Last month I was in Altoona, PA. I was there at the invitation of the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation (ABCDC), who had asked me to give the keynote address at their Annual Meeting. ABCDC’s President and CEO, Steve McKnight, had read my blog entry, Craft Breweries as Third Places, and wanted me to share my perspective on the topic to the broader Altoona-Blair County community. I drove to Altoona from my home in Toledo, covering the 328 miles in a little over five hours. Shortly after checking into my hotel I met up with Steve who gave me a tour of downtown Altoona, with a focus on the redevelopment initiatives that are under way there.

Altoona has a population of just over forty-four thousand people. Like many cities in that part of the country it has lost population over the years. It’s population, in fact peaked in 1930, at just over eighty-two thousand. It is what is known as a shrinking city. Like many shrinking cities, Altoona is grappling with the challenge of how to stem, perhaps even reverse, decades of population decline. Third Places may be one piece of Altoona’s revitalization jigsaw.

Altoona owes its existence to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The community that would eventually become Altoona started out, in 1849, as a staging area for the construction of the rail line. Such was the importance of the railroad that in 1925, fourteen thousand of the area’s seventeen thousand industrial workers were employed by The Pennsylvania Railroad.

Like many American cities, Altoona has a proud brewing history. Also, like many American cities that history follows a familiar pattern. At various periods prior to Prohibition. Altoona was home to nine breweries. Two of those – the Oswald Brewing Company and the Altoona Brewing Company – survived Prohibition. But as with many smaller breweries they did not survive the post-Prohibition era, when economies of scale became the keys to success and smaller breweries were either bought by larger competitors or simply closed down. The Oswald Brewing Company closed in 1935 and the Altoona Brewing Company closed in 1974. Some of the beer produced by the Altoona Brewing Company included Altoona Bock,  Horseshoe Curve Porter,  Altoona Pilsener Beer,  Altoona 36 Beer, American Maid Ale, and Pops Brau Beer.

Today, Altoona is home to two breweries – Railroad City Brewing Company and Marzoni’s Brick Oven and Brewery. The Railroad City Brewing Company, of course, is a nod to the important part played by the railroad in Altoona’s social and economic history. I love it when a brewery pays homage to some aspect of its local community, be it a historical figure, local landmark, or industrial heritage.

After a walk around downtown Steve and I dropped into Railroad Brewing Company, where we met up with some of ABCDC’s staff, as well as brewery owner Matt Winrick. The brewery opened in 2016 and is a key part of the revitalization that is happening on Altoona’s 11th Street. Along with the recently opened coffee shop across the street, The Clay Cup, Railroad Brewing Company has become a vibrant local gathering spot (aka Third Place) in the heart of the city.

Community gathering spots, otherwise known as Third Places, were the focus of my presentation the next morning at the annual meeting of ABCDC. I have written about Third Places in a previous blog entry. It is a simple concept really. According to Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term, a Third Place is nothing more than an informal public gathering place. They are places outside of the home (first places) and work (second places) where we gather with friends, work colleagues, family members etc. According to Stuart Butler and Carmen Diaz, they are places where we “exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships“. Michael Hickey refers to Third Places as “the Living Room of society“. Despite the simplicity of the concept Third Places play a key role in creating social capital and a sense of community. A wide variety of venues in a community can function as Third Places, including libraries, coffee shops, and churches. Indeed, the subtitle of Oldenburg’s classic work on the topic, The Great Good Place, “cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other great hangouts at the heart of a community”, hint at the diversity of venues that can serve as Third Places. And, while not on the radar when Oldenburg was formulating his ideas, craft breweries are emerging as vital Third Places in communities all across America. Oldenburg was fearful that Third Places were becoming less popular, and that America was experiencing a decline in what is termed its associational life. The same fear was echoed by Harvard’s Robert Putnam in his classic work Bowling Alone.

ABCDC’s Annual Meeting was held at the Blair County Convention Center. There were approximately 250 people in attendance. A copy of my presentation is available here. During my talk I presented some statistics from the Social Capital Project that highlighted the decline of associational life in America:

• Between 1974 and 2016, the percent of adults who said they spend a social evening at least several times a week fell from 30% to 19%,

• Between the mid-1970s and 2012, the average amount of time Americans (25-54) spend with coworkers outside the workplace fell from 2.5 hours to just under one hour per week

• Between 1972 and 2016, the share of adults who thought most people could be trusted declined from 46% to 31%

Third Places, including craft breweries, can play a critical role in reigniting our bonds with friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even family members. Towards the end of my presentation I presented some challenges to those in the room. With respect to Altoona, I asked:

• Where are your existing Third Places?
• Are you utilizing these to their full potential?
• If not, why not? How can they be better utilized?
• Where are your potential (as yet unused) Third Places?
• Why aren’t these being utilized?
• What needs to happen for the community to utilize them?

While Third Places can emerge organically (e.g. a neighborhood bar), I believe that it behooves a community to think strategically about the concept – hence the questions I posed above. Although I was in Altoona for less than twenty-four hours, I got the sense that the city is thinking strategically about Third Places and the role that they might play in the city’s revitalization. When I visit a city like Altoona, I often wonder what it will be like two, three, or five years down the road. Altoona is close enough to Toledo that I may just make a return visit to take a look.