The little town that could- but won't
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4/23/2008
I lived in Corsicana for a period of 16 years, and though I left of my own volition (to pursue a career), I have many fond memories of my time there, I'd have to say as a town it's- okay.
From the time my family moved there until the time I left it seems that Corsicana could best be described as economically depressed and the crime rate seems to be just a little high for a town it's size (a symptom of it's economy, I'm sure).
I was always of the opinion that there was no reason in the world why Corsicana couldn't be a more successful city as it has so many things going for it. It's located just an hour south of Dallas (hour & 15 minutes from Fort Worth) an hour north of Waco and only an hour & a half (maybe two hours) from Tyler. It sits smack dab on the crossroads of two major corridors- State Highway 31 and Interstate 45. But for some reason, the town just can't seem to pull in the necessary industry to really rev things up. In fact, it seemed that as soon as Coriscana would pull in one major industry, another one would leave (One step forward. One step back). It's been said that the powers that be don't properly sell/market the town and frankly make some flat-out dumb decisions when it comes to wooing new business/industry. Sadly (for the citizens of Corsicana) the surrounding cities of Athens and nearby Ennis have benefitted tremendously from Corsicana's missteps. I saw this happen constantly during the entire 16 years I lived there.
On top of all that, it's not a very attractive town either. Oh you can find some very pretty architecture there. The old Synagogue is a wonderful example of an old style "onion dome" structure and the restored Palace theater is a sight to behold (not to mention that it's becoming a great venue for some really unique entertainment since it's restoration and reopening), and you can find some great examples of Victorian era houses, but sadly the rest of the town seems to fall way behind in keeping things nice and clean. Honestly, I don't believe there is a single attractive entrance to the city and that's unfortunate.
However, all that being said, again I have many fond memories of living there and in all fairness, Corsicana seems to have pretty good schools. Many people from my graduating class have gone on to finish college and have had very successful careers. The Local two-year college (Navarro College) has an affiliation with the A&M system and, if I'm not mistaken, may actually boast a four year program or two (I could be mistaken on that point though). I attended this college and can attest to the fact that they have some top-notch programs. The college also houses the Cook Center which is a planetarium and science museum and adjacent to that is the Pearce Civil War Collection which has to be one of the best Civil War related museums in (at least) the state.
Other aspects of Corsicana's cultural life includes, as I mentioned earlier, the Palace Theater, but there is also a community theatre which has been around for decades and presents some wonderful entertainment by local talent. The Community Theatre also shares a space with a local gallery that hosts annual art competions as well as travelling art exhibits.
As of this writing, a new-ish retail development was set up along the I-45/287 corridor on the southeast side of Corsicana and if it lives up to it's promises it will breathe a little new life into the retail sector (at this time there is a Gander Mountain, Home Depot, a Chili's and a Collin St. Bakery in the development now) though growth in this development (to the casual observer) seems to have stalled.
Hopefully, with the growth of the Richland-Chambers Reservoir things will begin to pick up.
If I had to rate Corsicana on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, I'd probably rate Corsicana as a 6. It's all right, but there's a lot of room for some improvement.
renster | Fort Worth, TX