MAIN STREETS V

Dennisville, New Jersey 1988

MAIN STREET IV

West, Texas 1986

MAIN STREETS III

Goshen, Utah 1987

MAIN STREETS II

Mansfield, Pennsylvania 1987

MAIN STREETS

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.