West Main Avenue looking west from Marietta Street. 
From See It Now, edited by Greensboro native Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly,
published by Simon and Shuster, 1955.
Submitted by Deb Lewis Ogden. 

THANKSGIVING NIGHT 1954
In the time before shopping centers and the suburban exodus, Thanksgiving night was a magical time, for, at dusk, the Christmas lights were turned on Uptown.  People drove from miles around to get in line and slowly move under the canopy of lights as everyone "oohed" and "aahhed."  It was officially the Christmas season! (This photograph was taken in the 200th block of West Main Avenue loking east. Leon Schneider Department Store's jingle was, "Let's go to Schneider's; buy the family's clothes at Schneider's; two thirty-three West Main Av-e-nue, in the mid-dle of the block.")
Take a drive east on Main Avenue during this Christmas season...and remember.
Click for more Christmas scenes Uptown

A BUSTLING UPTOWN GASTONIA, EARLY 1917

Happy New Year! Again in 2011 we begin the new year with an early 1917 look east on West Main Avenue from South Street. On the left, the new U.S. Post Office is the pride of the city, while next door, the First National Bank Building (today known as the Lawyers' Building) nears completion. The tower of the Craig and Wilson Building (later part of the Raylass department store chain and now renovated as the Carriage Company Lofts) rises in the distance. On the right are the drug stores of Kennedy and Adams. The seven-story Third National Bank Building will be constructed on the Kennedy site in 1923. In a few short years, the sleepy railroad town has become a young industrial giant. 

True rebirth of Gastonia's center city will eventually come as citizens discover the joys of living in pleasant, comfortable homes surrounding a convenient, compact, walkable, human-scale commercial district that offers all the goods and services required by the local residents. A healthy uptown will never result from government spending on the latest trendy "big idea" that is based on attracting suburban residents to special events. A permanent residential population with disposable income will pump undreamed-of vitality back into the city's core, if that core is left intact, spared from political and social idiocy.

We begin 2012 with a trip to our archives for an eastward view of  West Main Avenue from the southeast corner of Main and South Street (the Commercial Building corner) taken on a weekday in August 1973. Paul Planer submitted this and two other casual snapshots December 2, 2009. He commented at the time, "Wish I had known then what was going to happen in the future....I would have taken pictures of every store, etc." See all three scenes on the "Spindle City Scenes" page.

Armstrong (originally South School), located on Union Road, just south of the East Seventh Avenue
(now  Garrison Boulevard) intersection.
Constructed ____. Burned in the mid-1960's.

View from West Franklin Boulevard of the National Bank of Commerce (First Union) site after demolition of the building
February 8, 2009.

Our state-of-the-art mobile advertising unit in Downtown Gastonia July, 6, 2008.
IN MEMORIAM
AFTER 23 YEARS OF FAITHFUL SERVICE, MY 1987 MAZDA B-2000 PICKUP (BOUGHT NEW ON FEBRUARY 10, 1987), BROKE ITS CRANKSHAFT ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 11, 2010 WHILE MAKING ITS WAY UP I-85 TOWARD GASTONIA. IT HAS BEEN REPLACED  BY A 2011 TOYOTA CAMRY BUT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

Did you like the license plate frame on my Camry? Get your own below.
CUSTOM LICENSE PLATE FRAMES
The largest collection of imprinted license plate frames at factory direct prices!

You might also be interested in
CUSTOM LICENSE PLATES
The most comprehensive collection of custom license plates
that are ideal for advertising your organization 365 days per year!

2011 Toyota Camry in Downtown Gastonia, June 20, 2010.
BACK