This photograph of the 300 block of Main Street near Avondale captures more than just a few long-lost details. It was taken during Laurel’s 1970 Centennial Celebration.
Now-gone businesses in the scene include Light’s Shoes and Apparel, the Laurel News Leader newspaper office, and Snyder’s Cleaners.
But the street itself would undergo quite a transformation in the years to follow. Streetside details such as parking meter posts, wooden utility and streetlamp poles—with their bottom ends painted in pastel colors for “beautification”— granite kerbstones, concrete “parking strips”, and large, tall trees have not been seen since Main Street was rebuilt in 1980-1981. Yet, surprisingly, the overall aesthetic of Main Street remains as familiar today as it did on this clear day 41 years ago.
Lost Laurel 