The first two major roads through Ithaca, the Catskill and Owego turnpikes, intersected at the base of South and East hills. The 1808 Catskill Turnpike was a major route across the state. In Ithaca it passed down State Street through what is now the Commons. This corner has been the commercial center since 1820. In 1972, then Mayor Edward Conley with the City Council and Planning Department, drew up a master plan that included the conversion of State Street and a two-block section of Tioga Street to a pedestrian mall, the first in the state. The local firm of Anton Egner and Associates, with landscape architect Marvin Adleman, designed the Commons.
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