1950s and 1960s Main Streets Fuel Prosperity

Consumerism in Post War America Focused on Downtown Shopping

Nov 22, 2009 Michael Streich

As individual wages rose in the 1950s and products expanded, affordable consumer goods from food to clothing helped fuel a period of economic prosperity and well being.

   

In 1965 Petula Clark’s hit song “Downtown” reminded listeners to “listen to the music of the traffic in the city, linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty.” In the 1950s and 60s Main Street in most American cities represented the life and prosperity of a consumer driven society. Here shoppers bought everything from Smith-Corona typewriters made in the USA to a pair of Hagar slacks selling for $6.95. New products, often advertised as “fully automatic,” characterized a period of conformity while giving workers the opportunity to purchase consumer goods as their wages rose.

Post Depression Economic Expansion

After over a decade of national depression and four years of a world war that demanded sacrifices, the Cold War peace was a breath of fresh air for most Americans. The average national income in 1950 was $3,216 and the cost of a new house in suburbs approximately $12,400. Cold War families paid 16 cents for a gallon of gas and 3 cents to mail a letter.

The American housewife experienced dramatic changes in the kitchen. Hotpoint’s new range, introduced in the 1950s, was advertised as “super automatic” and could bake, broil, grill, barbeque (like modern rotisserie appliances), and had the ability to fry fries in a special frying unit. Changes in processed food also meant less time in the kitchen.

The Swanson “TV dinners” began a food revolution while the producers of evaporated milk proclaimed their product as a “magical marvel.” In 1957 a can of Campbell’s tomato soup cost 10 cents and for those families seeking to dine out, a chicken dinner in Topeka in 1951 was only $1.50 and included a choice of sides and dessert at Hoofer’s Dinner-House. Products were made in America, fueling an industrial and manufacturing economy.

Main Street in Every Downtown

For most urban Americans, the city “downtown” was a microcosm of the national consumer spirit. Specialty shops linked the “five-and-dime” stores like Kresge and McCrory’s along every main thoroughfare. Because many neighborhoods reflected ethnic immigrant patterns, an Italian bakery might be across the street from a Polish butcher.

Downtowns in the sprawling Northeastern communities within driving distance of New York or Philadelphia were connected by bus routes and rail transportation. In New Jersey, the Erie-Lakawanna line took passengers from Newark to Main Streets in Passaic and Patterson while buses ferried shoppers to the larger downtown avenues such as Bergenline Avenue in West New York on the Jersey side of the Hudson River.

Many downtowns across the nation featured venerable old department stories like Sterns in Newark, NJ or Belks in Charlotte, NC. Every downtown hosted a Sears store. It was the departure of these important establishments in favor of suburban malls that began the decline of Main Street in many communities. Along with malls, free-standing all-purpose stories like W.T. Grant lured shoppers away from downtowns.

Increased Mobility Added to the Demise of Downtown Shopping

By the late 1960s more Americans than ever were driving. A gallon of gas was still only 25 cents in 1959 and Detroit was producing attractive and affordable new models every year. This was also the period when America went from an urban nation a suburban one. Families traveled more and the suburban shopping mall was a new experience. In 1967, a one-night stay at a Howard Johnson’s motor lodge was only $15.50 plus tax.

As the five-and-dime stores consolidated in the 1980s or filed for bankruptcy, many downtown merchants found the decreasing interest in Main Street shopping unsustainable to their businesses. Today, communities have spent millions of dollars to “revitalize” dead downtowns but have generally been unsuccessful in bringing back meaningful merchant business. The Main Streets that helped fuel fifties and sixties prosperity remain a nostalgic memory of a bygone era.

Sources:

• Reminisce magazine and on-line site.
• Jeff Little, “A Bargain at Any Price.”
• Laura Shapiro, Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America (Viking, 2004)
• “1950s & 1960s Commercials,” The Video Beat, New Paltz, NY (VHS)
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• *The copyright of this article is owned by Michael Streich. Reprinting of any or all of this article in any format must be grated in writing by Michael Streich.