Why Main Street?

Before the Main Street Program

Morganton hasn’t always had a Main Street program. In the late 1970s, downtown Morganton was facing the same fate as thousands of other downtowns throughout the country. The City’s downtown buildings were ageing, many properties were in disrepair, and several were boarded up. There was no merchants association and no combined effort to promote downtown businesses. There were no festivals or Friday-night concerts, and public parking was limited. No Main Street program existed to focus on the health of the downtown, but that changed in the early 1980s thanks to the efforts of the group that would become the Historic Burke Foundation.

Main Street Designation

In 1980, the National Trust created the National Trust Main Street Center to help communities focus on downtown revitalization. The goal of the national Main Street program was to stimulate economic development within the context of historic preservation, using a comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization. At the same time the national Main Street program was being launched, the Historic Burke Foundation was working to restore the Old Burke County Courthouse. The Historic Burke Foundation members saw the national Main Street program as a way to further their work on the Old Courthouse and promote the renovation of other historic properties in downtown Morganton.

The group brought the idea to apply for Main Street designation to City Manager Doug Bean. Bean agreed that the Main Street program could benefit Morganton by reenergizing the downtown district and promoting economic activity, and he took the plan to Mayor Andy Kistler and the City Council. Kistler and the Council recognized that the program would benefit Morganton and they agreed to fund the effort. In 1982, Morganton was approved as a Main Street Community, the seventh town in North Carolina to receive the designation. The other six municipalities were New Bern, Salisbury, Shelby, Tarboro, Washington, and Clinton.

Today

Today, Morganton is one of 61 Main Street communities in North Carolina, and one of thousands across the country. Morganton’s City leaders had the foresight in 1982 to take part in the program and got a 30-year head start on towns just now applying to assist with downtown revitalization.

The Main Street program has been so successful in North Carolina and the nation that surrounding communities are still applying to become Main Street communities themselves. Valdese received designation as a Main Street Community in 2013. In 2006, nearby Hickory joined the program. Marion joined in 2003. Newton joined in 1990, and Lenoir joined the Main Street Program in 1984.