Mapping Main Street

The intent of the Mapping Main Street project is to challenge the idea commonly perpetuated by the media and politicians that all Main Streets, and their citizens, have a singular identity. The term “main street” has been commonly used since the 2008 election and successive financial crisis to describe a certain location and population; however, the Mapping Main Street project allows for citizens to reflect on the meaning of the phrase and document their own ideas of what constitutes a Main Street.

The Mapping Main Street project relies on volunteer contributors to compile photos, videos and stories in an effort to create a multimedia map of the 10,466 streets named “Main” across the United States. The project uses an open-source format through which contributors are able to upload their own media and tag them to a specific place. These individual contributions are then compiled into a nationwide map that showcases the variety and local character found in Main Streets across the country, challenging the idea that there is only one distinct meaning in the phrase “main street.”

The project began by airing three stories on NPR’s Weekend Edition and on NPR.org in 2009. The stories focused on three very different Main Streets: Chattanooga, Tennessee, where part of the street is a prostitution strip; San Luis, Arizona, where the street is a border crossing for thousands of farm laborers daily; and Lewiston, Montana, where a spring creek runs under the street.  The project team also completed a 12,000 mile trip across the country to visit Main Streets and collect media from the diverse examples they encountered.  Since then, the project has relied on volunteer contributions from ordinary citizens across the country.  Anyone who wishes to contribute to the project need only record a photo or video on a street named Main Street and upload it to the project website.