Buildings are up for sale. A lot of businesses are leaving. When Mr. Powell suggested the name, he used it whimsically, referring to Hamilton's past as a refuge for Prohibition gangsters, prostitutes and boot leggers. But to people who remember those days, the name is anything but whimsical. Today, only a dark High Street alley and crusty brick buildings suggest the time 70 years ago when sinister characters walked in the county seat.
Development now covers their domain.
Despite the changes, downtown Hamilton would look familiar to a gun-toting time traveler from 1929. On the west end of High Street stands the art deco city building, erected during the Depression but solid as ever and ready to become a museum or something else. Furniture store owner Roy Joffe said he understands why the name Little Chicago was chosen, but he wonders if its projects will ever start. But we have to dream. A few elderly residents have been less forgiving.