The Design and Content of Character Main Streets.

The design and content of nine Central Florida’s Character Main Streets reveals important attributes that entitles these small cities to be considered character towns.

The five county Central Florida Region is fortunate to have many small cities and towns with character downtowns. Each town has an attractive and successful retail and civic “main streets”. Each is a “centennial town”, with over 100 years of incorporation. Most were developed as the railroad came to town. Their buildings were constructed before elevators and steel frame construction.

A survey of nine towns reveals an instructive commonality in the length of their main street“Active Zones”, the provision of parking and the height of their buildings. This history can inform the preservation of established character towns and the design of new towns