The delightfully named city of Mediapolis. One thousand and seven hundred souls.

A sign that they tried to revitalize downtown, or perhaps keep it vital, by messing with the streets. You know my opinion on brick planters and the like - they don’t work. They might be nice but they don’t save downtown.

This looks ripe for three groups of friends taken out by a driver who didn’t know the street had changed.

THE CARE FACILITY INCORPORATED

Your choice of ashtrays!

The handsome bank of yore. Brick was probably the cheaper option, but when married with stone and some off-the-shelf Corinthian capitals, it had a sober, dignified look.

This fellow’s been through a lot.

The cornice has been scoured, the windows blinded, the storefront glass painted or boarded over. But it’s just a few steps away from being its old self again, if anyone cared.

You can tell what it was.

Ooof

I think this shows two different renovations. The brick on top, the thin bands - that’s rusticated, which puts it in the late 19th early 20th. The lighter bricks could be a teens - 20s attempt to modernize.

The lower floor brickwork is 70s / 80s.

Perhaps it’s best put out of its misery.

70s / 80s amalgam. They loved the slanting roofs. The windows let the sun in. But the spaces were always oddly inert, perhaps because of their corporate purposes.

As we like to say around here, we all know what this was.

Big picture window. I’ll bet he sold lots of accessories.

Sorry, the garage isn’t taking any customers today.

BOY ISN’T THAT AN IRONIC SHOT, EH

Did people have trouble finding doors?

Wow: That’s a bright, proud thing. It’s a pity the windows weren’t restored and the ground floor iso all siding, but . . .

Bob took his best shot, and we thank him for that.

Thus were the small towns of the day