After living in Sharon all his life and holding public office for almost 30 years, Mayor Robert T. Price has seen a lot of changes in the city.

Price, 63, can recall living on A Street around 1948 with his parents and his grandmother. During that time downtown Sharon on Friday nights was a different place.

A train, loaded with more than 1,000 soldiers from Camp Reynolds near Transfer would pull into town, Price said. He said a popular dining place was Texas Lunch on State Street.

Through the 1950s, all the downtown stores were open for business and the streets were "mobbed" with people on Monday and Thursday nights, Price said. He said one could hardly cross the street without bumping into someone they knew.

"You don't see those kinds of crowds anymore," Price said.

Sharon in the 1940s and '50s had three hotels and the Gable Theater, commonly known as "the rat house," Price said. The theater was named after actor Clark Gable whose uncle owned the theater. Gentlemen never took dates to the Gable theater but to the Liberty or Columbia theaters, Price said.

Back in those days acts such as The Three Stooges and Gene Autry came to town. Price said he can remember around 1948 getting picked to go on stage with Autry when he performed at the NuLuna Theater, now the site of Veteran's Walkway on West State.

Ten years later a campaigning politician who would become the president of the United States came through town, spend the night at the Shenango Inn and had breakfast with local union leaders.

John F. Kennedy would be the last president to visit the city.

Price said he remembers shaking Kennedy's hand as his motorcade passed through the streets of town.

With the arrival of the 1960s came changes.

Hickory Plaza was built in what is now Hermitage, and the crowds went to the shopping centers. When the crowds left, so did the businesses, Price said.

In 1972 city council, of which Price was then a member, began to realize that something had to be done to revitalize the city. Price said they began to refurbish houses that were built in the 1800s and early 1900s and develop land downtown.

On March 22, 1980, ground was broken for Sharon City Centre, Price said. Around this time McDonalds, at the corner of State Street and Water Avenue, and Connelly Manor on Connelly Boulevard were also built, he said.

Price said with the new businesses there was a resurgance of people coming back to the downtown area. Now about 1,200 tour buses a year visit the city, Price said.

The city saw difficult times in the 1980s when the mills close, leaving many people in the area out of work.

Price said he can remember being amazed as a child to see the thousands of men and women leaving Westinghouse as thousands more arrived for work at shift changes. He said couldn't believe how many people worked there.

The area weathered the tough times and people found new jobs -- though many didn't pay as well, Price said.

Government has also changed in Sharon throughout the decades. Besides physical changes -- such as the city building moving in 1979 from Chestnut Street to a new building on Connelly Boulevard -- the form of government changed.

Prior to 1959, Sharon had a "weak-mayor" form of government, and city council members were each responsible for heading a city department, Price said. That year council and the voters decided to make the mayor head of all city departments.

Government had become more complex with federal and state regulations and required reportings, Price explained.