An empty grocery building with its windows papered over sits near the corner of Huston and U.S. 160.
Across Huston to the east is an old gas station that while quaint in its old architecture is used now only for storage.
The two empty buildings are what people first see as they look down Altamont’s main street downtown. A quick glance down Huston and one sees barren sidewalks, plain, discolored metal facades, peeling paint, damaged awnings and dirty windows marking businesses and empty buildings alike that line the street.
U.S. 160 is fairly well traveled, and questions are being pondered as to what can make the difference in people driving by Altamont and people seeing something that makes them want to turn off and explore.
“You go around to some of these local towns and they are doing a lot to spruce up. I was just in Galena over the weekend and they’ve done a lot. Parsons is another, with huge improvements done there. To me, signage, awnings, even if you come up with semi-permanent benches with planters on them. To me that’s a facade improvement.Altamont City Administrator Christina Schlatter explains, “It’s just something we thought was kind of important, to spruce up downtown and make it more presentable. We have a lot of people traveling through on the highway, so its a pretty main thoroughfare. We’ve got people traveling to get to (Kansas Highway) 101, Big Hill (Lake), Independence, families traveling for sports games, and have people visiting here because we have the largest school district in Labette County. We used to drive through and we’d always see people out on their bikes and people walking. People are really getting into the walking thing here. I just think it would be great to spruce things up. Spring’s coming and summer’s coming, so we thought it was time to do it.”
(Read more: Parsons Sun)