Urbanization of Downtown LaSalle

Let's take a look at the development of LaSalle through history, specifically block 120. This block is bounded by Marquette (top), First (right), Gooding, (bottom) and Second Streets (left).

1888

The earliest map I could find is 1888, some forty years after LaSalle's founding. First street is obviously the most valued street, since that is where buildings are most dense. Decent building densities are also found on the streets radiating from First Street. Was Gooding Street really called Goodling, or is that just an error on the part of the mapmakers? I find it amazing that there are approximately three buildings on each platted lot. The LaSalle Hotel appears to be above several shops. All these pieces of evidence point towards an urbanizing process.

 1898 

Values on Marquette Street rise in 1898, possibly due to the increased traffic across the Shippingsport
bridge from expanding resource extraction activities across the river in Portland (now Oglesby). Most small outbuildings lining the alley have been removed. It is interesting that most of the buildings house different shops than they housed ten years earlier.

1906

The corner lot on Marquette Street is filled in. Values rise on Gooding Street causing expansion of current buildings and the construction of a dance hall on the corner of Gooding and 2nd. Even the small building on 2nd Street has become a large residence. I would conclude that the entire neighborhood was undergoing increasing land values. 

1911

In 1911 there are a few new buildings on Gooding. I enjoy the detail showing all the bay windows and turrets on Gooding Street. The dance hall is now labeled as the Majestic Theatre. There are about twenty seven major buildings (It's kind of hard to count). If we assume each of these buildings had two floors above the shops, one apartment per floor, and two persons per apartment, there would have been nearly one hundred people dwelling on this block!

1928

 Not much changes between 1911 and 1928, with the exception of the disappearance of the Majestic Theatre, which has not yet been replaced with a building. Does anybody know what happened to it?

1948

By 1948, the Majestic Theatre has been replaced with a filling station. The house on 2nd Street is still there and has not been converted to a more intense use. 

Here is a pair of aerial photos. The one on the left shows the block in 1938 and the one on the right shows the block recently. Between that time period the buildings on the corner of First and Gooding consolidated to form larger buildings. The buildings abutting 2nd Street were all demolished. To me this hints at declining property values and is a symptom of deurbanizing processes. Hopefully lessons can be gleaned from these maps and photographs towards process to reurbanize LaSalle.

Important processes I noticed: expansion of current buildings and the subdivision of lots.

Sources: Aerial Photography, Sanborn Maps