Walk Around Main Street in Florence, Arizona- February 17, 2018- North Main Street Part 3

Well, this is the last post with all the photographs I took of Florence, Arizona on February 17, 2018! I’m so happy these posts are done because they have weighed on my mind and emotions for some time. I’ll go into that at the end of this post.

But for now, here are the rest of the photographs of Main Street!Here is the view of Florence looking South on Main Street…

Here is the front of the Charles Rapp Saloon…

At the time when I took these photographs, the building was being repaired. Last I checked, it was still for sale.

Here is Joaquin Square, which is located on the corner of 8th Street and Main…

Here is one of the plaques outside the store front of the building True Value Hardware originally operated in before it expanded in the 2000’s…

Here is the second plaque of the store front the newly expanded True Value Hardware store resides in…

And here is the outside of the former Florence Drug store and Bottle Shoppe…

And finally, here are two photographs of a then vacant store fronts…

I’m unsure if these store fronts are occupied today.

Although I am happy I went to Florence and took these photographs, remembering Florence and everything that changed bothered me. I grew up near Florence and walking around the streets give me conflicted feelings. When I was growing up, I thought Florence was a magic town that oozed the history of the Southwest. It was a place I would think of whenever I hear the words “western town”. Even though the charm was something glorious for me to imagine about as a child, as I grew older I began to take a dimmer view of the town. The reason why I didn’t think so highly of the town anymore is mostly because I have very painful memories of going to school in Florence. Walking up and down the streets, even today, reminds me of those sad days and gives me a little anxiety to see the town again.

So many people I’ve ran into over the years adore the charm of the town and are quick to defend it, even if I discuss something very important about the history of the town. I’ve ran into many people in Florence that are so willing to defend the town that they ignore the fact I’m a former local and I have a history with the town they ignore. Because of this, talking about Florence or even posting photographs I took of the town is something I avoid as much as possible. I fear talking openly about the town, how the buildings have fallen into disrepair, and how much money it will theoretically take to repair them because of retaliation of people I knew from Florence. For so many people, Florence is a great place to live. They enjoy the history, the buildings, and, most of all, the people. For me, it never was a great place to live and, even though I was close to some of the people who lived there, I didn’t get a long with many others and that causes me to look at the town through a different pair of eyes.

Although I avoided as much as possible talking about the town in these posts, actually posting these photographs and talking about what buildings are in the photographs is something I never dared talking about. Although I know I won’t get a lot of views on these photography posts, they are a part of my healing from the bullying from my childhood that continued into adulthood.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading! (Next post will hopefully be more optimistic!)