We drove to Corydon on Saturday afternoon for lunch at Magdalena's. Upon arrival, we found preparations underway for the town's Halloween festival and parade.
It struck me that Corydon doesn't have all that much to work with in terms of a "downtown," but having a town square probably helps. I'm sure there are other reasons against it, as in those towns where the major thoroughfare wraps around the old courthouse in the middle, rather than passing it one one side, as in Corydon, making it easier to use the other three sides for events like this one.
New Albany has a Hauss Square that isn't. I suppose the closest we come to a square these days is the Farmers Market area. We should consider using it next year for a May Day gathering.
Is it fair to assume that ideas like the plaza between Main and the levee, formerly a component of the Overton vision for Scribner Place, is an attempt (like the Belvedere) to create a square-like public area where there was none before?
8 comments:
It seems that Gary McCartin is eyeing property in my hometown of Salem, not far from the town square...
http://www.salemleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=158&ArticleID=265
Lots of traffic in that area.
Isn't there a Wendy's already there?(grin)
Some better historian correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe NA used to have a main park/town square. It was a center of the centennial. It was destroyed to make way for I-64.
Given that a couple of generations have destroyed the Victorian past with abandon, including parks and public gathering places, we obviously need to create a master park plan. Starting with where the new town square will be and what it will be.
Remember, these are not amenities we desire, these are amenities that were purposely for a quick buck, that belong to the city.
purposely DESTROYED for a quick buck
I don't know that I'd call myself a "historian", but Scribner Park was downtown New Albany's public Park - a full city block bound by Main, Market, Washington and Lafayette. It had walking paths, numerous shade trees, and a fountain in the center. It's location is now buried under the SM bridge approach embankment. I know only because it turned up in some research I was doing for another project recently.
While the "public plaza" incorporated into the proposed developments along the riverfront would certainly be a valuable amenity, it will not fulfill the role of 'civic square' due purely to its location - it will be adjacent to downtown, not IN downtown. It will be a destination in the very literal sense of the word - unless you're going there for some very specific purpose, you'll never go there. In other words, it's not a location that many pedestrians would pass by/through on a daily basis, causing opportunities to pause and linger, which is what a civic square needs to be. A place to see and be seen.
A cursory glance at New Albany in Google Earth reveals a large - and probably unnecessary - surface parking lot at the northeast corner of State and Market. I have no idea if other plans exist for that parcel, or who owns it, but it would make an ideal location for a central civic space.
Pete, good call on the Market and State lot. I agree the town square needs to be square in the center of town, or it won’t work. You are right about Scribner Park, that’s the name of it! When the park was destroyed for the interstate my elderly relatives at the time thought it was the final nail in NA’s coffin. They might have been right. Have you ever driven down Lafayette St. and admired the fine old Georgian that faces the freeway? If ever a visual defined NA for me, it’s that. Beautiful Victorian city raped by automobiles.
And that’s still the mentality. There’s no parking downtown!! I mean, that could be the motto of the entire post-war period in New Albany - it’s all about parking.
Pete, The NE corner of State and Market is owned by MainSource. They don’t have plans to sell as it’s used for employee parking. However, no one really has made them an offer.
...be cool if the bicentennial could be focused on reclaiming a downtown square, as that was the focus of the centennial.
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