A community’s downtown business district, its Main Street, is the heart of that community. It is about much more than just commerce. Main Street gets to the heart of the resident, the tourist, the commuter, and those passing through. A successful Main Street has the ability to create emotion along with that "sense of place" feeling.
Historic Downtown Sidney strives to have an economically vital, visually appealing, diverse Main Street that embraces our history as well as maintains our hometown character.
Main Street Program
The Main Street Program advocates restoration of the historic character of downtown while pursuing traditional development strategies-marketing and promotion, business recruitment and retention, real estate information, market analysis and public improvements.
Main Street is not only an economic asset, but also the community’s crossroad-a place that evokes strong emotions and helps define the community’s identity. The four points of Organization, Promotion, Design and Economic Restructuring are the keys to the success of the Main Street approach. Since the program is volunteer-driven, it is important to build consensus and cooperation among the stakeholders.
National Register District
Sidney's core downtown business district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of only two such districts in Western Nebraska to be listed. This designation is a federal designation from the National Parks Service.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archaeological resources.