Can you go home again?

[ssiguy]

Chatham and St.Thomas are VERY different.

St.Thomas never really developed a unique identity due to it's close proximity to London. Chatham on the other hand is very much a regional city for the smaller towns. It also has a community college.

St.Thomas has the most bizzare downtown I have ever seen. It is basically just one very long strip of store fronts {half of which are vacant} with almost no major intersection in the entire downtown area. St.Thomas' downtown has very little to offer while Chatham has a VERY nice and vibrant downtown core with nice little shops, interesting architecture, pleasant streetscapes, and a lovely riverfront area and park. Considering it's rather depressed economy, it's actually quite active and busy with a decent amount of foot traffic.

Their size is somewhat comparable but the similarities end there. If I had to compare St.Thomas with another nearby city then Woodstock would be a more comparable place.