Monroe City: named thus because it’s in Monroe County. The population peaked ni 1990 with one 2700 souls. Famous people born in Monroe City include “Claude Smith, instrumental music composer and educator. Created the official march of the National Air & Space Museum among other notable works.” I had no idea there was an official mark.

Sometimes the Google Street View serves up perfect little compositions:

Perhaps it’s a movable grave marker, placed to commemorate recent business failures.

Facade pried off; new door; empty sign; inexplicable upper floor; fresh grave outside on the sidewalk.

So, a work in progress.

Go! Fight! Win! I think it’s football season.

I can’t find much to say about the Opera House, only that I doubt much opera was ever performed there.

“Okay, I definitely want a staircase outside to the second floor, but not all the way.”

“Really? I can make it work.”

“No, I’m not paying for that may steps. They can hop up.”

Charming tableau, though - unchanged for over 100 years. Well, I’m sure some things have changed; light bulbs, toilet seats. You know what I mean

f you have one of the buildings on the right, you need the one on the left.

And vice versa.

There’s a cleanliness and vacancy to these pictures, and that usually suggests there’s not a lot going on.

That's the back of the bank, and the upper floor suggests it's either being renovated for a bright new future, or the future was lost in shipping.

The birds can get in, but it’s hard to get out.

The remainders of a bygone neighbor, and some mystery: the sidewalk, for example. Was it raised, or was the rest of it lowered? There had to be a reason.

Quite a surprise:

They had 2500 stores nationwide at their peak, and I remember the local BF with great fondness. Probably a bit junkier than I recall, but it had tons of stuff - records! Turtles! School supplies! They went the K-Mart route, and failed: “In the 1970s, Ben Franklin operated some Ben Franklin Family Center locations, which were larger discount store variations offering merchandise not found at regular Ben Franklin stores, such as clothing.”

Thrift store; another sign of business health.

One building? No; looks like two with one smaller addition on the left. Unless the one on the left was the first one, and the builder took a chance when the corner lot became open

WHOA: a double-stacker Buckaroo Revival.

That Buckaroo bustle on the corner building really doesn't help.

OMB, or Obligatory Modern Bank. It’s starting to show the effects of time.

When these facades fail, they instantly cheapen the building to which they’re attached.

In the game The Sims, you can put your Sim out on a balcony and then remove the door, and they’re trapped forever.

Two different types of post-war thin brick; the one on the right has the corporate flavor, more apt for a bank or insurance office. The facade with its immense exhaust grill makes it seem even more up to date.

On the left, something homier and classier.

Signer of the Designer? Web search says “Painting / Artwork / Signage”

The bright sun, dry streets, and Christmas decorations make it look like a post-apocalyptic scene. The buildings stare with blind eyes at the setting sun.

Where were the movie theaters? you ask. They had two, but they closed in the 50s.

Where are the people now? you ask. I don’t know. In Main Street after Main Street, we see empty streets.

Perhaps the cars speed through town fast at noon, when everyone’s having lunch.