It should have occurred to me more clearly a long time ago, but you can begin to discern an economic era in a town based on its significant buildings.
That's certainly the case in this town. I've long known that the building I work in, the Con Roy building, was built in 1917 as part of a building boom associated with World War One oil production. But up until very recently I hadn't noticed how far that building trend must have carried. In putting up some photos for my blog on churches, it really became apparent to me. Most of the downtown churches here, fine old structures, were built right after World War One. I know that all those congregations had existing smaller churches, so they were replacing old ones with new much larger ones. Probably the size of the congregations had dramatically increased as well.
Same thing with some large old buildings here, except their earlier. Say 1900 to 1914. All associated with sheepmen, who must have been doing very well in a way that no rancher could today.
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