Chester H. Liebs

Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture

1995 John Hopkins University Press

Dr. Dan L. Morrill

Mark Stewart

HIST 4000-A90 Roadside Architecture

Spring 2008

Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture

Chester H. Liebs, John Hopkins University Press, 1995.

            When viewing the cover of Main Street to Miracle Mile it is easy to assume that this is a standard architectural subject book, with special emphasis on American roadside architecture, but it has much more depth than meets the eye.  Main Street accurately describes the commercialization of roadside buildings and it emphasizes how the emergence of the automobile has shaped the culture and architecture of America.  The author, Chester H. Liebs, is a professor of History and Founder of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Vermont.  Liebs had this non-fiction, informational text first published in 1985, and little has changed to the book over the course of time. 

            Main Street consists of 3 Primary Sections titled: Space, Image, and Types.  Section 1, titled Space, involves Liebs interpretation of the emergence of the American automobile and the effect that it had on the people of the U.S. and on the commercial industries of America.  Liebs portrays the importance of the transformation of the American open space to the commercialized sectors that surrounded the newly formed roads. 

            In Section 1 the phrase “Movie Through the Windshield” is present often, basically implying that simply by driving a car one has the ability to view “one of the most fascinating movies of all…the landscape played at high speed” (p.4).  Through the final stages of the evolution of roadside commerce the creation of the “Miracle Mile” came into full context.  “Miracle Mile” refers to the successful completion of superhighways, businesses along these highways, and shopping centers that were formed around the creation and immense popularity of the automobile.  Liebs also asserts the belief that many historians have neglected the importance of these roadside artifacts, and more attention needs to be placed on the preservation of these architectural monuments of the American past.

            Section 2, titled Image, depicts how the businesses that were involved in the renaissance of roadside architecture transformed to promote business along the streets of America.  Liebs mentions various architectural styles including Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, Modern, and Exaggerated Modern, and also the advertisement advantages of each of these.  For example, Art Deco styled roadside buildings generally embody geometrical forms in low relief, from highly stylized floral motifs to circles, segments, and zigzags, which is a more classic style to gaining business against competitors. 

            Section 3, titled Types, includes specific examples of roadside architecture that has had the biggest influence on commerce.  These categorical examples include Auto Showrooms, Gas Stations, Supermarkets, Miniature Golf Courses, Drive-in Theaters, Motels and Restaurants.  For each of these categories Liebs conveys the history and evolution that they embraced during this era of roadside architecture.  For example, Liebs characterizes how the Gas Station began as a by-product of petroleum and that it was not in high demand until the emergence of the automobile.  Liebs also discusses that by 1910 gas stations had become abundant, due to the fact that  car sales had risen up to 4,500 percent since its initial birth.  Along any road, gas businesses were popping up in order to meet the demands of a rapidly growing market, and this shaped the cultural landscape as well as the physical surroundings that accompanied this technological revolution. Throughout this section Liebs sketches great knowledge in each of the categories and he shows much enthusiasm on how these artifacts were molded and transformed into what they would eventually become.

            Main Street to Miracle Mile is an excellent introduction to the development of roadside architecture and the building of cities in America.  Liebs takes an assumingly boring topic and creates interest with his in-depth perceptions and his detailed accounts of automobile history and roadside commerce.  Main Street is complemented by 17 color and 252 black and white photos and these photographs illustrate the impact that an active and mobile population has had on the location, size, and design of the buildings around us.  I agree with every topic that Liebs was forcing on the reader, and I share his beliefs that these buildings are not only architecture but also historical artifacts that delineate a critical era in the expansion of the United States and that historians should all see the importance of these testaments.  Main Street is both a historical survey and a valuable guide for reading the highway landscape and should be considered a classic work in its field.  However, although Liebs gives abundant attention of the impact that the architecture and automobile had on the economy, he skims the surface of how this affected the culture of the American people. One hopes that Liebs or another scholar will create an even more scrupulous coverage of how roadside architecture has forged the culture of American society.