town there's going to be a strip with bars, and it's going to be the popular hangout for the kids that are of age to go to those places, or even underage," he said.

Bryan Black, manager of Napa Autoparts, came to Carbondale as a student in 1977. He said it was common for Illinois Avenue to get shut down at 10 p.m. each weekend when parties spilled into the streets.

"Every weekend about 10 o'clock kids took over the Strip and they rerouted traffic around that area," Black said.

After bar goers imbibed a few alcoholic beverages, the Strip turned into a big party, and there was even occasional nudity, he said.

But the party atmosphere did not appeal to everyone in Carbondale.

Carolyn Tschomakoff, owner of Kaleidoscope since 1966, said the student presence on the Strip and the constant partying deterred some from walking around the downtown district.

"A lot of people during the time of the [anti-war] riots began to feel very uncomfortable about coming down to this area," she said.

The image and comfort of the small town avenue took a further hit as Halloween celebrations turned from fun, costume-filled events into dangerous melees. Halloween riots in the 1980s and 1990s brought revelers from all over the Midwest and caused thousands of dollars of damage to local businesses and private property, in addition to feeding the boozed-up brawler reputation of the city.

"It went from being a costume party to being a drunken brawl," McDonald said.

Black, who took part in Halloween festivities as a student, also remembered the violent shift of the celebrations.

"Halloween was a pretty fun thing originally until you start burning cars and doing things like that, and then it's gone too far," he said.

The street parties and disastrous Halloween bashes forced the city to respond, and restrictions were passed to limit Halloween activities in the mid-1990s. The Liquor Control Commission was formed to govern liquor licenses and try to move establishments away from simply being bars.

The city's efforts have calmed the Strip in recent years, but the moniker is still problematic to some.

"I don't like to hear people talking about the Strip, because to me that portrays an image of bars with students hanging out," Tschomakoff said. "There is nothing wrong with that, but we are trying to overcome that image, so I like to think of it as Illinois Avenue and not the Strip."

Hed 3: Destination downtown

The town square, and by extension Illinois Avenue, has been the focal point of Carbondale since its inception. But the Strip has fluctuated in importance and viability over the years. After years of hard partying and a collective sense of disinvestment in the downtown area as residents became more mobile and shopping centers moved to the outskirts of town, the Strip fell into decline.

Randy Johnson, manager of 710 Bookstore, said residents and students alike walked all over the downtown area when he first came to Carbondale in 1981. Now, as mobility has increased, people drive through town and can travel far distances to do their shopping, he said.

"We all face the same thing, and that is you have to convince people every day there is a reason to come to your business," Johnson said.

The Strip went through a long period where it struggled to find its identity as consumer markets changed, but Conley said soul searching is healthy for the business community.

"What good business people do is they continue to adjust to the changing climate of business," she said. "Right now we're in really pretty good shape, we just need to get people to understand that. They have this misconception of what it's like downtown."

Othniel Doolittle, a first year medical student from Carbondale, said he never goes to bars on the Strip and sees the area as a place to grab a bite to eat and do some occasional shopping.

"When I think of the Strip, I just think of some small restaurants and a few shops in that area," Doolittle said.

He said the Strip seems dilapidated and efforts to beautify the downtown area could help make it a more desirable place for residents and students to visit.

Despite some negative sentiments, a veritable downtown revitalization has taken hold in the past decade as empty storefronts have been filled by local businesses and strong efforts from the city and Carbondale Main Street organization have revamped the Strip. Downtown business owners and the city have worked to shed the party image and create a more family friendly atmosphere.

With 168 businesses located in the downtown district, their efforts have been largely successful, but there is more work to be done, Conley said. There are still a few empty buildings and the heavy traffic along Rte. 51 and Rte. 13 hurts passerby business and curb appeal - the welcoming appearance of storefronts and sidewalks, Conley said.

"I think that [improving curb appeal] would help tremendously, in making it a friendly place to be, more community friendly," she said.

The Strip is not just battling heavy traffic and poor curb appeal, however. Assistant City Manager for Economic Development Kevin Baity said there has been a change in consumers from largely students decades ago to daytime shoppers and business professionals today. The town square, which lacked a student presence in Baity's time at the university in the 1980s, has been revitalized largely by appealing to a different consumer base.

"I think that area has been greatly revived and there's a lot of foot traffic down there even during the week," Baity said. "And a lot of it is my age, 40-ish and over, but then we have a younger crowd in there as well."

Andrea Barclay, owner and chef at Global Gourmet, opened her restaurant on the town square three years ago. She said that area has taken on urban renewal and a progressive attitude.

"I think because some of the places here are changing the façade and changing the whole atmosphere of the downtown, it's becoming more of an urban vibe that you can't get anywhere else," she said.

Barclay said the businesses downtown feed off of each other in a positive manner, and increased foot traffic, especially in the last year, has added to the revitalized atmosphere.

"It just got better and better with people using this as the place to come, not just us per say, but just the whole downtown," she said. "There's more to do down here. People can park and they can walk from one place to another."



brandon_augsburg@dailyegyptian.com
536-3311 ext. 262

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