Introduction
There is a strong sense of community in downtown Northfield. I
have lived in downtown Northfield for over nine monthes and there is a significant
difference in how people interact with each other on a daily basis in Northfield.
Nearly everyone is friendly and welcoming in downtown Northfield. Store
owners welcome you into their store even if you are just there to look around.
I feel that everywhere that I go in Northfield I will recognize someone
that I know. The people that live, work and spend time in downtown
Northfield interact with each other in a way that is friendly and accepting.
It seems easy to meet and interact with people in Northfield,
because the sense of community is so strong. All of these factors contribute
to my own individual sense of community in Northfield. However, I would
like to discover what attributes of Northfield create a sense of community
for the many other individuals living in Northfield. Do the institutions
in downtown Northfield, the city design or a combination of both create the
strong sense of community in Northfield?
One institution that I have always felt a sense if community at is
Jacobsen's Family Department Store. It opened over 55 years ago in downtown
Northfield on Division St. S. It has been family owned and operated
for the last three generations. Jacobsen's sells a variety of
goods, from clothing to household goods. In March, 2003, The Jacobsen's
announced that they will be closing their store. Many people in Northfield
have expressed an immense amount of disappointment that this third generation
family store will be closing shortly. For many people, Jacobsen's has
been an institution that facilitates people's sense of community in Northfield.
People go to Jacobsen's to do more then simply shop, they visit Jacobsen's
to talk about local politics and catch up on town gossip. People don't
go to Jacobsen's just to buy a dish towel, they go to Jacobsen's because the
level of quality service is exponentially greater at Jacoben's then any other
store that sells the same products in Northfield. A visit to Jacobsen's
Family Store is a step into the past, where the transactions between the
customer and the cashier are never considered as such. Instead, the
purchasing of a product is an interaction between two peers. A customer
at Jacobsen's is never considered as simply as such, because regular customers
always turn into friends. There are many aspects of Jacobsen's that
help build a sense of community for both the individuals that work there
and their customers. The closing of this community focused store
stirred an interest in me to discover what other people's perceptions are
about the role that Jacobsen's plays in the Northfield community? Has
Jacobsen's been an integral institution for promoting a sense of community
for Northfield citizens or is it just another store among the crowd
in Northfield? This question led me in a search to discover if there
are other stores, services, restaurants or aspects of Northfield that promote
a sense of community for individuals.
The River Walk is a collection of pedestrian trails along the Cannon River,
where people often walk together.
People's sense of community is created
in the heart of downtown Northfield. The historic district of downtown
Northfield is located along the scenic Cannon River. In the downtown area,
one can buy nearly everything a person needs at the variety of stores and
services. Many of these stores and services are "third places" for individuals,
places where people take the time to casually interact with one another.
The compactness of the central, downtown area provides a pedestrian friendly
environment where people have many opportunities to interact with acquaintances
and neighbors on the streets and at the many public places in Northfield.
The purpose of my research was to discover if my respondents found the above
features of Northfield to be the integral factors of their sense of community.
I developed a series of questions
that to interview downtown business owners, non-downtown business owners
and Northfield citizens. I held nearly twenty interviews with
people about their perceptions of their sense of community in Northfield.
For more information about these interviews, connect to the Interview Page.
Page Maintained by Katie Harrod
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