on the other side of the tracks

as you walk along S. Elm Street you will see a lot of building, in use or empty, and empty spaces, used as parking or allies. coming from Spring Garden St. towards the Lewis Street intersection, the buildings on the right side of the street are the odd numbered and the ones on the left side are even numbered. there are only several buildings on either side of the street but each building is split into 3 or 4 sections.

in 1925 most of the buildings were used as businesses, a few were vacant or residents. a lot of the second levels of the shops were used as homes for the shop keepers/owners. from the Southern Railroad:Captain of Police Office to the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. just about every type of business is covered. a couple of the businesses occupy two of the sections such as the Coble & Starr Motor Co. which is in Suite 531 and Suite 533.

in 1975 the economy must have dropped---a lot. the whole sections from Suite 401 to Suite 511 and from Suite 533 to Suite 601 weren't listed so we have to assume that they had been removed from S. Elm Street. a lot the odd side was missing and spacey. a couple of the addresses are missing from the even side of S. Elm Street but most of the buildings are still standing and in use. some of the second levels of the shops were still in use as homes as well.

in 2000 the economy still must have been low or the the people of Greensboro just didn't care enough to keep up that part of town because even more of the addresses were not listed--on both the left and right side of S. Elm Street.

in 2009--present day--the Greensboro people must have started to appreciate the older part of town more because more of the buildings are in use. the addresses that aren't listed are definitely parking lots and back streets.

some of the buildings have been in use by the same company since 1975. most havent though.

i think that the Greensboro people have realized the historic value of the old downtown part of Greensboro. and with this in mind they have focused on restoring and using the original buildings rather than replacing them with more modern buildings.