Our remarkable downtown square boasts streets paved with Thurber bricks during the 1920s, and is filled with a variety of shops and restaurants. In 1980, as part of the national roll out of a then-new concept for the revitalization of historic downtowns, THC Commissioner Anice Read introduced the Main Street program to Texas and helped our state become one of the first state Main Street coordinating programs in the nation. Five years after creating the Texas Main Street Program (TMSP), Mrs. Read helped found the Texas Downtown Association (TDA), a non-profit membership association, which continues to be a partner today. TDA and TMSP annually co-sponsor a statewide downtown revitalization conference. Read's legacy today with our work and a belief that downtown revitalization is a crucial tool for enhancing the economic and social health of a community. In addition to being the most visible indicator of community pride and economic health, the historic downtown is also the foundation of the unique heritage of a community. The historic buildings in a downtown are prime locations for the establishment of unique entrepreneurial businesses and can also be tourism attractors, all of which add to the community’s sales tax collections and property values. Today, massive, look-alike retail centers permeate the national landscape, making it even more important that communities be proactive in saving and using their historic spaces to avoid becoming featureless places. Working in the focus areas known as the Four Point Approach, local Main Street programs rejuvenate these special places. Programs and the property/business owners in designated local MainStreet districts receive pro-bono assistance from the state Main Street staff in the areas of economic and small-business development, design, historic preservation, and organizational management/program capacity building.
