Ryan Workman

January 26th, 2008

History 4000

Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture. Chester H. Liebs. (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

In Main Street to Miracle Mile Liebs discusses the architecture of the American roadside. He describes such architecture as a three dimensional film playing through the windshield of a car. Liebs explores the connection between the introduction of the automobile into the lives of the common American family and the ensuing change in the nature of American land use and development. Liebs' book highlights the radical change from centralized cores of shopping into vast sprawling masses of decentralized shopping centers which now litter our landscape. He argues that the automobile has changed the way Americans perceive their surroundings and was the primary cause for the change of social and economic development in the twentieth century in America.  

Liebs begins the book by giving us a look of the main streets found at the turn of the twentieth century. These main streets were primarily composed of densely built multiple story buildings with large windows which allowed potential customers to window-shop from the sidewalk as they walked past. Stores also utilized signs in the windows and on the store fronts to help draw in those walking by or riding by in their carriages. These signs and window displays became obsolete however as the American mode of transportation evolved from pedestrians and horse drawn carriages to street cars. Street cars enabled people to move along these main streets at a much faster pace than before, so in order to compensate, store owners began using larger and more distinct forms of advertising to grab the attention of customers traveling by. As time progressed and the preferred mode of transportation evolved further to that of automobiles, these forms of advertisement too became outdated. As the pace of American travel increased, the forms of advertising had to adjust in order to catch the attention of consumers in an ever decreasing amount of time. Signs became larger, more colorful, illuminated, and more flashy in order to compensate for the lesser amount of time to attract customers. These large, colorful, and sometimes over the top forms of advertising we see along the road daily came to be as a result of the automobile.

Liebs later moves from discussing the historical changes brought about by the automobile to changes in both land use and architectural style. The most obvious of all changes brought about by the automobile was the vast expansion of America's road system. In the chapter Architecture for Speed Reading, Liebs discusses the evolution of commercial architecture. He labels the types of architecture into several distinct groups: domestic, fantastic, historical, regional, high tech, environmental, as well as a few others. He analyzes each type and discusses the importance of each type to the period in which it was built. His discussion of these types of architecture gives the reader a background into the reasons why we see many of the architectural styles we see littering the landscape today.

The book is an invaluable resource for images demonstrating the vast change of the American landscape from the turn of the century to the late part of the century. In addition to images, Liebs provides a multitude of advertisements, corporate information, interviews and other mediums of information to give the reader a good look into the impact the automobile played upon nearly facet of American society. While the pictures and documents alone are a good resource, the captions used by Liebs to explain their significance only furthers their value to the book.

Overall, an interesting and eye opening experience for many readers. What many may have been viewed unfavorably in the past may now be viewed as a cultural icon worthy of preservation. In a culture where styles quickly change and history is destroyed without a thought to historical significance Liebs brings to light this very serious problem and brings to the attention of readers the importance of many of these road side structures which have been destroyed or left to decline. While overall a solid piece, I feel as though Liebs omitted many other changes brought about by the automobile. There were economical and social changes brought about by the car, including the ways in which people in America live, but Liebs only touches these topics briefly and some not at all. Regardless of any shortcomings, Liebs has opened the eyes of many to the movie playing through their windshield.