I recall a lot of commerce along the mile back in the day, but that was nothing compared to now.

Image courtesy of Dover Public Library
Image courtesy of Dover Public Library
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When I was a kid, all I heard on local radio were commercials for stores that were located on the 'miracle mile' in Dover. Living in Durham, I didn't get to Dover all that much until I was able to drive.

Then I started thinking that the 'miracle mile' was the distance from downtown Dover to the Weeks circle. Turns out the 'mile' was maybe a quarter of that distance.

Image Courtesy of Dover Public Library
Image Courtesy of Dover Public Library
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It was the distance from Weeks Restaurant at the top of the circle, down to Siegels Department and Grocery Store, near Glenwood Ave.

The 'miracle mile' was basically a generic nickname that a lot of cities used back in the day for where you could find an abundance of stores. Dover's 'mile' did live up to the name.

In no particular order, you could find the aforementioned Siegels, Grand Union supermarket (later Service Merchandise), Dan's Star Market (later Cranberries and the Woodsky's restaurants),  Mammoth Mart, McDonalds, Dover Bowl, Garrison Hill Greenhouses, Peter's Pan Cakes, and of course Roger's Pizza.

That's quite a list, and from it I count 3 that are still standing. The rest either closed, or were torn down to make room for the Shaw's Plaza and Hannaford.

Even with all the stores and gas stations that were part of the 'miracle mile' back in the day, I can still look at a lot of the commerce that is there now and say to myself "I can remember when much of that was all fields."

(Thanks to our news director Don Briand for his contribution)

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