Planning To Preserve An Entire New Town

"There are about 120 historic downtown buildings on the National Registry, including about 50 along Main Street, some which are still used as saloons, attorneys' offices, restaurants, hardware stores and shops, while others sit vacant.

Town leaders believe redevelopment is even more important now that growth has hit their borders. They want to ensure that downtown can stay vital in an area primed in the next decade for tens of thousands of new houses that are sure to attract retail developments alongside new planned communities such as Anthem at Merrill Ranch, several miles from the town core, said Chuck Seller, chairman of the Florence Redevelopment Commission."