Vision of Small Town America?

Was Sykesville, ever the perfect vision of "Small Town America"? Over many years of talking to the "Elders" of town, most seemed to think so. Everyone knew each other, people looked out for each other, adults watched over all the neighborhood children, along with their own. You could cash your paycheck at a bank on Main Street, get a haircut, or a shoeshine, or take in a movie, or go bowling. You could buy the week's groceries, buy toys for the kids for Christmas. You could get a meal at the local lunchroom, or a soda at the pharmacy counter.
You could even catch a train to ride to the big city and back again. And when it snowed, in December, it was like a Currier and Ives lithograph, and in this one thing, it is still the same.