"It’s just absolutely amazing. I had no clue that so many people would feel the same way. I’ve been having the time of my life... You can spend hours on there and not see everything... I think this is the first time that we as Downriver have had this positive identity together. It’s hometown pride."
- KATIE BASHLOR - August, 2011
How it all began:
The Facebook group that began it all was "Downriver Things That Are Not There Anymore," the brainstorm of Gibraltar native (and current New Jersey resident) Katie Bashlor. It was launched in July, 2011 in the hopes of finding mutual friends who wanted to share and reflect on memories of the suburban area known as "Downriver" south of Detroit, Michigan.
Starting with a simple question about Southgate Shopping Center, the main conversation turned into an ardent reflection series on the old E.J. Korvette department store, widely regarded as the first massive discount retailer in local history. Simply put, "where were you" became "where was IT," photos from personal collections as well as those not originally circulating on the internet began pouring in representing each of the 18 cities in the area. Within a few weeks, Downriver Things became "viral", going over the 10,000 mark in membership. The new site was the focus of a News-Herald entertainment article just in time for the newly-created administrative staff's first get-together in Trenton's Elizabeth Park in August, 2011.
Further get-togethers at the annual "Cruisin' Downriver" car cruise cemented the focus of the group as one which also acknowledged current businesses, especially local start-ups. A group of community boosters, developed by Ms. Bashlor, was formed in August 2012.
As the astounding popularity of the Facebook site continued, it was quickly realized that not only would Facebook site limitations begin deleting photos at inopportune times, photos could also be removed at-will by anyone. After one particularly painful experience, then-senior administrator Kevin Harrison's original decision was to back up the photos with a simple USB flash drive: "I didn't really trust what was out there as far as (computer) file retrieval services went," he says.
The idea was quickly in need of rethinking, as photo caption information could not be copied with the images. Harrison then decided on the Flickr photo sharing service, again to be used only as an unseen backup. A look at the stats of the new account weeks later changed some minds: over 8,000 individual views in that short span led to the eventual photo library which exists today with over 8.1 million individual views as of 2021.
The website idea was a total afterthought. Harrison had briefly toyed with the idea of a discussion board, whose primary benefit was to properly catalog conversations in alphabetical subject order. This did not generate interest, as membership guidelines proved too tedious. Then, drawing inspiration from a friend's site on Tripod, "Downriver Locations Thru The Years," Harrison began this site on the Weebly platform in January 2013, with its first complete makeover starting in September 2014, running almost a year.
After some consideration, it was decided in November, 2016 that this website would spin off as its own entity, while a new companion Facebook group titled "Downriver History & Facts" was created in an effort to better showcase the history of Downriver through photos and visitor comments.
We were taken aback in November, 2018 as both the photo site and website were intercepted by hackers unknown. A website name change was in the works, but had to be force-fed at that time. Thankfully, the original site name was resurrected in December and, after careful consideration, would remain the same for the short-term. Work was then launched on the site's fourth redesign in an effort to become brighter and more readable for the viewing public, which averages nearly 1,200 visitors per week. The photo library was also eventually recovered in January, 2019, with work set on eliminating duplicate photos and revising some photo descriptions beginning in 2020. The website redesign was successfully completed in May 2019, ahead of schedule.
Harrison was named by the Discover Downriver publication as a Hometown Hero in late 2018 for his continued work on the website, which was then entering its sixth year. Says Harrison, "I'm genuinely humbled... This is the tip of the iceberg we've been looking for in order to better promote the site, and hopefully that will steer us toward our vision of the future."
Starting with a simple question about Southgate Shopping Center, the main conversation turned into an ardent reflection series on the old E.J. Korvette department store, widely regarded as the first massive discount retailer in local history. Simply put, "where were you" became "where was IT," photos from personal collections as well as those not originally circulating on the internet began pouring in representing each of the 18 cities in the area. Within a few weeks, Downriver Things became "viral", going over the 10,000 mark in membership. The new site was the focus of a News-Herald entertainment article just in time for the newly-created administrative staff's first get-together in Trenton's Elizabeth Park in August, 2011.
Further get-togethers at the annual "Cruisin' Downriver" car cruise cemented the focus of the group as one which also acknowledged current businesses, especially local start-ups. A group of community boosters, developed by Ms. Bashlor, was formed in August 2012.
As the astounding popularity of the Facebook site continued, it was quickly realized that not only would Facebook site limitations begin deleting photos at inopportune times, photos could also be removed at-will by anyone. After one particularly painful experience, then-senior administrator Kevin Harrison's original decision was to back up the photos with a simple USB flash drive: "I didn't really trust what was out there as far as (computer) file retrieval services went," he says.
The idea was quickly in need of rethinking, as photo caption information could not be copied with the images. Harrison then decided on the Flickr photo sharing service, again to be used only as an unseen backup. A look at the stats of the new account weeks later changed some minds: over 8,000 individual views in that short span led to the eventual photo library which exists today with over 8.1 million individual views as of 2021.
The website idea was a total afterthought. Harrison had briefly toyed with the idea of a discussion board, whose primary benefit was to properly catalog conversations in alphabetical subject order. This did not generate interest, as membership guidelines proved too tedious. Then, drawing inspiration from a friend's site on Tripod, "Downriver Locations Thru The Years," Harrison began this site on the Weebly platform in January 2013, with its first complete makeover starting in September 2014, running almost a year.
After some consideration, it was decided in November, 2016 that this website would spin off as its own entity, while a new companion Facebook group titled "Downriver History & Facts" was created in an effort to better showcase the history of Downriver through photos and visitor comments.
We were taken aback in November, 2018 as both the photo site and website were intercepted by hackers unknown. A website name change was in the works, but had to be force-fed at that time. Thankfully, the original site name was resurrected in December and, after careful consideration, would remain the same for the short-term. Work was then launched on the site's fourth redesign in an effort to become brighter and more readable for the viewing public, which averages nearly 1,200 visitors per week. The photo library was also eventually recovered in January, 2019, with work set on eliminating duplicate photos and revising some photo descriptions beginning in 2020. The website redesign was successfully completed in May 2019, ahead of schedule.
Harrison was named by the Discover Downriver publication as a Hometown Hero in late 2018 for his continued work on the website, which was then entering its sixth year. Says Harrison, "I'm genuinely humbled... This is the tip of the iceberg we've been looking for in order to better promote the site, and hopefully that will steer us toward our vision of the future."