I Can’t Remember What Highway 54 in Owensboro Once Looked Like

We have all grown accustomed to how busy Highway 54 on Owensboro's east side grown over the last two or three decades. Maybe it's to the point where many of us don't even remember how it looked in the 90s and 2000s.

Highway 54 Owensboro

I do know this. In the 1980s, until 54 Pizza came along in 1988, I remember Builders Discount Lumber and The Pantry, an old convenience store chain. But you can't find pictures in Google Street View that go back that far. However, I did find one that will take us back to before Meijer opened at East Parrish and Byers Avenue. It's hard to believe, but on May 19th, it will have been 10 years since Meijer opened. That blows my mind.

Take a look at what I did find on Google Street View. See if you can spot where Produce would one day be.

(There's Menard's on the left; it's been there 14 years. Good Lord.)

Might as well flip it around and show you where Raising Cane's, Starbucks, Longhorn, and all the other restaurants and businesses are now located.

I'm glad Google lets you go back at least that far. That's 2012, and I can see Huck's on the left and the Culver's sign on the right. (See, I didn't realize Culver's was that old, either.)

Walmart and Kohl's

What boggles the mind even more is that the Highway 54 Walmart has been there for nearly 21 years. It opened in 2005, and I still catch myself calling it the "new Walmart" from time to time. But yes, 21 years. Good grief. And a little further down the road, there's Kohl's, which will celebrate 20 years in Owensboro this year. That's crazy.

Does it seem to you like it's been that long since Kohl's, 54 Walmart, and Meijer opened? Maybe the reason I can't remember what 54 used to look like is because the phenomenon of "time flying" has really played a part here. How strange that 21 years, 20 years, and 10 years now seem like a blip on the radar.