There's Something About Florence

by Sandy Dale

Downtown Florence is a mecca for Antiquing with an abundance of antique shops & dealers on every corner. You're sure to find treasures & "one-of-a-kinds" in every window and shop.

There's Something About Florence... Just ask anyone who lives in this quaint little turn-of-the-century town. They'll tell you about the tree-shaded neighborhoods, the good schools, the Friday night high school football games, and the live music in the park during the summer. They'll tell you how great the weather is and how good the hunting and fishing is just up the road...well, maybe they won't tell you exactly where, but just up the road.

Or ask a downtown merchant. She'll tell you about the new benches, trees, planters and corner directional signs that merchants have installed as part of a beautification project on Main Street. She'll mention the Friday evenings when the shops stay open late and when the galleries have special openings for a new artist. She'll direct you to the new shops and galleries that have opened in the next block just last month.
Ask one of the visitors to Florence. He will tell you about the great old tool chest that he found in one of the many antique shops along Main Street. Then he'll tell you about the gourmet lunch he had at the corner cafe as he heads toward the yarn shop where his wife has been lost for the last hour or so.

If you run into the editor of the local paper or the city manager, he'll tell you about the new high school scheduled to open in 2005, the new sports complex and the complex that will house the city hall, the new library and the museum.

There is something about Florence. It started in 1870 when James A. McCandless, a young entrepreneur donated the land for the town site and named it after his daughter. Eleven years later, oil was discovered and both Continental (Conoco) and Standard Oil began here. In 1890, gold was discovered in Cripple Creek, so the town fathers built a road up the "Great Ute Canyon" (now Phantom Canyon). This road soon became the Florence and Cripple Creek and Gold Belt Railroad Line, resulting in the development of eight reduction mills to process ore, seven oil refineries, five brick factories, and a cement plant.

Though gold and oil production dwindled, coal remained a major industry until the 70's. In the 1990's Florence became home to a new Federal prison complex, regenerating the growth and economy of the little town on the Arkansas River. Now, a new 18-hole Gary Player Signature golf course, and a planned 3,000 home development help spur the economy upward.

The boom and bustle of Florence's past is reflected today in the grand old brick buildings along Main Street, soon to be designated an historical business district. Strolling down the sidewalk where almost everyone says 'howdy' and browsing in the dozen antique shops and galleries, one discovers 'there is something about Florence....'