Travel Log: Hutchison Kansas

I’ve been back in St. Louis since late Sunday but I am still trying to get caught up on all the towns I visited last week. I’ve already posted about small towns around Kansas City, St. Joseph Missouri, Shenandoah Iowa, Salina Kansas, Garden City Kansas and here we are at Hutchison KS.

One of the most striking buildings in Hutchison was the Reno County courthouse. We could see the building on the horizon and drove straight towards it but we ended up getting redirected by some over-engineered highway-like exit loop. Some traffic engineer must have been let loose on this town because they’ve got some highway stuff going on that only a bigger city might need (might is the key word). See google maps to see the roads.

The courthouse is located on West 1st street, shown above. Unfortunately, the width of the street is massive with parking on both sides and in the middle. Of course, I’d prefer to see parking spread out like this rather than in a parking lot but this sorta felt like a parking lot.

To the right of this image is actually a large parking lot — remains from an old downtown mall. Not an outdoor pedestrian mall, but an early 1-level indoor mall. It looked to be most vacant at this point. In typical fasion, the mall managed to close off a street of the grid. The circular exit loop mentioned above is just behind the mall — all very visible in the google map link above.

Next door to the lovely county courthouse is a very typical building style of the late 60s, early 70s. This extension to the courthouse includes police and other services. Note how the rough concrete just welcomes you in.

A few of the buildings over on Main Street were beautifully detailed and tall relative to other towns. We were there last Friday afternoon and the town was pretty dead. Due to limited time, we did a quick drive through the main street rather than walk the length of the street.

This spectacular building was the most elaborate on Main St.

Main Street Hutchison was actually in the process of getting a brand new streetscape — new sidewalks, planters, seating and such. A critics dream! As you can see, they’ve gone with a serpentine shape for the concrete seating.

Above is another of the new corners with new plantings, sidewalks, and built-in seating.

Up ahead the road is narrowed considerably as construction crews are finishing up the new project.

New walls had just been finished on this corner.

Another block or so south and it appears that Hutchison has had a streetscape makeover program before. Here the sidewalks are concrete with a single band of decorative pavers and a different style of seating and light fixtures. Could it be this is already being done again? Actually this concrete looks pretty new as well. However, they are indeed remaking a street which was done probably in the 1970s or 80s.

From the Hutchison Shopping Guide:

Our award-winning Downtown Hutchinson is located in the heart of Hutchinson, Kansas and is often called the Paris of the Plains….
Downtown will soon be implementing landscape architectural plans for a new streetscape concept for the Main Street area to incorporate more green areas.

Hutchison does have a regional mall with several anchor stores and an 8-screen theatre – that would explain why Main Street was so dead. It is quite sad that they don’t realize you can’t simply keep installing new brick paving patterns to revitalize a downtown. The downtown chamber puts a positive spin on things (as these groups tend to do), from an April 2005 newsletter:

Congratulations to the Downtown Hutchinson Redevelopment District – StreetScape is underway! Exciting times are ahead as downtown Hutchinson is revitalized.

Exciting times? The street is still way too wide relative to the heights of the buildings. They don’t have enough shade trees (this is the middle of Kansas) and again pretty brick paving patterns will not revitalize a downtown when everyone is heading to the Wal-Mart and regional shopping mall.

Maybe this makeover is in response to ADA compliance? My regular readers know I harp often about ADA compliance and many are likely rolling their eyes as they read this. Well, it seems in the early 1990s Hutchison was investigated by the Department of Justice regarding ADA issues. The agreement covered a number of public facilities and did not specifically address Main Street. You can read the Settlement Agreement for yourself for detail.

I plan to return to Hutchison in a year or so to see how the new streetscape has reviltalized the downtown. For more information on Hutchison see the wiki entry and more images on my Flickr account.

Travel Log: Garden City Kansas

Garden City Kansas, located in western Kansas, is most known for the murder trial that Truman Capote depicted in his classic novel, In Cold Blood. Capote visited Garden City numerous times over a six year period in the early 1960s as he researched the book. I didn’t make it by the courthouse to see if any plaque commemorated the trial and the associated publicity.

Above is the tallest building in town. A sign in the storefront window is trying to promote the renovation of the building.

Down the street is a less than attractive Commerce Bank.

The downtown streetscape is pleasant, not over done like so many towns. Banners play a bigger role in Garden City than in many of the other towns I saw on this trip. This banner is for the Lee Richardson Zoo.

Part of the streetscape included informational signs, some with flyers for current events and some, such as this, with historical information. Note the bike rack.

Despite the poor photography on my part, you can make out the architecture of the 1928 theatre. The sign indicates it was “extensively remodeled” in 1967 but that it closed in 1999.

Sadly, the wonderful upper portion of the facade was cut off when the 1967 remodel happened (presumably). Even worse is the disposition of the building. From the informational sign:

The State Theatre closed in 1999, due to declining ticket sales and the condition of the building. The State Theatre building and equipment was given to the City of Garden City with the only stipulation being that it could not be used as a movie house.

Great, some movie company unloads a building in need of renovation yet the city cannot renovate and open it as a theatre. Deed restrictions can be a huge problem for cities of all sizes.

Another of the banners seen around town reminded everyone of Beef Empire Days. As we saw in the surrounding countryside, this is certainly cattle country. The meat packing industry has been very important to the town for decades. On Christmas day 2,300 jobs were lost as a large meat packing plant burned (roughly 12% of the county workforce). Over 40% of the population is hispanic, a reflection of the meat packing industry. The former meat packing plant may become an ethanol plant (see story).
We didn’t stop for a meal in Garden City but I wish we had — they would not have asked if we wanted to sit in smoking or non-smoking. Why? Earlier this year Garden City enacted a non-smoking ordinance (click here for PDF). Our original route included heading east on U.S. Route 50 but due to the recent tornado in Greensberg KS the highway was closed.

On the route out of town I spotted a strong barrier to pedestrians — large gravel. Interestingly, the adjacent areas have sidewalks and part of this convenience store has sidewalks but the rest, and in front of an adjacent office park, has gravel where the sidewalk should be. The extra photos show more of this area, including the ADA ramp leading directly to gravel.

I look forward to visiting Garden City again in the future, having dinner in a smoke-free Mexican restaurant.  For more on Garden City see the official site, google maps, wiki and my photos on Flickr.

Travel Log: Salina Kansas

This post is part of a series on a recent road trip through parts of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Of all the towns my friend Rich and I visited, Salina Kansas offered the most “done” main street (aka Santa Fe Ave). But before I get into the interesting 1970s streetscape I want to share some other parts of town with you. On the edge of downtown Salina is the old railroad industrial area.

Grain elevators, like so many of these towns, are adjacent to the numerous railroad tracks. You can pretty much judge the size of a town by the size of its grain elevators.

As the above shows, much of the main street in Salina is pretty conventional: wide street with buildings of various heights and sizes. But then you look straight ahead and get one of those WTF moments:

Yes, you are seeing a large open web type metal structure over the street. They have three of these.

One of the three, the middle one as I recall, crosses the street at an angle. We talked with some local residents that moved to Salina in the late 1970s that indicated the downtown street had already been done by then. A nearby Air Force base was closed in 1965 so maybe this was done to help keep the downtown from dying off completely. These three crossings have had pedestrian signals added but the main intersections do not have any pedestrian signals.

These crossings lead to small “plazas” where buildings once stood. By crossing through the plazas you access parking lots where buildings once stood on the backs of each block.

Above is one of the plaza areas, each was designed differently with different functions.

Again, the buildings that once stood on the other half of the block (opposide the alley) were razed for parking areas such as this one. We were there after 5pm so it is hard to judge how active the street was during normal office hours. The after work crowd was certainly not rushing to downtown.

Another way to access the parking in back is through a couple of tunnels. These were created within buildings by removing a storefront space.

Back to the crossing structures. Above is a view as you cross the street. The small old theatre in the background to the right is now a CPA firm.

This buidings gets the first prize for uglist remodeling seen on my trip. Just horrible…

Directly across the street, however, is one of the most attractive buildings I saw on the trip. The detailing, massing and relationship to the two streets is outstanding.

I saw a few cyclists getting around downtown on their bikes. Auto traffic was almost non-existent so cycling around town should be easy. He still should be wearing a helmet.

The 3-story building above has a restaurant and bar. Outdoor space was created on the ground and second floors by setting the windows & doors back from the facade. This was the most lively area during our brief visit.

For more information on Salina Kansas see the city’s website, google maps, the wiki entry or more of my 227 images on Flickr.  I plan to do some research on Salina to better understand the history of the makeover of Santa Fe Ave.

Travel Log: Shenandoah Iowa

Last Thursday morning (May 10th) my friend Rich and I pulled into the small town of Shenandoah Iowa after spending the night at a motel near Nebraska City, just off the highway (I-29) between St. Joseph Missouri (see previous post) and Omaha Nebraska. At the time I wasn’t sure if we’d spent the night in Iowa or Nebraska — turns out it was Iowa but not by much.

Driving the 2-lane roads to get to Shenandoah we could see flood waters all around us in numerous spots. The road was dirty where water had recently covered the road. One road near the town was still closed due to high water. Later I’d spot a local paper indicating the waters had receeded.

On the edge of town was the customary Wal-Mart store, a Hy-Vee grocery store and a McDonald’s. I didn’t notice but I assume the Wal-Mart was not a “super center” as the grocery store next door would likely not survive. In town, less than a half mile away, I noticed a local store competing quite well with the Wal-Mart. The Dollar store downtown was also doing a good business.

Crossing the train tracks and heading to the town center it was clear this was a rural farm community.  See Google Maps.

Above is a good overview of the main drag, Sheridan Ave. The typical building was 2-floors. None were newer buildings although some had received newer facades (unfortunately). The older buildings were nicely detailed, some quite elaborate. The street had received a make-over at some point, I am guessing in the 1990s.

As part of the streetscape the ends of the blocks were “bulbed” with planters. These areas also include frequent benches and bike parking. Yes, they included numerous bike racks along the street. The large paving squares you see along the sidewalk is their Walk of Fame, which includes people from all over Iowa. The most famous locals seem to be the Everly Brothers.

Former St. Louis RAMS Quarterback Kurt Warner has a place on the Walk of Fame.

For those that don’t think ADA access is all that important think again. Even in this small town, population 5,546 as of the 2000 census, I saw two people in a matter of an hour using motorized scooters to get around. The town is very compact (aka dense) with many people walking from adjacent neighborhoods to Sheridan Ave to do their shopping.

I stopped into the Jay Drug Co and thought I stepped back in time. Here as a small town drug store with the pharmacist in the back, all sorts of goods, a card shop and a geniune lunch counter. As a child I’d go with my mom to just such a drug store. All the stools at the counter were full of locals eating and chatting.

City Hall, just off the main drag, was impressive.

The town even had a tattoo studio in the basement of a building that looked to contain a Christian radio station. What a combination!

The old theatre in town is being used as a theatre, how clever. I’m sure it looked more interesting a few decades ago…

The side streets that intersect with Sheridan Ave have not seen as much interest. This is a great building which looks to be partially used. Note the “urban” alley in this small town.

One of the tallest buildings in town, other than grain silos, was this ugly senior home. However ugly, it was near the main street a park and the other residential areas so those living here are still very much a part of the town rather than being isolated.

Above is an example of one of the fine homes located within blocks of the main street, Sheridan Ave. While I’d personally get bored in a small town such as Shenandoah it certainly has a very comfortable feel about it. The town is far more urban in layout than much of the sprawl in the St. Louis area from the last 50 years. To view the rest of my 236 photos of Shenandoah, click here.

Travel Log: St. Joseph Missouri

While driving to Iowa on Wednesday my friend Rich and I decided to take a detour through the town of St. Joseph Missouri (wiki), population roughly 74,000 (year 2000). St. Jo has many familiar faces: the old industrial section next to the river, the (now) flooding waterfront park, the old warehouse area, the nearly vacant downtown, the “it will save downtown” arena, parking garage and hotel combination, numerous older residential areas, new suburban homes and auto-centric chain shopping areas with mid to big boxes.

Near the river is an old industrial area with some great structures such as the one above.

Not far to the north is an active warehouse district. The building detailing is above anything you’ll see in a modern industrial or office park.

St. Joseph got into the highway game in a big way, a massive structure dividing the downtown from the riverfront. Inviting huh?

The riverfront park, immediately adjacent to the highway, was flooded while we were there on Wednesday. Numerous people came to see the flood waters. The downtown, thankfully, is on high ground while surrounding residential areas are on even higher ground.

St. Joseph’s downtown has great potential. Numerous older buildings have wonderful detailing and pleasant massing.

Sadly, St. Joseph was convinced of the whole arena/convention center, parking garage and hotel myth for revitalizing their downtown. The arena, shown above, occupies and entire city block and presents a cold shoulder regardless of angle.

Another view of the arena, the parking garage can be seen in the background. The hotel entrance is to the right. Surface parking is also plentiful, although I am not it is not when they have a monster truck pull (per a local).

The hotel entrance, above, is all about the car. The design is not much different than you’d see in any suburban area — not at all suitable for a downtown.

Just south of the area destroyed for the arena is a newish park which is more memorial than anything active to do. It was attractive but boring. Note the gas station in the background.

The downtown area includes a number of one-way streets, such as the one we were on. I really hate one-way streets, they just seem like mini highways to me.

Back over by the arena is the parking garage consuming an entire city block. Lovely it is not!

Just up the hill from downtown are some great old mansions. Most are cared for like the above examples. Across the street…

This house has seen better days.  However, it certainly is not beyond reusing.  All over St. Joseph we saw buildings with great unrealized potential.

Above is another great home on a wonderful site near the central business district.  Builders years ago knew how to build on sloping sites, unlike todays suburban builers that level every site they develop and then name the subdivision something Oak Hills.

I loved the way this more modest sized home “held” the corner.

We ended our too brief stay in St. Joseph at the walk-up Dairy Queen.  Overall I was very impressed, St. Joseph has such great potential.  I look forward to doing more research on this city regarding past development (arena, highways, etc…) and what is planned.

To see the rest of my 230+ images from St. Joseph click here.