highest in Ohio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old post office  :cry:  :x

 

 

 

The new post office  :cry:  :x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This building looks NICE sans the first floor overhang. Ugh.

Do locals call this place "bell-fountain"? That's the only way I've ever heard it used. I went camping in Versailles, IN and pronounced it like "Ver-sai" and everyone in McDonalds laughed at me! They literally say it like ver-sails.

"Bell-fountain."

 

Great pics!

The first time I went through Bellefontaine was about four years ago when I was helping to take my sister to college at ONU. I saw that marker and thought it said "The First Complete Street In America". I then asked my dad, "They didnt have any complete streets in America until this one"...

 

It has since become a joke in my family that in Bellefontaine, Ohio, is the VERY FIRST complete street in America.

Bellefountaine also claims the shortest street in the America.

Looks nicer than I thought it did. What's with cars everywhere in small towns like these when plenty of people can easily walk or bike into downtown?

Do locals call this place "bell-fountain"? That's the only way I've ever heard it used. I went camping in Versailles, IN and pronounced it like "Ver-sai" and everyone in McDonalds laughed at me! They literally say it like ver-sails.

 

Versailles, OH (Darke county) is also pronounced ver-sales.

 

It is a really nice town though, with a great downtown.

 

I will take some picks to post sometime...

Looks nicer than I thought it did. What's with cars everywhere in small towns like these when plenty of people can easily walk or bike into downtown?

 

Maybe to get specialty items but most small towns like this have "suburbanized" their commercial districts (aka Wal-Mart sets up on the outskirts) and thus cars become a necessity to get basics like groceries.

Bellefontaine anchors the Top of Ohio Bikeway that loops past the Piatt Castles and Ohio Caverns. It's a beautiful, hilly, scenic rural ride. I think maps are still available at the library.

^ I know that there's sprawl, but if you're going downtown, and there are people that do live nearby (unless they too suffered from white flight), why drive there specifically? You see lots of cars but no peds or bikes.

Wal-mart is insanely cheap. People tend to not care so much about supporting independant businesses when they have a one-stop place for everything at a low price. Wal-mart single-handedly has ruined many small town business districts across the U.S. because of that. Theres a documentary called 'store wars' on the subject.

^ I know that there's sprawl, but if you're going downtown, and there are people that do live nearby (unless they too suffered from white flight), why drive there specifically? You see lots of cars but no peds or bikes.

 

Uh-Oh! I tried to stop, but I cant! < :speech: >

It has taken years to for small towns and cities to reach their current toxic level of car dependency, and cars are both a result and a cause of their decline.

 

During World War II gasoline was rationed and because most civilian industries converted to military production, buying a new car or truck required a government allocation based on defense-critical need, followed by a wait list. Tires were almost impossible to find. After WWII austerity, people reveled in their regained mobility. They looked for opportunities to get in their cars and exercise their freedom to travel whenever and wherever they wanted. I remember my own family doing that after the war.

 

That coincided with the birth of the "American Dream" of a house on a big lot away from town density, and as automobile dependency increased, so did development patterns that catered to and even required automobile use. Small towns and cities lost their local transit systems and small taxi companies, and car dependency and car accomodation fed on each other. Around where I lived, outlying strip centers started to appear in the early sixties, and downtown businesses, thinking convenient parking was key to survival, started buying underutilized nearby properties and razing the buildings. By the seventies the battle was clearly lost, and buildings were being razed to get rid of tax burdens. Even now, when there's growing awareness of the importance of viable downtowns, in a lot of small towns significant buildings are still being bulldozed because they can't generate enough revenue to fix a rotting roof.

 

Many of the current residents are at least two generations removed from the time when people were accustomed to walking to nearby destinations to buy necessities, and even if a corner grocery could match the big-box prices, the concept of walking to a store a few blocks away would never enter people's consciousnesses. Driving everywhere has become an ingrained part of midwest culture.

 

I hope that the increasing cost of petroleum contributes to a rebirth of the concept of living locally.

</ :speech: >

 

 

I'm glad you didn't stop yourself! Both you and David clarified it, but I guess the thought of saving more money by not driving everywhere all the time which would reduce the cost of owning a car (less repairs, less mileage, less gas) just isn't even conceived. I think that would also explain sprawl around small towns, because I knew it wasn't because of lower-income, black/mexican/etc people downtown scaring white people out to the suburbs.