Keeping up with past and present happenings in a remarkable small town.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Snapshot of Butler, Sept. 2006
Downtown Butler Today without Woolworth's.
Corner of Cunningham and Main Streets looking over to the steeple of St. Paul's Church. Woolworth's is no longer.
16 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Sorry, but this is about the saddest photo...of absolutely nothing...I can imagine. I'd hate to think this is a good representative image of Butler. Empty street, large blank wall -- very un-distinctive.
That big empty lot is where Woolworth's once stood...don't know which is worse...the empty lot..or a cheap store like Woolworth's....think i prefer the empty lot ; )
I wondered why you would even post such a sad photo. In the common parlance, it is what it is. Downtown Butler is a relic.
BTW, Woolworth's was a 5 and 10 that along with Murphy's and Kresge's were the general sotres of their times. The previous poster may think that they were simply a "cheap store" but these type store served America well for 3/4 of a century.
u say 5 and 10...i say cheap...what's the difference? Yesterday's Woolworth's and the other cheap stores you mention are today's flea markets. btw, its 5 and dime...not 5 and 10.
Sorry, I would rather see Woolworths than the empty lot. This is the sad reality of what malls have done to downtowns. I, to this day, would rather shop in a town with individual stores than a huge mall. Mom & Pop and all unigue stores are gone from our towns. Some of you may not believe it, but shopping in downtown Butler was fun and we had some very good stores.I have great memories of downtown, not just shopping but hanging out and watching the guys go up and down Main Street in thier cars!!
I grew up in Butler - 1960 through 1975 - great, wonderful place to spend one's youth. Moved away in 1976 for college. Never made it back - nothing to come back to. Family still there, and get back at least onece a year. What I notice most is the "holes" - the hole where the buliding used to be, and lately - the holes where the trees used to be. It is really sad and this pic sums it up....
I LOVED Woolworth's Store. My grandmother and I always used the side entrance on Cunningham St., went up the stairs to the back of the store where the pet section was so "Gum" (my grandmother) could buy her parakeet food. Then I got to shop in the toys close by. It was great.
Strange how some things improve with age and others just wither away. I left Butler in 1967 never to return until I decided to visit my fathers old home which he built himself. It was a small but pristine home on Ritter Street with a beautiful yard. Now it's painted 3 colors and the yard is in disrepair. As I traveled around the city I found the old landmark buildings were gone (replaced with empty lots), Main street gives a new meaning to urban renewal. A once bright and cheery avenue is now a line of incoherent buildings that look like they were placed there by a committee of clowns. The streets are pot-hole filled and lined with empty businesses. Armco and Pullmann Standard have just disappeared. I am not trying to be funny or obnoxius but left that day mad as hell that time has stolen my town. Please try to take better care of what remains of my childhood home!! I guess that memories are the only thing that are forever.
butler has really gone down hill!! i used to love walking up and down main st. with my sister and our friends. and later with my own kids. loved going to the 5 and dime stores. was really great memories. now, there is hardly anything worth going to on main st. its very sad!
Obviously that poster doesn't realize what you could get for a nickle or a dime back when Woolworths etc opened. And it the most common name for those stores was 5 and 10. Incidently, Butler had a Woolworths, Kresge's and Murpys (later to become AIMEs). That old Woolworth building was not always Woolworths. The North part of the building was Kresges.
Does anyone remember Bennett's studio on the second floor of Woolworth's? He had a glass display case on the side of the building. Russell Bennett was my grandfather and his photography studio was there for years.
The five and dime stores of the 40's and 50's were not cheap by the standards of the day. They were the Targets, Kmarts and Dollar Stores of that era. Sears and Monkey Wards as well as local stores such as Troutman and Royers were above them in price. Then you had Gimbals and Kaufmans down in Pgh. which were probably the top tier. Kaufmans had the best toy dept. I have ever seen plus their Xmas window displays were fabulous. If you want cheap you went to Bill's Bargain Barn on N. Main. The shopping malls killed off Main St. in virtually every small to medium size city I've visited. Add in the fact that Butler has lost something like 10,000 people since the 50's. If all of us thay left Butler would move back with our families Butler would have half a million people.
Downtown Butler Today without Woolworth's. 
16 comments:
Sorry, but this is about the saddest photo...of absolutely nothing...I can imagine. I'd hate to think this is a good representative image of Butler. Empty street, large blank wall -- very un-distinctive.
That big empty lot is where Woolworth's once stood...don't know which is worse...the empty lot..or a cheap store like Woolworth's....think i prefer the empty lot ; )
I wondered why you would even post such a sad photo. In the common parlance, it is what it is. Downtown Butler is a relic.
BTW, Woolworth's was a 5 and 10 that along with Murphy's and Kresge's were the general sotres of their times. The previous poster may think that they were simply a "cheap store" but these type store served America well for 3/4 of a century.
Sad indeed. We hate to see it, but this is the reality of downtown Butler.
u say 5 and 10...i say cheap...what's the difference? Yesterday's Woolworth's and the other cheap stores you mention are today's flea markets.
btw, its 5 and dime...not 5 and 10.
Sorry, I would rather see Woolworths than the empty lot. This is the sad reality of what malls have done to downtowns. I, to this day, would rather shop in a town with individual stores than a huge mall. Mom & Pop and all unigue stores are gone from our towns. Some of you may not believe it, but shopping in downtown Butler was fun and we had some very good stores.I have great memories of downtown, not just shopping but hanging out and watching the guys go up and down Main Street in thier cars!!
Oh, and by the way, we did say 5 & 10 stores. I think they said five and dime in New York City!!!
I grew up in Butler - 1960 through 1975 - great, wonderful place to spend one's youth. Moved away in 1976 for college. Never made it back - nothing to come back to. Family still there, and get back at least onece a year. What I notice most is the "holes" - the hole where the buliding used to be, and lately - the holes where the trees used to be. It is really sad and this pic sums it up....
I LOVED Woolworth's Store. My grandmother and I always used the side entrance on Cunningham St., went up the stairs to the back of the store where the pet section was so "Gum" (my grandmother) could buy her parakeet food. Then I got to shop in the toys close by. It was great.
They took down the South
Main Street viaduct and
now we have the General
Butler Bridge that curves
and turns at the bottom
of Roosevelt Blvd.
It just isn't the same,
it is a beautiful bridge,
but now Main Street and
South Main Street Hill
do not have a straight
connection. Strange!
Strange how some things improve with age and others just wither away. I left Butler in 1967 never to return until I decided to visit my fathers old home which he built himself. It was a small but pristine home on Ritter Street with a beautiful yard. Now it's painted 3 colors and the yard is in disrepair. As I traveled around the city I found the old landmark buildings were gone (replaced with empty lots), Main street gives a new meaning to urban renewal. A once bright and cheery avenue is now a line of incoherent buildings that look like they were placed there by a committee of clowns. The streets are pot-hole filled and lined with empty businesses. Armco and Pullmann Standard have just disappeared. I am not trying to be funny or obnoxius but left that day mad as hell that time has stolen my town. Please try to take better care of what remains of my childhood home!! I guess that memories are the only thing that are forever.
butler has really gone down hill!! i used to love walking up and down main st. with my sister and our friends. and later with my own kids. loved going to the 5 and dime stores. was really great memories. now, there is hardly anything worth going to on main st. its very sad!
Obviously that poster doesn't realize what you could get for a nickle or a dime back when Woolworths etc opened. And it the most common name for those stores was 5 and 10. Incidently, Butler had a Woolworths, Kresge's and Murpys (later to become AIMEs). That old Woolworth building was not always Woolworths. The North part of the building was Kresges.
Does anyone remember Bennett's studio on the second floor of Woolworth's? He had a glass display case on the side of the building. Russell Bennett was my grandfather and his photography studio was there for years.
The five and dime stores of the 40's and 50's were not cheap by the standards of the day. They were the Targets, Kmarts and Dollar Stores of that era. Sears and Monkey Wards as well as local stores such as Troutman and Royers were above them in price. Then you had Gimbals and Kaufmans down in Pgh. which were probably the top tier. Kaufmans had the best toy dept. I have ever seen plus their Xmas window displays were fabulous. If you want cheap you went to Bill's Bargain Barn on N. Main. The shopping malls killed off Main St. in virtually every small to medium size city I've visited. Add in the fact that Butler has lost something like 10,000 people since the 50's. If all of us thay left Butler would move back with our families Butler would have half a million people.
I remember going to Woolworth for banana splits and you popped a ballon for the special price. That was fun.
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