09/03/2026
🏗️ WE NEED TO GET BETTER AT TELLING OUR STORY. 🏗️
When you see downtown every day, it can be easy to overlook just how much is happening around us. So today, we’re stopping to celebrate the investment, hard work, and preservation happening RIGHT NOW in Downtown Independence! ❤️
At this very moment, we have:
🏢 THREE building projects of $500,000+ EACH underway
🔨 THREE smaller projects under $5,000 making important improvements
🏠 FOUR roofing projects totaling more than $500,000
And those are just the projects you can SEE!
That is real investment happening right here in our community. It represents property owners, business owners, contractors, and partners choosing to invest in Independence and preserve our historic buildings for generations to come.
To every person putting time, money, sweat, and probably a few sleepless nights into one of these buildings — THANK YOU. 👏
We also know that owning a building in a historic district can sometimes feel daunting. There are guidelines, approvals, tax credits, grants, financing programs, and plenty of questions along the way.
That’s where Main Street comes in.
We may not always have the answer when you first call — but we guarantee we’ll work to FIND it.
We work closely with the City of Independence Kansas, our local Historic Preservation Resource Commission, KSHPO - Kansas State Historic Preservation Office, Kansas Main Street, Office of Rural Prosperity, and other partners to help property owners navigate projects and identify resources that may be available.
Can we promise you funding? No.
Can we promise that we’ll exhaust every option we know of and help you look for opportunities that could make your project possible? Absolutely.
Whether you're planning a $1,000 improvement, replacing a roof, tackling a full building rehabilitation, or simply thinking, “Someday I’d love to do something with that building…” — come talk to us.
📞 Call the Main Street office. 620-331-2300
🚪 Stop by and see us. 109 E Main St
👋 Or catch one of us walking downtown.
We’re boots on the ground, and we’re ready to help.
Because every repaired roof, restored storefront, renovated upper floor, fresh coat of paint, and saved historic building is another investment in the future of Independence.
❤️ THIS is Main Street. THIS is revitalization. And THIS is a story worth telling.
