broadway avenue ceased to be the main commercial street when the present downtown was established with the arrival of the qu'appelle, long lake and saskatchewan railway in 1890. it remained the commercial center for the nutana and other east side neighbourhoods until the 1950s, when newer shopping malls drew business activity away from broadway avenue. the area went into a decades-long period of decline until the mid-1980s. on august 25, 1986, an organization of merchants in the area called the broadway business improvement district (bbid) was formed. one of their first projects was to get the city to pay for half of the estimated $1.1 million to refurbish the street. this included cobblestone medians, park benches, median signs, new paint on the lampposts, antique style lighting and advertisement posts all coordinated in the same theme. it began a period of revitalization that brought renewed commercial activity and gentrification to the nutana neighbourhood. broadway avenue remains an active commercial district to the present day.