Main Street SC Manager Jenny Boulware, left, presents the Excellence on Main Street award to Laurens Mayor Nathan Senn, center, and Main Street Laurens Executive Director Jonathan Irick at the Municipal Association Annual Meeting on Hilton Head Island. (download photo)
Main Street South Carolina recognized Laurens’ Back Street Park with the Excellence on Main Street Award. This award recognizes the top project from among the winners in the eight categories of the annual Main Street Inspiration Awards.
After the City of Laurens demolished a dilapidated building at the prominent downtown intersection of Main and Harper streets, it found that the property was too small for new development. The Main Street Laurens design team proposed using the site as a pocket park and worked with the city to install swings as well as tables that restaurants could use as outdoor seating.
The new park remained too exposed to the intersection, however, and initially received little use. The city upgraded the area with fencing made of brick and wrought iron, enhanced its landscaping and added lamps. It also added new benches and a refurbished fountain, dating to 1911, which originally stood on the Laurens County courthouse grounds. The park has become a catalyst for further improvements in the area, as work is now underway at an adjacent parking lot to add trees, curbing, lighting, electric car charging stations and bike racks.
The park celebrates Back Street, a part of the downtown once filled with Black-owned businesses that has since disappeared. A city-established committee gathered the names of the historic business owners, which now appear on a marker at the park’s entrance to honor their role in the history of Laurens.
“The City of Laurens and Main Street Laurens reinvented and reactivated an empty space, creating a valuable new park while also honoring historical business owners,” said Jenny Boulware, Main Street SC manager.
Main Street SC is a program of the Municipal Association of South Carolina. It empowers residents, business owners and local officials with the knowledge, skills, tools and organizational structure necessary to revitalize their downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts into vibrant centers of commerce and community.
Main Street SC follows the National Main Street’s Four Point Approach — economic vitality, design, promotion and organization. Each year, Main Street South Carolina recognizes members’ achievements and successes in downtown revitalization. For more information, visit the Municipal Association’s website at www.masc.sc (keyword: Main Street).
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