Jennifer Strassberg

Roadside Architecture – Dr. Morrill

January 30, 2008

Chester H. Liebs – Main Street to Miracle Mile:  American Roadside Architecture

Chester H. Liebs is currently professor emeritus of history at the University of Vermont and also that institute’s founding director of the Historic Preservation Program.  Liebs has received honors for his work in heritage education from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Preservation Trust of Vermont, and the Vermont Council on the Arts.  Liebs is well known for over thirty years of work in historical and cultural preservation.  He has published and lectured extensively, and his book Main Street to Miracle Mile is now a standard reference work on the progression of American roadside architecture.  The second printing offers a new commentary by the author.

Published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Main Street to Miracle Mile is the first single volume to present an overview of American roadside architecture.  Liebs offers a comprehensive study of roadside attractions observed through what he describes as the “movie through the windshield.”  Encouraging readers to view the built environment as more than mere scenery, Liebs follows the evolution of roadside architecture from its birth:  the invention of the automobile.  Cars prompted the growth of a plethora of roadside necessities and recreation, and Liebs devotes a chapter to several of these.  Liebs first explores the birth of the auto showroom and next moves on to the journey of the gas station from curbside to drive-in to service station, the evolution of the supermarket from service store to self-service, and the miniature golf course craze.  A chapter dedicated to the drive-in theater boom appears next, followed by the growth of roadside camps, motor courts, and finally motels.  Liebs also addresses roadside eateries such as hotdog and hamburger stands, drive-in restaurants, and family chains like Howard Johnson’s.

Liebs’ volume contains a good amount of relevant photographs which help the reader visualize the past and present of American roadside architecture.  The book is comprehensible and informative at any level from lay persons, to scholars, to lecturers.  Included is an extensive bibliography which provides reference to numerous related works offering further information into any of the several topics covered by Liebs.  For anyone with an interest in understanding the development and preservation of our roadside architecture and attractions this book comes highly recommended as both an historical survey and a helpful guide for reading highway landscapes. 

With its second edition now more than ten years old, one hopes Liebs will soon consider an updated version.  As stated by Liebs, “the selective conservation of the roadside commercial legacy cannot be left to chance.”  This tome drives home the fact that, if we refuse to recognize the importance of preservation, the history of these structures will be lost to future generations.