Despite its widespread use as a downtown development strategy, little research has been conducted on the Main Street Approach established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through the use of a national survey of Main Street programs and site visits to four downtowns (Tupelo, Mississippi; Danville, Kentucky; Cushing, Oklahoma; and St. Charles, Illinois), this article reports on how communities actually apply the elements of the four-point Main Street Approach organization, promotion, design, economic restructuring and discusses factors contributing to their usage and effectiveness. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance of the Main Street Approach to members of the planning and design professions. (Authors abstract)

This article reports on how communities apply the elements of the four-point Main Street Approach and discusses factors contributing to their usage and effectiveness.