Does every village, hamlet, town, and city have a Main Street? That is what a graduate class in Contemporary Publishing at Rochester Institute of Technology wondered when it was deciding on a subject for a book production project. The fifteen students came from different backgrounds, countries, and age groups. All of them set to the task of deciding exactly what Main Street means in society. Reflective questions were posed, such as “Where is Main Street?” and “Who goes there?” Were new strip malls replacing the old Main Streets? Trendy, renovated areas in big cities, complete with quaint cafes and upscale boutiques—are these the new Main Streets? What about river-front improvements, common in metropolitan communities—is this where community life centers now?
The definition of Main Street upon which the class agreed was a place where people live, shop, go to school, raise families, and perhaps enjoy the annual holiday parades. With this in mind, the class set out to discover, or rediscover, the meaning of Main Street in towns all over the country. The photographs and texts derived from these experiences tell of their findings.
Now we invite you, the reader, to take part in our experiences and ask yourself if these are stories of a Main Street that you remember.