Rundown/Abandoned Texas Downtowns

[brock2010]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

^^ True. People used to say malls and suburbia killed Main Street. In Texarkana's case, both the Central Mall (I was staying at a Holiday Inn right next to it) and the downtown area were basically ghost towns.

Yes. Friend of mine said that downtown they recently approved an entertainment district. I wonder how that will pan out. I try not to give up on my hometown but they've had so many opportunities that were just thrown away. A lot of young people move away as soon as they finish highschool. A lot of the people on the city council are out of touch with what the city/residents need. They want the city to stay small and not grow. Hopefully one day things will change but I'm not holding my breath.

[DanielWayne]

This is a subject I take interest in. I'm originally from the triangle in SE Tx, which is mostly an amalgamation of small towns, and for the most part is stagnant and economically depressed. I enjoy wandering and finding small freestanding downtowns that are still alive even if they have been restored from near death. Brenham, The Hill Country towns, Nacogdoches, Smithville, Waxahachie - all fascinate me to a degree because they are doing well, and they are able to sustain it. It makes me wonder if there is some kind of mathematical formula that could predict the health and vitality of or the likeliness of decline for small towns. Conversely if you want to see a shell of a downtown that was once thriving, make a trip to Port Arthur. You could easily imagine yourself on the set of a dystopian sci-fi movie on some of the city blocks there. Motiva has promised to contribute to downtown PA's revitalization, but so far they haven't started anything. And then make the short drive to Pleasure Island to see a textbook example of neglect. That could be made into a tourist destination (like it once was), but instead you have island parks littered with graffiti and overgrown weeds and a marina that looks abandoned.

[Norman54]

Grapevine has what is considered a great downtown. It kind of gets lost though between the Grapevine Mills Mall to its East and all that upscale retail in Southlake to its west.
That theater in downtown Archer looks to have gone out of business. It was depicted in the movie "The Last Picture Show."

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

This is a subject I take interest in. I'm originally from the triangle in SE Tx, which is mostly an amalgamation of small towns, and for the most part is stagnant and economically depressed. I enjoy wandering and finding small freestanding downtowns that are still alive even if they have been restored from near death. Brenham, The Hill Country towns, Nacogdoches, Smithville, Waxahachie - all fascinate me to a degree because they are doing well, and they are able to sustain it. It makes me wonder if there is some kind of mathematical formula that could predict the health and vitality of or the likeliness of decline for small towns. Conversely if you want to see a shell of a downtown that was once thriving, make a trip to Port Arthur. You could easily imagine yourself on the set of a dystopian sci-fi movie on some of the city blocks there. Motiva has promised to contribute to downtown PA's revitalization, but so far they haven't started anything. And then make the short drive to Pleasure Island to see a textbook example of neglect. That could be made into a tourist destination (like it once was), but instead you have island parks littered with graffiti and overgrown weeds and a marina that looks abandoned.

The formula is something like percentage of high school graduates that never return after college + how many small local shops there are VS wal marts and dollar generals. There is certainly more to it than that, but that is a good place to start / predictor.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by Norman54

Grapevine has what is considered a great downtown. It kind of gets lost though between the Grapevine Mills Mall to its East and all that upscale retail in Southlake to its west.
That theater in downtown Archer looks to have gone out of business. It was depicted in the movie "The Last Picture Show."

Sadly not many Anarene’s left

[Redlionjr]

I know this thread is about abandoned downtowns but I wanted to briefly talk about how impressed I was with my hometown's downtown recently. I was just in Longview a couple of weeks ago and happened to go downtown and was shocked at how many new businesses were there. Not only were there a new crop of businesses but there was foot traffic downtown as well. This was on a hot ass Sunday too btw.

This imo is impressive because for decades Downtown Longview was a former shell of itself.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I know this thread is about abandoned downtowns but I wanted to briefly talk about how impressed I was with my hometown's downtown recently. I was just in Longview a couple of weeks ago and happened to go downtown and was shocked at how many new businesses were there. Not only were there a new crop of businesses but there was foot traffic downtown as well. This was on a hot ass Sunday too btw.

This imo is impressive because for decades Downtown Longview was a former shell of itself.

Fortunately, many Texas communities have undertaken deliberate, coordinated efforts to market and manage their legacy downtowns. Many have Main Street managers or downtown managers whose job it is to do this work - having a dedicated position for this is important, In addition, there is a great organization, the Texas Downtown Association, that engages in education and information sharing for all TX community members who work on improving our downtowns.

[supfromthesite]

Great to hear about Longview and hopefully it happens in more places

[Arkay66]

My county seat has a dynamic downtown. It's still the center of activity.

[KathrynAragon]

I love our downtown (Tyler) and am proud to say that it seems be doing well, thank goodness. Lots and lots of things have changed, and many businesses that used to be thriving are no more, but other businesses have taken their places and that's good, in my opinion. Downtown Tyler is booming, thank goodness!

https://visittyler.com/things-to-see...ions/downtown/