Main Street The World Over ~ 1923 Castle Films; USA, England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland…

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Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

Wikipedia license:

Main Street is a generic phrase used to denote a primary retail street of a village, town or small city in many parts of the world. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in the central business district, and is most often used in reference to retailing and socializing.

The term is commonly used in Ireland, Scotland, the United States, Canada, and less often in Australia and New Zealand. In most of the United Kingdom the common description is High Street though “Fore Street” or “Front Street” is commonplace in some regions. In Jamaica the term is Front Street.

In many places, the street name for such a street is actually “Main Street”, though even where it isn’t the term “Main street” is still used to describe the main thoroughfare of the central business district. The “Main Street of America” branding was used to promote U.S. Route 66 in its heyday…

International use and equivalents

…In Ireland most towns have a “main street”, and this is usually the term given colloquially (for example, in offering road directions), though the primary thoroughfare of cities are often named after an historical figure, e.g. O’Connell Street. A more recent phenomenon in the media and with younger people is the misapplication of the term “high street” to describe typical or average street level fashion—likely due to advertising by various British retail multiples which began operating in Ireland during the “Celtic Tiger” years.

In England, the terms “Market Street” or “Market Place” are often used to designate the heart of a town or city,[citation needed] as is the more common High Street (particularly in newer urban developments, or towns or cities which were not original market towns). High Street is often the name of a fairly busy street with small shops on either side, often in towns and villages.

In Germany, the Hauptstraße (literally “Main Street”) is a highly trafficked street. Hauptstraßen even have formal recognition in road construction guidelines, which specify the width of lanes, for example. The term chiefly refers to motorized traffic, whereas “Einkaufsstraße” (shopping street) or “Fußgängerzone” (pedestrian district) refer to retail in the sense of Engl. “Main Street”.

In Sweden and Norway, almost all towns and cities have their own main street, a street called Storgatan/Storgaten (literally, “The big street”). They are typically surrounded by stores and restaurants, and increasingly since the late-20th century open for pedestrians only. Likewise, in both Sweden and Norway this type of street is called gågata/gågate (literally, “walkingstreet”)…