The panoramic photo of downtown Independence serves us well again, as we can now look up and down First Street East to the east and west (where the Wapsipinicon Mill is visible to the far left).

You can see the mill to the left; its view would have been partially blocked if the east mill were still standing, just to the left of the Italianate storefront with black trim.

The streetscape improvements are done, and the pedestrian-friendly environment was conducive to walking down the busy First Street East,

There are very few vacant storefronts, and very few large surface parking lots. Interesting…

There are the little cast-iron details that make walking the street fun.

There is one three story Italianate building.

There are also some cool Mid-Twentieth Century storefront alterations.

At Third Street Northeast, we turned around and went back.