Vermilion’s “Harbour Town – 1837” district has been the subject of a few posts on this blog.
The whole concept of “Harbour Town – 1837” and the argument for pursuing a plan was presented in this post. The advertising campaign that was unveiled in November 1968 was featured in this post. And this 1970 Journal article envisioned “Harbour Town – 1837” as sort of a lakefront Williamsburg.
By 1972, drawings of what a revitalized downtown area would look like were being prepared. The two articles below revealed part of the proposed look.
It was quite an ambitious plan to revive the downtown area and make Vermilion a tourist destination. It took some time, as well as an ongoing commitment by the public and private sectors, but judging by the results fifty years later, the effort ultimately was a success. Even on winter weekends, I see people going from store to store along Liberty Avenue and Main Street even when there is no special event.
2 comments:
Yes - that was a great project.
Interesting. I lived in Vermilion since the late 70s and I just assumed it always looked that way. We used to get phosphates at the old fashioned soda fountain at Hart’s Drug Store.
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