Adding Color to the Downtown Streetscape

Planter on South Front St.

South Front Street

As you walk along South Front Street you see large white concrete planters filled with an assortment of plants that brighten the streets,  where the streetscape improvements are anticipated to take place within the next 12 months. This is the work of a group of  committed women who live in the Downtown Historic District. They plant and maintain them seasonally which adds a great deal of color and charm.

The large massive planters were  constructed of concrete by city employees under the direction of Cedric Boyd. Cedric worked for the City for many, many years. The City government in the 1950’s was small and had few departments. Cedric Boyd served as the Director of Public Works, Parks and Recreation and handled anything else that needed to be taken care of related to City maintenance. With a miniscule budget, he was looking for ways to beautify downtown and Union Point Park as both were beginning to feel the effects of the post WWII exodus to the suburbs.

He came up with the idea of the planters as he was drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup. He looked at the empty cup…studied it a bit…and said this is the shape we’ll use to cast planters. They made many and placed them throughout the downtown and in Union Point Park prior to the major streetscape improvements that began in the mid-1990’s.   

For many years, those that remained were neglected for the most part until the following women decided it was time to take charge. Connie Dugan, Anne Schout, Roselie McDevitt, Patti Urick, Marie Skoagsbakken, Pat Huges, Pat Tyne, Vieve Moeckel, Cathy O’Brien, Judy Ames, Milenda Robinson, Betty Simon, Dottie Webb, Annette, Carolyn Startsman Hunt and Margie Foskit.

We are glad they did and appreciate their efforts and sense of service.

Tell us what you think.

Susan Moffat Thomas

Executive Director