Sunday, February 3, 2008

Where did Main Street come from?

Last week I went to the CORE training offered by the New Jersey Main Street program.  I attended with the Main Street team from Orange -- I am now an official volunteer with Main Street Orange and a member of the design team.  Joe Getz, a partner in JGSC, led the first day of training.  He focused on "economic restructuring," one of the 4 core principles of the Main Street Program.  He opened his talk with a brief look at the history of Main Street in the US, and pointed out that Main Street represents the intersection of "Main and Main."  In the modern history of Englewood, this was the intersection of the railroad, coming up from Jersey City, and the logging road that brought wood from the Palisades.  In the mid-1800's the train station at Englewood supplied wood and water for 46 trains a day, according Dr. John Lattimore's history of the city.  All things being circular, Dr. Lattimore was one of my professors in medical school and gave the most memorable lecture I heard in all 4 years.  His subject was "How to Practice Medicine."  

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