A little rough around the edges, perhaps, but interesting all the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glamorgan Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pictures of a forgotten downtown.  I have read about street events and historic renovation plans for downtown Alliance in the past but lost track.  I think the S. Union St. by the campus has really hurt downtown Alliance, I actually hear most people refer to it as downtown.  It makes me appreciate some of the work that has been done in Canton a bit more.

^Agreed.

Impressive. Obviously on hard times, but downtown has some impressive buildings. Some gorgeous oldies on the campus, too. Thanks for sharing these.

My sister goes to MU, the school is nice, but the town is nothing to write home about.

Thanks for the pictures of a forgotten downtown.  I have read about street events and historic renovation plans for downtown Alliance in the past but lost track.  I think the S. Union St. by the campus has really hurt downtown Alliance, I actually hear most people refer to it as downtown.  It makes me appreciate some of the work that has been done in Canton a bit more.

 

I think the exodus of retail from the downtown area to the western end (along Rte. 62/State Street) did more damage.

Interesting.

Hats off to sears for maintaining a store in a small-town CBD.

Nice pics, kinda reminds me of Jackson, Michigan

Just spent four wonderful years in Alliance.  I think you captured it very well.  There are some nicer homes in the city but around downtown is the rougher part of town.  I know the president of Mount is looking to expand so hopefully it will restore some of the city.  I agree though that State Street is awful, tons of traffic signals and generic stores.  I wish they would redevelop downtown.  When you were there was anything done to the building on the north east corner of Arch and Main street?  I remember a scaffolding as if something was going in there but left before the finished product.

Hats off to sears for maintaining a store in a small-town CBD.

 

I don't think that's an actual Sears.. the sign may still be there, but look in the windows.  Looks to be an antique or Goodwill type store.

That hasn't been a Sears since the mid-70s I think.

Hats off to sears for maintaining a store in a small-town CBD.

 

I don't think that's an actual Sears.. the sign may still be there, but look in the windows. Looks to be an antique or Goodwill type store.

 

I think he was joking.

Good bones in this town. I was thinking it would be a vibrant place with a college, until I saw that it already has one. Guess I was wrong.

^MU's a pretty small school with 2200ish undergrads, and a little over half live on-campus in a 8-square mile city of 24K. Also, the auto-centric commercial activity is located mostly south and west of the college (the downtown area is north and east) so there's not much spin-off activity. As evanf811 said, if the college expands in downtown's direction that might help.

I worked in Alliance from 1999-2002 and it was sold to me as a "college town", but it's definitely a "town with a college" and that's a big distinction.

What a weird place. I grew up not far from there -- Tuscarawas County -- but haven't been to Alliance in many, many years (other than passing through on 62 a couple years ago). The downtown seems to have once been much grander and greater than one would expect of a city that size, even factoring in Mount Union. Even weirder is that downtown is up near the northeast edge of the city -- and nowhere near the center -- and appears to be almost inaccessible from any major route through town. I just stared at the Google map hybrid. How did that come to be? And Wikipedia didn't have a whole lot of history. I assume Alliance was something of a railroad center, but that alone wouldn't account for a downtown of that intensity. And I don't think it ever was any sort of manufacturing center like its Stark County sisters Canton and Massillon.

^Alliance was originally four different municipalities (rumor has it *that's* how it got the name). That might explain its relatively spread out setting.