Quote:
Originally Posted by fflint
While it is true New England's mill towns industrialized and de-industrialized earlier than the rest of the country, by 1900 downtown Boston's economy was not dependent upon manufacturing and so, on that count alone, there's no good reason to conclude there was a paucity of shopping in downtown Boston in the early- and mid-20th century relative to smaller, newer population centers like Buffalo or Cincinnati.
According to Wikipedia, "Between 1895 and 1917, Downtown Crossing became the hub of department store shopping in Boston. In 1841, Eben Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh opened the first Jordan Marsh store as wholesalers, which later grew into a retail department store. Another major store, Filene's, was founded in 1881...the store expanded, opening the 'Automatic Bargain Basement' in 1909" which "would go on to become a major department store independent of Filene's." Gilchrist's and Kennedy's also opened in the neighborhood, and "These stores attracted more middle-class visitors, including those from the suburbs, and anchored other retail services, including food and restaurants." I don't know anything about Stearn's but if we include it that gives us six department stores and an untold amount of smaller shops in Boston's admittedly compact (as is the rest of the city) downtown shopping district, which was the only game in town and a regional destination for a relatively large population for most of the 20th century.
Of course, the spread of post-war blight and suburban shopping malls eventually detracted from the downtown retail center--as is true in every US city, including Buffalo and Cincinnati. Yet there's no question Boston's downtown shopping district, which was revitalized circa 1979 with traffic diversions and other changes, remained even during America's urban nadir more vital than any but a handful in the nation--and remains so to this day.
I'm not seeing any evidence for the claim Boston's primary shopping district was on par with downtown retail centers in much less populous metropolitan areas like Buffalo or Cincinnati.
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Perhaps you haven't been to any of them? You can still see the mark, if you know what you're looking for.
Boston's retail core was observably smaller than e.g. Philadelphia's or DC's, even in its prime. In fact, in terms of retail diversity, Boston ca. 1950 would have been closer to Lexington Market in Baltimore and equivalent centers in Cincinnati, Buffalo, Cleveland, or St. Louis. This actually seems fairly appropriate for the era. That isn't theory -- that's straight-up observation of the count of major retailers (department stores):
- Philadelphia: Five -- Wanamaker's, Strawbridge's, Gimbels, Lit Brothers, Snellenburg's
- DC: Five -- Kann's, Hecht's, Woodward & Lothrop, Garfinckel's, Lansburgh's
- Baltimore: Four -- Hecht's, Stewart's, Hutzler's, Hochschild Kohn
- Cincinnati: Four -- Mabley & Carew, McAlpin's, Pogue's, Shillito's
- Boston: Three -- Filene's, Jordan Marsh, Stearn's
- Cleveland: Three -- Higbee's, Halle Brothers, May
- Buffalo: Three -- AM&A, Hengerer's, Hens & Kelly
- St. Louis: Two -- Famous-Barr, Stix Baer Fuller
You can obviously keep going with this. The point is that
at the time Boston was in the middle of the pack.
Certainly, for various reasons Downtown Crossing weathered the 20th century better than most of its peers -- it's on a par with Philadelphia's Market East today -- but starting size and stamina are not the same thing. None of the F Street department stores remain in DC today, for example. Not one.
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