When this photo was taken in 1919, the corner of Franklin and Tyler Streets was a busy thoroughfare. The Bank of Commerce, Le Roy Hotel, and Union Painless Dentists had businesses there. Rooms at the hotel were rented for $.50 - $1 per day, or $5 per week in 1914, and dentist L.D. Noble, whose office was over the bank, charged “moderate prices.” The Adolph N. Goldstein store and the Mitchell Brothers and Claude R Park & Co. insurance companies on the second floor are harder to see. The bank, once known as City Savings Bank, changed its name in 1910 to the Bank of Commerce due to its large volume of business. By 1931, it was gone.

Franklin was a main artery of retail from the early to mid-1900s. In the early 1960s, Interstate 275 allowed more city dwellers to move to the suburbs. Shopping malls developed, the city expanded, and downtown retail businesses dwindled.  Though redevelopment plans had been discussed for decades, nothing of consequence catapulted a resurgence in the area. Things began to look up after the recession of 2008. New residences, restaurants and bars, and small retail have begun to blossom. Franklin and Tyler are now part of that rekindling, with the entire 900 block being leased and rehabilitated. The outdoor seating area for nightclub Eden Downtown has taken the spot where the bank once stood.

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved