Slogans, Stagecoach Stop, Burgers and Books, Jim McHugh Kicks Off A New Initiative to Woo Shoppers to the Center of Old Town

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By Pauline Masson –

Nobody is recent memory combines history with high minded ideas like Jim McHugh.

You might recall that McHugh, with his Tip O’Neill eyebrows and shock of white hair, is part owner of the landmark McHugh-Dailey Building at South First and Orleans streets.

In 2003, after the death of his uncle Joe McHugh, Jim and his brother Dr. Bill McHugh inherited half of the building. Joe Dailey’s widow Virginia “Ginny” Dailey owned the other half. Now Joe and Ginny’s sons are half owners.

After becoming part owner of the building, McHugh eyed the slumbering downtown and summoned up ideas to revitalize Old Town Pacific and breathe new life into the three-story family landmark, that extended McHugh and Dailey family members refer to as “the brick.”

McHugh persuaded Mayor Jill Pigg to form the Pacific Partnership to carry the banner for his newly created Pacific Ring Initiative – a theoretical seven-mile radius circle of sustainable natural resources with Pacific at the center – to ignite a sleepy town into believing in itself. 

Last Wednesday afternoon, July 17, at the Pacific Opera House, McHugh kicked off the City Central Initiative – a romantic theory and promotional idea to revitalize a postage stamp sized version of the Pacific Ring that starts at the clock at St.Louis and First streets and extends two blocks in each of four direction – as a workable strategy for survival and growth.

He used the catchy slogan “World’s Fair to Gaslight Square,” to get people thinking about it. Its not as farfetched as you might think.

“Most of the buildings within City Central were constructed shortly before or after the 1904 World’s Fair. And the current composition of business 50 years later are much the same as the Gaslight Square mix,” McHugh said. “As you know and remember as I do, Gaslight Square was the most successful Arts and Entertainment venue in recent history. With in a few months of it’s start the value of property tripled and a national and international reputation evolved.”

Before you fall into any “Pacific is a nowhere town,” notion, remember when McHugh introduced the Pacific Ring Initiative 21 years ago one half of the family building first floor housed a timeworn liquor store and the other half dark paneled offices. The second floor was a warren of apartments and sleeping rooms in the quarters that once provided living space for the huge McHugh and Dailey clans. The fire marshal had closed the third floor — once the grandest public place in the region — for lack of an elevator. Pacific Station Plaza next door was the city’s trash transfer station.

Although Heger Realty and Reed Insurance had done remarkable work on remodeling their buildings much of downtown was abandoned after shoppers left St. Louis Street to shop at Walmart and other big-box stores. The Royal Theater, once the jewel of downtown, had been boarded up for years.

There was no Brew House, no Brown Jerry’s, no Little Ireland Coffee House, no Cigar Vault. History had just passed downtown Pacific by.

Doubters saw McHugh’s high minded Pacific Ring as way too hifalutin for a sleepy railroad town. Lack of confidence has never affected him. He invited a roster of academic leaders at the University of Missouri to came here to talk about studies underway aimed at resource and economic sustainability.

He described the Pacific Ring Initiative as a public policy opportunity to use imagination and common sense to make good things happen, and prevent bad things from happening. 

Among program topics were flood mitigation, job creation, alternative energy, education alternatives, passenger train service, local health care delivery and water quality.

Participants in the programs included the University of Missouri Research Commercialization (URCOMM), Amtrak, the Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri Botanical Garden, Open Space Council, Museum of Transportation and state and local government officials.

Dennis Riggs, Channel 2 television reporter attended every meeting with a laptop and TV cameraman. He wrote and directed a documentary titled “Pacific Ring Initiative, Local Solutions,” for the Higher Education Channel (HEC) that premiered at Pacific City Hall. The documentary ended up winning the 2015 Telly Award in the Film/Video category, competing with more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.

After those eclectic Pacific Ring meetings downtown Pacific came alive and now, as McHugh pointed out on Wednesday, downtown Pacific boasts 25 retail sales and service businesses, including ten restaurants (operating or planned) – more arriving every month.

He pointed to Julie Roberts recently opened Pages Bookstore, the soon to open Hirth House wine and cheese venue, and the larger than life, repainted Royal Theater building repurposed as Camila’s Tex Mex Restaurant, as example that good things are still happening here.

Ron Sansone is looking at plans to upgrade his Iron Gate building, which local lore and history snippets identify as a former stagecoach stop.

Greg Omer has renovated the Birdsong Pharmacy Building – former home of one of the first banks – into apartments and has plans for high end restaurant in the former first floor bank/pharmacy.

Now McHugh is urging the town to adopt an initiative to lure diners and shoppers to the City Central.

“The City Central Initiative met on Wednesday afternoon, July 17 at the Opera House to continue our journey to brand an Arts Entertainment Center in City Central,” he said.

He noted that certain districts gain identity and reputation to make them destinations for unique dining or shopping experience. A bold example was Gaslight Square that transformed a rundown commercial district into a visitor destination. 

St. Louis’ Central West End, Laclede’s Landing on the St. Louis riverfront, and The Hill are neighborhoods that have developed solid identities.

Pacific’s City Central can market itself with items like building entrance markers and signs that attract tourists to travel along the corridor stopping at historical and cultural spots.

McHugh envisions a tourism marketing project to provide information on venues along the corridor that would be available in each stop, offering intros to the other stops.

“In the end, this is all about local issues,” McHugh said. “We study what’s here now and look at how other communities have marketed themselves. The decisions will always be made by the local business owners and operators.”

If the City Central Initiative follows the traditional McHugh trajectory we can expect a kaleidoscope of ideas.

Stay tuned.