Iron Mountain Main Street has been declared an accredited National Main Street Program, after meeting national revitalization standards set by the National Trust Main Street Center.
Iron Mountain has been recognized at the local and state levels before, but not the national level, so the accreditation has been a sought-after one. To meet the standards, a downtown has to build a strong revitalization organization and demonstrate how they've used a method called the Main Street Four-Point Approach to strengthen the local economy and protect historic buildings.
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Iron Mountain Main Street program began in 2006 in partnership with the Downtown Development Authority, and has worked on projects including streetscaping, façade improvements, a year-round events calendar, a young professionals network, a citywide tree inventory, getting the downtown on the National Register of Historic Places, and a rental rehabilitation program.
That all translates to an increase of 16 businesses and 38 full-time jobs downtown, more than $1.5 million each in private and public investment, and 179 volunteers who have worked almost 15,000 hours.
"Across the country people are realizing the economic benefits of an attractive and vibrant downtown for attracting talent and new businesses to a community," says DDA and Main Street manager Jonathan Ringel. "We will continue working hard to make out community a better place."
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Jonathan Ringel, Iron Mountain Main Street
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