Welcome to the New Old Downtown Marshfield
Brick paths guide your steps along the flowerpot-lined street, dotted with inviting park benches and old-fashioned lampposts in the shadow of impressive storefronts.
Welcome to the new old Marshfield.
The historic Wisconsin city has been hard at work peeling back the years and polishing downtown to its original charm. After much preparation, a $9 million street beautification project and a matching grant façade improvement effort kicked off in of spring 2009. Today, the fruits of the revitalization are visible not only in the quaint, appealing environment, but also in the increased foot and motor traffic to the downtown area.
“We just brought back an atmosphere that we were missing for a long time,” says Denise Sonnemann, director of Main Street Marshfield, an economic development program focused on downtown revitalization and historic preservation. “Downtown was, you know, you drive through it to get from point A to point B. We wanted it to be more of a destination.”
Since the reopening of downtown, which was essentially closed off while the street and storefronts underwent the transformation, the new look has been a boon to small business owners. Not only have loyal customers returned, but new visitors are also venturing downtown to see the change for themselves. The allure of the upgrades, combined with the tendency to shop closer to home during an economic downturn, means Marshfield’s downtown business owners are experiencing a surge of interest.
“I think a lot of the big chains are struggling right now, but if you look at the little stores, the small businesses, they’re doing OK because they don’t have all the financial pressure,” Sonnemann says. “It’s also more laid back. Everybody that goes to the big stores, they don’t take the time to relax and window shop. That’s something that happens in the downtown, because there are so many unique stores and you want to go to all of them. Whereas, if you just go to Walmart, they have everything, and you kind of miss out on all that.”
The renewed interest in downtown this project has created is not only a welcome side effect of this successful project but also a catalyst that helped get the project off the ground.
“I think the downtown is basically the pulse of what happens in a city,” Sonnemann says. “It’s what makes the city unique.”
Restoring downtown builds pride in a community, according to Jason Angell, director of planning and economic development for the city of Marshfield. That pride is manifested in bustling streets: The more people head downtown, the more businesses want to be a part of the marketplace, attracting even more people, and the cycle continues upward. The revitalization project kick-starts that cycle.
“In order to attract businesses downtown or individuals downtown, the first thing you’ve got to do is get them to at least look at your building, so a facelift was definitely needed,” Angell says.
To get shop owners in the spirit of change, the city offered a matching grant program for historic façade restoration. The program received so much interest that it quickly exhausted its $50,000 budget – and was given an additional $100,000 by the city council. Roughly 10 businesses have taken advantage of the offer so far, with costs ranging from $3,000 to almost $100,000.
“We’ve been extremely pleased with the program, and we really hope that we can continue this program for many years to come and expand it to other areas of the community, outside just the downtown,” Angell says. “We hope that it’s something that will spark overall community redevelopment in the areas that need it.”
