In 2007, the downtown of Greenville, Kentucky, population 4,200, looked a lot like Haines’ Main Street does today.
According to Brett Schwartz, a National Association of Developments Organization research fellow who studied Greenville, the southern town was decaying.
“On a Saturday night, you would have likely walked on deteriorated sidewalks, peered into vacant storefronts with dilapidated facades, and felt enveloped by silence and darkness,” Schwartz said. “Like many other small towns throughout the United…
