History
Northside of Wabash Avenue, circa 1929 Martin Family Photograph Collection Community Archives, Vigo County Public Library |
Northside of Wabash Avenue, circa 1929 Martin Family Photograph Collection Community Archives, Vigo County Public Library |
Southside of Wabash Avenue, circa 1929 Martin Family Photograph Collection Community Archives, Vigo County Public Library |
Downtown Terre Haute Inc.--Yesterday and Today
Downtown Terre Haute's business community has been organized and represented under a number of banners since before World War II. From the Downtown Merchants Association of the 1940's and 50's to the Downtown Business Association of the 1980's and 90's, these groups always have had a common thread of promoting commerce in the neighborhood and weighing in on a wide range of issues related to downtown development. That rich heritage of activism is embodied and expanded in Downtown Terre Haute, Inc. (DTH), our community's 21st-century version of the old merchant groups.
Organized as a 501 C-3, non-profit corporation in 1999, with funding support from Redevelopment, DTH is an Affiliate of Indiana Main Street. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 4-point philosophy for revitalizing downtown districts guides the organization. Under the Main Street model, an active committee represents each point: Organization, Promotion, Economic Restructuring, and Design.
As land use and consumer patterns in our community shift and expand, DTH works with local leaders, property owners, merchants, residents and developers, to facilitate positive change within the neighborhood. Many issues are perennial: enticing consumers to shop downtown through creative promotions; ensuring that government and property owners remain committed to maintaining public and private infrastructure; and providing adequate parking for workers, customers and other visitors. Our grandparents would have been familiar with all of these downtown challenges, and we face them daily.
Other issues are more contemporary, such as balancing the needs of business owners, with those of our growing residential population. Facilitating the development of a "college town" atmosphere downtown is another relatively recent goal of DTH, Indiana State University and other community groups. Identifying and strengthening our Arts Corridor, encouraging small businesses with local flavor, and promoting the diverse restaurants and entertainment venues in the neighborhood are all vital components of keeping downtown Terre Haute relevant in today's world.
Although some of these directions are fairly new for our community, they are rooted in both the short history of DTH and the long history of the many downtown advocacy groups that have come before us. Downtown Terre Haute, Inc. builds on both the failures and successes of our past to help craft a bright future for "Everybody's Neighborhood".