Jenny Lawrence

HIST 4000-090

30 January 2008

Dr. Morrill

Main Street to Miracle Mile

            Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture was written by Chester H. Liebs and originally published in 1985. The second printing was published in 1995 by Johns Hopkins University Press in Baltimore, Maryland. Liebs is a professor of history at the University of Vermont and is one of the founding directors for the Historic Preservation Program at the university. Other works by this historian include Ducks and Diners: Views from America’s Past, published in 1988, and The Burlington Book: Architecture, History, Future, published in 1980. Main Street to Miracle Mile draws from Liebs’ research of the transformation of America’s roadside architecture as it evolved from centralized main streets to the sprawling urban landscapes made possible by the invention of the automobile.

            Liebs argues that the invention of the automobile was the cause of the changing of the landscape of America. When the automobile was introduced to the “Main Streets”, or the centralized shopping hubs that had often sprang up around train tracks, the crowded spaces and lack of parking made driving difficult for motorists and pedestrians alike. As the years went by, businesses expanded towards the limits of the towns and cities. The building of bypasses diverted traffic and business from the Main Streets to more commercialized “Miracle Miles” of the modern age.

            Liebs concludes that “the overlays of highways, and the buildings that line them, reveal how the automobile, coupled with commerce, had edited the American landscape.” By studying the architecture of the buildings alongside the highways, it can “reveal how the national psyche has been reduced and encapsulated into twenty-second commercials.” The roadside architecture of the United States is unique, and the people of this country should do more to preserve the structures of bygone eras.

            Liebs gives a history of commercial roadside architecture as it expanded with the invention of the automobile. The book is divided into several chapters, each explaining the development of several types of buildings that defined typical American roadside architecture such as auto showrooms, gas stations, motels, drive-in theaters, restaurants, supermarkets, and miniature golf courses. The numerous pictures included are continually relevant to the topics being discussed on the page, giving the average reader a visual example of the details outlined in the book.

            Main Street to Miracle Mile is informative and interesting. The details Liebs provides allows any average reader to actively recognize roadside architecture in their own town. Liebs brings to America’s attention the little-researched topic as a piece of our cultural history. The book suggests that Americans need to protect and preserve the architecture of the past before they are gone forever. Most people, including myself, take the roadside billboards, signs, businesses, and residential developments for granted, not realizing how much these artifacts are essential to American history.

            Since the book was last published in 1995, there have been many economic problems that have prevented Americans to travel as much as they used to. The cost of cars has risen as the minimum wage has not risen in the same manner. Most Americans now prefer to fly to their destinations rather than drive, even after the events of September 11, 2001. The cost of gas has risen phenomenally within the past few years, making it hard for most people to take leisurely drives. However, this book is still important by presenting an interesting side of America’s cultural and architectural history.