Paul Thorpe has received warranted credit recently for his efforts to improve downtown Sarasota. As historian Jeff LaHurd wrote in the Herald-Tribune, Thorpe long ago earned the moniker “Mr. Downtown” in recognition of his volunteer and professional work with the Downtown Association he helped create and operate — and the city has appropriately agreed to name a park in his honor.
At a time when some of the citizenry is worried about the form and scale of development in Sarasota — concerns that should not be taken lightly — it is also important to reflect on how difficult it was to redevelop downtowns.
Through the Sixties, downtown Sarasota and Bradenton were hubs of government, commerce and civic life in their respective counties.
Before the Seventies, downtown Bradenton had Sears, Penney, the original Beall’s, a two-story Montgomery-Roberts department store (with an escalator!), an array of independent clothing stores and a Woolworth’s (complete with a lunch counter and sections for toys and even small pets) and a popular Morrison’s Cafeteria. The situation was similar in Sarasota, where commerce stretched on Main Street from the corner of U.S. 301 — anchored by the legendary Maas Brothers department store (also equipped with an escalator) and its Suncoast Restaurant — all the way to the bayfront.