Dowtown Mainstreet-Then & Now

Roanoke, Alabama is home to 5,984 people, so I guess you could call us a small town.  Though our town may be small, our history is large.  Main Street in Roanoke is and has always been the beautiful, focal point of our town.  Throw it back a hundred years, and tiny, little Main Street was the place to be.  People would come from bigger cities just to be in the Roanoke, Alabama mix.  Now, it seems so abandoned and full of old, boring buildings, but the history of these, “old, boring buildings,” is quite interesting.  The two photos were taken on Main Street.  The top left picture is a picture of the City Cafe in 1920.  The City Cafe was originally was The Roanoke Banking Co.  The restaurant was opened by the Rombakus family (Greek immigrants.) A fun fact is that, Clark Gable who played Rhett from Gone with the Wind ate here! The (now) window on the front was actually a door to the bank.  The Rombakus family turned the door into what is now a window!  The building exterior has not changed on most of the buildings including this beautiful Cafe that is now City Salon, run by Angel Whaley.  The top right picture is a photo looking down Main Street towards the City Cafe and First National Bank.  First National Bank never opened as a national bank it was actually the merchant and farmer’s bank.  When it was Merchants and Farmers Bank, Mr. Z. J. Wright was the President of the bank.  When the depression came, the bank closed.  It was later reopened by Mr. Joe Owens under the name City Bank & Trust Co..  Much like the City Cafe, the exterior of the Bank was not changed.  It is now a law office of Kesa Johnson, and the original safe is still in there as well.  There are many changes outside on the streets.  There are less power poles, and the sidewalks have gotten a lot better!  People back in the olden days used to crowd the streets and live their daily lives and enjoy each other. I think the social aspects of the pictures changed more than physical because now people do not stop or really have a reason to stop which they would have back then when there were more business.  People now just pass through and admire the old buildings and ride the streets that were once full of life.  I believe things have changed all because time has become one of the bigger obsessions of us, we just do not have the time to socialize anymore.  However, Roanoke is becoming what it once was, on Main Street.  New businesses are starting daily.  I feel, in the future we will be thriving like we once were 100 years ago, with the same beautiful structures and with the same beautiful history.