Downtown Kinston is Still the Heart of the City
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Historic downtowns across America are struggling to make themselves pros perous again‚ but that’s not the case in Kinston. With centuries-old architecture‚ a newly opened visitors center‚ picturesque riverfront‚ shops and restaurants‚ downtown Kinston is thriving today as much as ever.
“There’s a lot of new activity down town‚” says Mark Pope‚ director of Lenoir County Economic Development. “City and county leaders are working to make it more attractive‚ and we continue to see more shops and attractions pop up.”
Downtown Kinston’s good fortune is in part due to the foresight of community members who‚ in 1984‚ formed Pride of Kinston Inc. – an organization dedicated to helping downtown remain the heart of the city. Pride of Kinston uses the Main Street approach developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to promote economic development while preserving the historic feel of Kinston’s main drag.
“A group of downtown business people started Pride of Kinston because they wanted to make sure downtown stayed alive‚” says Adrian King‚ executive director of Pride of Kinston Inc.
Housed in a historic Queen Street building that used to be a Sears‚ Roebuck and Co. store‚ Pride of Kinston oversees several projects that have contributed to downtown revitalization. One is the Kinston Enterprise Center‚ which opened five years ago in the same building and acts as a small business incubator for aspiring entrepreneurs.
“The Kinston Enterprise Center has offices for 25 entrepreneurs and offers them very reasonable rent and utilities as well as infrastructure help like copy rooms‚ conference rooms and computer hookups‚” King says. “It’s quite a deal for entrepreneurs just getting started.”
Another Pride of Kinston project is Kinston’s Waterfront Now! Task Force‚ an organization of 24 business‚ civic and government leaders that plans to build a pedestrian walkway across the Neuse River connecting Neuseway Park to the Neuseway Nature Center. The group also hopes to create a system of river walkways along the banks of the Neuse and expand the Neuseway Nature Center’s outdoor learning activities.
“It’s a fairly involved multimillion dollar plan‚” King says. “The first thing is the pedestrian bridge‚ and we hope it will be in construction by summer 2008.”
In an effort to draw more people downtown‚ Pride of Kinston launched the “Sand in the Streets” outdoor concert series and the “Kinston 8‚000 Run for the River‚” an 8K race held the last Saturday in March. Both events debuted in 2006.
“We had five concerts in summer 2006 at Neuseway Park‚ and we offered seven concerts in 2007‚” King says. “They attracted throngs of people. We had beach music‚ jazz‚ country‚ an African-American band and several local bands with large followings.”
The race attracted 150 runners in 2006 and 175 runners in 2007.
“The town really got behind it‚” King says. “We had 165 volunteers help with the race.”
A highly-anticipated development happening in downtown Kinston is the creation of a new Civil War museum‚ which will display thousands of Civil War objects‚ as well as the CSS Neuse ironclad gunboat.
“The gunboat was launched up the Neuse River in 1865‚” King explains. “It burned and sat at the bottom of the river until a group of Civil War enthusiasts raised it up in 1963. The longtime idea was to move the boat downtown and create a Civil War museum. It’s a $3.5 million project‚ and we hope to finish raising money for it in the next couple of years.”
The Civil War museum will enhance Kinston’s existing Museum Row‚ a downtown cluster of historic sites and museums that includes the Cultural Heritage Museum‚ Harmony Hall‚ the Caswell No. 1 Fire Station Museum and the historic Colonial‚ Maplewood‚ Cedar Grove and Hebrew cemeteries.
“A lot of people have given of them selves to create this town‚” King says. “What we’re doing today will benefit future generations.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Ian Curcio
