Downtown Settlement in Curiosity and Satisfaction | World Anvil

Downtown

Downtown is hillier than the Northside. Although the ground rises steadily north from the river, there are dips and ridges as it climbs. The town square is the most level part of Downtown.   North of Colwen Street this thickly built neighborhood is mostly residential, and mostly lower class. Here also is the common, or town square, which is formally known as Independence Square. The houses bordering the common on the north and east sides are stately mansions, but the homes behind them, topped with gables and gambrel roofs and built around 1820, are commoner and more crowded together. New Jerusalem Sanitarium was originally a huge Georgian double home built by the Pickering brothers, Paul and Thomas Jr., in 1822.   Most of New Jerusalem’s civic services are located on the west and south sides of the common. They include the town hall, the courthouse, the police station, and the fire hall. Most of these buildings were constructed in the mid-eighteenth century in a classical style with large pillars and pediments; some have wings added later. The town hall is a four-story building of late Georgian or Federalist Revival design. Professionals, particularly lawyers and bail bondsmen, are found here, as are New Jerusalem’s two major banks.   The Common is surrounded on its other sides by large and impressive Federalist homes built in the early nineteenth century. Many have been divided into apartments or boarding houses.   A small area along Garrison Street features good restaurants and a variety of family entertainment. This area may be busy on weekend evenings, unusual in New Jerusalem.   Peabody Avenue, Fish Row, and Federal Street are lined with small shops and industries, constituting one of New Jerusalem’s dirtier, smellier areas. A few local markets and diners also appear there. Several abandoned mills decay at the water’s edge.  

Notable Locations

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