PreservationNation

As a staff member who spent many hours planning the educational component of our Main Streets Conference, I was thrilled to witness several “ah-ha!” moments when the power of social media crystallized with attendees.

For example, during the session, “Social Media for Restaurants, Boutiques, and Antique Shops,” Chicago social media specialist Blagica Bottigliero hit on many opportunities that these common Main Street-type of businesses could benefit from. One point Blagica made was that business owners need to “listen” to what is being said about their establishments throughout the online community. Marketing strategy isn’t only about what you tell people or what kinds of ads you place. For example, people can use Google’s News Alerts to have a daily round up of blogs and on websites where the business name was mentioned. Blagica explained, too, that the micro-blogging tool Twitter (which people use to post a sentence or two to update people about what they are doing or thinking about), is a neat way to connect with what people are saying online.

A business owner in the audience who has a shoe shop raised her hand and asked, “So all I have to do is see who is ‘tweeting’ about my store through a search on Twitter and then I can see what my customers are thinking?” Customer feedback is priceless for business owners and this is a free and instant way to get this information. Not only that, but this same business owner can set up a Twitter account for her store and get people to subscribe to her updates and send out “tweets” about new shoe arrivals, special deals, and other tidbits that customers might find interesting.

Another presenter, Ben Muldrow of Community Newspaper Holdings, at a session called “Managing the Growth of Your Website” relayed another “ah-ha!” moment to me. He said a Main Street program executive director told him she was spending $700 a month on hosting for their website. During his presentation, he had discussed various web hosting options and how much each service should cost and which kinds of bells and whistles come with each package. He told her that he was paying that same amount for web hosting and many, many more perks; therefore, her program could save considerable money by choosing a different web hosting arrangement. Now that she understands the type of web hosting service she actually needs and understand about how much this should cost, she can go home with some real cost-saving ideas.

– Andrea Dono

Andrea Dono is the associate editor for the National Trust Main Street Center.

Very little remains of the South Works steel mill in South Chicago. These ore walls serve as a stark suggestion of the mill that used to occupy 500 acres along Lake Michigan.

I ventured out of the National Main Streets Conference hotel and joined a field session that took me to a part of Chicago few visitors—or even residents—even see, according to Rod Sellers, my tour guide. We traveled south of downtown Chicago approximately 30 minutes to South Chicago—still within city limits—a stretch of the city that clings to the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan near the Indiana border.

The “Southeast Chicago Heritage Tour” brought us far from the Burnham skyscrapers and Beaux-Arts bridges to a landscape dominated by smoke stacks, landfills and the Calumet River—Chicago’s other river (and no, its flow has not been reversed—it still flows naturally like most self-respecting rivers).

The Calumet Region is where railroads and the river itself brought coal, coke, and iron ore to the hulking steel mills at the mouth of the Calumet and along both banks of the river. These mills churned out nails, rails and beams to build the John Hancock Building, the Sears Tower and countless other Chicago landmarks. Unfortunately, very little of this industrial legacy remains visible. We did stop at the sprawling 500+ acre U.S. Steel South Works steel mill site that lines the lakeshore. Though it’s impossible to imagine it now, it employed 20,000 workers at the height of its operations. Shift work kept the plant humming round the clock and waves of immigrants moved to the area for plentiful and well-paying work. Taverns, restaurants, grocery stores and ice cream parlors were abundant. Our tour guide described hard-working and hard-drinking men and his school boy memory of being told to keep his horsing around quiet to avoid disturbing his neighbor s resting up for the 11 p.m. – 7 a.m. night shift.

The South Works mill closed in 1992 and was completely dismantled save three massive ore walls that were built to store the ore when the lake was impassible due to ice. The scale of these concrete structures is hard to convey. Their presence and the enormous task of removing them has impeded redevelopment ideas for the site. There are plans to bring residential, commercial and industrial uses to the property after earlier plans to build an airport—or the Olympics—were shot down by neighbors. Thanks to a citizen-led campaign, this land will not sprout high-rise luxury condos but more affordable, sustainable housing. Just when that might happen remains to be seen. The groundbreaking keeps getting pushed back. With the economy in the shape it is currently, the 2010 start date is likely to be pushed back again.

(more…)

Watertown, Wisc. is just one of the many Main Street communities in my state that have effectively utilized murals to generate interest in their downtown.

Most everyone can recall taking a walking tour in the past. But can you remember where? Could it have been anywhere? Did it display authenticity? Did it encourage you to shop after the tour, have a bite to eat or visit a museum? Anthony Rubano with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency demonstrated how the walking tour has evolved in “Foot Traffic: A Fresh Look at Walking Tours”, a session at the National Main Streets Conference going on now in Chicago.

Probably the most fascinating piece of Anthony’s presentation was the explanation of building styles and the importance of connecting them to our shared history and heritage. When creating tours, yes, identify a style, such as Richardsonian Romanesque, but connect that style to the larger context—in this case, the Holy Roman Empire. You can do this with nearly every architectural style on your Main Street. Another example: if you have a prism glass design in one of your buildings downtown, it may be a Frank Lloyd Wright creation. Find out and if it is, you’ve just greatly increased interest in your itinerary.

Walking tour New Holstein style. This rural Wisconsin community knows where its appeal lies.

And it’s not just your downtown commercial buildings you should be highlighting. Waters towers, gas stations, grain elevators, or a two story outhouse (no kidding) that are sites of interest. “If it is quirky, it is good and should be added to your walking tour.” Even those advertising slogans and murals of decades past that are still clinging to the sides of today’s buildings, called “ghost signs”, also have a nostalgic appeal to residents and visitors alike.

Anthony’s presentation was on his leading walking tours in Springfield, Illinois and a majority of his images were from Illinois communities. But the ideas and program can be used by a Main Street community anywhere. People seek authenticity; you do not find walking tours of big-box stores or a new suburban shopping strip. Those that already have this interest in your downtown and its history will learn more with a successful walking tour, and more importantly will spend more time and money in your downtown.

– Trent Margrif

Trent Margrif is the director of the Wisconsin Field Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Stay tuned here and on their official blog as staff attending the 2009 National Main Streets Conference — which is taking place this week in Chicago — share what they’re learning.