Main Street, Grand Junction, Colorado 1881 39.067563 -108.556861 Main Street Grand Junction Mesa Colorado USA https://www.google.com/maps/place/Main+St,+Grand+Junction,+CO/@39.0673049,-108.559039,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x87471c6 Google Map link for Main Street, Grand Junction, Colorado According to several local history interviewees, Grand Junction's streets were dirt into the early Twentieth century, and Main Street was no different. When conditions were dry, a breeze often brought up a cloud of dust downtown. When conditions were wet, carriages sometimes became stuck. Main Street had sidewalks, made of wooden planks, earlier than other streets in town. According to Silmon Smith, whose family lived on Main Street when he was a child in the 1890’s, several saloons were located on the street, including Delmain’s between 4th and 5th Streets. In the 1910’s and before, there was a large, concrete horse trough located at 3rd and Main Street. According to oral history interviewee Mary Cox, farmers and ranchers would come to town on Saturdays, water their horses at the trough and tie them their horses along 3rd Street. They would then “gather and spit tobacco juice and talk, and exchange the news of the week” in front of the Reed Building. Main Street was long the center of the town's cultural, economic and social life. In the 1960’s, city manager Joe Lacy initiated Operation Foresight, which transformed Main Street’s shopping district to a more pedestrian friendly, walkable stretch of four blocks. Grand Junction was awarded the All-American City award in 1964 as a result of this development. In 1984, Dave Davis initiated the Art on the Corner exhibition with the cooperation of the Downtown Development Authority. Art on the Corner was and is a permanent outdoor art display consisting of permanent pieces and rotating pieces. Both local and out-of-town artists display their works on Main Street and elsewhere downtown. The display has become a hallmark of Main Street and Grand Junction. *Photograph of Main Street looking West in 1884. Courtesy of the Museums of Western Colorado yes yes