History’s History
Winchester is a small city in rural Virginia whose long history is reflected in the names of its streets. Most were named either for British generals during the French and Indian War--Braddock, Wolfe and Amherst--or for Civil War leaders such as Grant, Lincoln and Lee.
But city officials hope the future of Winchester will someday reflect the unusual name they recently gave to a depleted downtown shopping district: CyberStreet.
In an effort to revive the district and plant the seeds of a high-tech economy, the city has designated CyberStreet as a miniature high-tech corridor, a row of buildings that officials hope will soon be occupied by companies making their fortunes on the Internet.
CyberStreet landed an important tenant last week when TeleGrafix Communications Inc. boarded up its Huntington Beach headquarters and headed for the town of 24,000 about 60 miles west of Washington. TeleGrafix joins a small number of other CyberStreet tenants, including a few Internet access providers--companies that provide connections to the global computer network--and a telecommuting center used by federal employees.
“Winchester is the first community in the nation to make the Internet a cornerstone of its economic development plan,” said Pat Clawson, chief executive of TeleGrafix, a multimedia software company with 10 employees. “The Internet removes any real necessity to be in a particular physical location.”
In a wired economy, products and information are shipped over high-speed phone lines instead of train tracks or highways, and companies “can locate anyplace if they have the right connections,” Winchester City Manager Ed Daley said.
Previously known mainly for its apple orchards and the fact that it changed hands 72 times during the Civil War, Winchester is trying to attract other tenants by offering tax incentives and promoting CyberStreet at high-tech trade shows around the country.
The campaign has a long way to go. Daley admitted that the most common question people ask is, “Where’s Winchester?”
* Times staff writers Leslie Helm in Seattle (leslie.helm@latimes.com), Greg Miller in Orange County (greg.miller@latimes.com) and correspondent Paul Karon (pkaron@netcom.com) contributed to this report.
