by Laurel | April 8th, 2010
Preparing for the annual walk on the drag Easter Sunday? Would have been fun to see this …
Heavy Traffic Compels Special Police Assistance; Clothing and Furniture Sales are Good
Shoppers by the thousands flooded downtown streets tonight in what merchants agreed was the peak of spring trading. Favored by pleasant weather, steady streams poured over High and Maple Streets, and well after the closing hour of 8 crowded conditions prevailed over main sections of the business district.
Polled for reactions, officials of leading department stores, specialty shops, millinery establishments, shoe dealers and furniture locations unanimously tabbed the night “most encouraging.” The pre-Easter influx of shoppers, seeking latest in fashions, is hardly expected to eclipse figures compiled tonight, but it is a general sentiment among merchants that the remainder of the week and the later part of next week will climax the spring parade.
Traffic moved smoothly and without incident under the capable direction of police. It became necessary during the early stages of the night to dispense with signal devices and to station an officer at each intersection to direct motor traffic, while two other patrolmen handled pedestrian passage at several centers.
Merchants in general commented on the co-operation of buyers that greatly aided clerical help in handling the huge numbers that swarmed into the stores.
The Springfield Republican, April 8, 1949, page8
