Saving Your Town From Death and Refusing to Label It “historic”

   The picture in the top left-hand quarter is a picture of Historic Downtown Rogers, Arkansas, my home town. As you can tell from the photo, it is a little pretty area of charm with little business and truthfully I feel that is set up to look like this picture for the rest of it’s years because of it’s slogan,”Historic Downtown Rogers”.

    That’s fine if your goal is to keep this side of town looking old and full of destitute, but I am sure that is not the true idea. I am sure that the merchants and the shop owners would truly enjoy the business that could be obtained by just changing one thought about our great little downtown area. That thought is that they need to change is the idea of this little downtown area as just a historical place to remember to one of not only historical value but also of growth and never ceasing opportunity. Just change the slogan from “Historical Downtown Rogers” to something like “The Ever- Growing Historical Downtown Rogers.

 These are just examples and ideas, but which one inspires growth and prosperity and which one just says “An Old Town” to you? Let me ask you this, When you were younger did you want to visit a town or a part of town because it boasted the term “Historical”? Was it the big and busy towns that you wanted to visit and shop in or was it the little small historical towns that grasped you attention when you thought about spending your money ? I can hear your answers already.

    Now before we get too far into this idea let me explain that there is nothing wrong with remembering how great the town has been in the past. We should never forget all the great businesses and people that have put this little town in history books. It is very important for everyone, even a town, to remember their roots and struggles it took to get where they are now in life. Just like a person, a towns growth to prosperity should be documented, remembered and kept open to the public in museums, libraries, and on those fancy little historical marker signs. They are things worth bragging about. So, please understand that I am just trying to impose that the thought or the emotion about a town or one of it’s areas should impress the idea of advancement and not  a staling of age.