"I consider the Main Street project a reflection on what we've lost as a culture and nation. More than just a physical location, Main Street represents a state of mind, a civility and decency that has gone missing in the United States, replaced by a soulless existence of big commerce where we're pushed to buy ever more things but interact with others around us less intimately, if at all."—Jake Price This piece was supported and produced by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism about inequality.
"Shenandoah was a proud town that came into its own in the 1920s, the street having movie theaters and places where people could buy nice clothing and jewelry. Residents told me that the sidewalk became so crowded on Saturday afternoons that it was impossible to stand still because of the flow of the crowd."
"Brownsville was a steel and manufacturing town. When those industries started faltering in the 1970s so too did their community."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"As wealth from local industry grew, people in Shenandoah were proud of their street because they were the ones that made it happen. Coming up from poverty they truly felt like they were in charge of their lives and community. The driving economic factor of the town was coal. As the coal industry declined so too did commerce on Main Street, a decline that continues now."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"Of all the towns I photographed I thought that Brownsville was the most elegant and desolate (it's home to a lovely and ornate train station that is now crumbling) which made it all the more sad because it made me think of what our national priorities are."
"Main Streets were places, ultimately, not of commerce, but of community where people talked and checked in with each other."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"In Brownsville, Main Street is technically Market Street. This was an operating establishment. One of the only ones on the street, a living example of the personal connection that once was."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"It's inconceivable that we spend trillions on wars and billions bailing out Wall Street but that these important parts of our country and ultimately individuality are just left to rot."
Jake Price/conomichardship.org
"With the decline of manufacturing and the advent of big box stores many shops closed and with them the human connection that made these communities distinct."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"This was found in a storefront window of the abandoned Union Station."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
Brownsville, PA Note: Main Street is techinically Market Street
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"The dresses in Welch, West Virginia were one little bright spot on an otherwise rundown street giving me a somewhat dreamlike impression of lighter times. I had the hope that with one store, perhaps there might be others to take the inspiration and try to revive that town's individuality and community."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
Welch, W VA Note: there are 2 streets can can be called Main Streets in this town. The one pictured here is Mc Dowell St.
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"The Main Street was separated into two sections where one block, closer to the station is more populated with businesses, mostly little tourist shops where small items are sold."
Jake Price/economichardship.org
"Further on, where this shot was taken, it's mostly desolate with odd reminders in the windows of human presence, more an absurd expression of loss and desolation than economic purpose."
