Well, that's hard to say, really, and I'm certainly not saying it was the only factor. But if I look at other small Indiana towns I know, I can think of severa

Well, that's hard to say, really, and I'm certainly not saying it was the only factor. But if I look at other small Indiana towns I know, I can think of several with central squares that are still doing well (Paoli springs to mind, or Winchester), and New Castle's downtown died when the state closed down the street for construction for a year. (Statewide mandates for width of state roads - they took out trees along the street, one of which my kindergarten class had collected money to pay for. Oy.) And certainly Richmond's overall economic decline started in the 30's and hasn't really gotten any better since then. But my overall point is that pedestrian zones don't automatically turn into cafe-laden paradises, as much as we'd all like that to happen, and in America in particular that's less likely to happen than in Europe, largely (imho) due to our much lower density of population - itself due in part to automobile addiction.