Dayton, Nevada 1986
Back in the mid-1980's, as I was traveling cross country, I became interested in how many towns had Main Streets. Throughout my wandering I began thinking that this one commonality was one of the things the defined us as a unique people and culture. Of course, there are many towns with no such named street. In fact, it is not even the most common name for streets in this country according the US Census Bureau. Main Street comes in at #7 behind #1-Second St, #2-Third St., #3-First St., #4-Fourth St, #5-Park, and #6-Fifth St. And in many towns, Main Street is not the main street of the town. In many river towns, often Front or River or First Street are the main street. Still, Main Streets are a fairly unique North American, and specifically United States, icon. A few Main Streets can be found in Canada, but not really anywhere else.
2 comments:
Interesting observation. I often thought it odd there are so many "First" Baptist Churches. Not everybody can be "First" but many of them claim to be..lol
Interesting, where I live in Hudson Falls, we have a Main St. but the village next to us has Broadway and no Main St.
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