• Economic decline began in the 1960s.

• Entrepreneurs saw need to revive downtown
in early 1980s.

• Renaissance slow for 36-block business &
residential district

• Downtown Revitalization Coalition
founded in 1984

• Then 12 viable businesses were downtown

• Merged in 1996 with Historic Strand Partnership to form Historic Downtown/Strand Partnership

• Today, more than 200 viable businesses
are downtown