Honoring the Past, Building a Future
I watch a lot of the videos of lawn clean-ups and repost some on my Main Street Facebook page. With the right equipment, one or more people find a neglected, overgrown yard and offer, for free, to reclaim the property. The results are always remarkable. In a matter of hours the transformation lifts more than … Continue reading Hope Shows Up on Branch Street: Rocky Mount NC
109 S.E. Main Street (c. 1907) A two-story brick commercial building on S.E. Main, immediately south of the 1918 Rocky Mount National Bank. Historic forms describe a pilastered upper façade with round-arched second-story openings over a storefront, a look typical of Main Street construction just after 1900. Over time, alterations (a replacement storefront, bricked-in arches, … Continue reading The Steadfast Face of Main Street’s Historic Core-#3
A two-story brick commercial building was constructed circa 1917 for I. W. Rose. It housed Rose Drug Store and remained in operation in that location at least through 1980, making it one of the longest continuously operating drugstores in Rocky Mount’s Central Business District. Built by contractor R. T. Fountain, the structure reflected the optimism … Continue reading The Dentist Upstairs: Circa 1917 – #2
Happy September. I hope your labor day weekend was great. If you missed the Labor Day post of Monday, The Safety in Neighborhoods on September 2, and on September 4 this new blog on power washing, you have some catching up to do. All on Mainstreetrockymount.com
Stand on one of the streets in Wards 1–4. There is no crime happening before your eyes, no sirens or flashing lights. But its presence is everywhere, in the silence, in the shuttered homes, in the caution that has settled into the air. Crime is not visible in the moment, but it lingers in what … Continue reading Rocky Mount, NC: You Fix Neighborhoods By Making Them Safe:
Main Street Rocky Mount 