Your riding along and go through this town and realize it it probably dying.

[Gliderjohn]

Cedar Point, KS



GliderJohn

[Cal3]

I hear ya.....its amazing  how many half dead small towns there are across the Midwest. None of the kids want to stay in the small town/farm communities..... 

[oldbike54]

 <sigh> OK John , I will organize a motorcycle rally in Cedar Point to help with their finances . Sheesh , how many of these little burgs are we gonna have to save ?

 Dusty

[Yukonica]

Unfortunately it isn't difficult to understand... 'marketing and connectivity' has done a great job on the up-sell to city life.
Why be trapped in a boring little rural place where everyone knows your name (and business) when you can be desensitized and anonymous in a major urban centre? I don't get it but I see it here a lot too as kids out of high school beeline to Vancouver.
Fortunately some, like my daughter, figure out real life is rural life and return to live among neighbours.
I think rural life forces you to be more forthright because there aren't scads of social groups to fall in and out of. You are seen as who you are; not who you portray... unless you own Harleys...:)

There are several forum members who post wonderful travelogues that make me want to travel south.
I see that same half vacant main street in too many of those photographs. 
Our towns and villages in the north are stable, if not growing, but the highway lodges along the Alcan are going to be gone within the decade. That is a cultural loss most people won't even notice. Times change.

[sib]

Cedar Point, KS



GliderJohn

Maybe if they did something about that tacky siding, people will move back.

[Chuck in Indiana]

What is there to *do* in these dying towns? Many used to work on the farms, but with agribusiness  one machine can do the work of many. Some dying towns were bedroom communities for manufacturing. That work is gone, too. The jobs are in the big cities.. no wonder kids leave.

[Two Checks]

Tell ya what...you should start a business in Cedar Point or a town just kike it.
Its great to say all the glowing things about small town living but ya gotta eat.

One of you should open a Guzzi dealership there.

[Texas Turnip]

Cedar Vale had a pop of over a 1,000 in the 50's. I think it is down to 550 now.
Kids want the excitement of the bright lights and older folks want to have quick access to a hospital. People want the 24 operation of WalMart and the cheap prices and wide selection of Lowe's. There are thousands of these towns in the midwest.

A family of 14 could get by raising cotton on 50 acres when you picked it by hand. Now you need a thousand plus acres just to pay for the equipment.

Sad, but a fact of life.

Tex

[tris]

Unfortunately it isn't difficult to understand... 'marketing and connectivity' has done a great job on the up-sell to city life.
Why be trapped in a boring little rural place where everyone knows your name (and business) when you can be desensitized and anonymous in a major urban centre? I don't get it but I see it here a lot too as kids out of high school beeline to Vancouver.
Fortunately some, like my daughter, figure out real life is rural life and return to live among neighbours.
I think rural life forces you to be more forthright because there aren't scads of social groups to fall in and out of. You are seen as who you are; not who you portray... unless you own Harleys...:)

There are several forum members who post wonderful travelogues that make me want to travel south.
I see that same half vacant main street in too many of those photographs. 
Our towns and villages in the north are stable, if not growing, but the highway lodges along the Alcan are going to be gone within the decade. That is a cultural loss most people won't even notice. Times change.

Funnily its spun the other way over here

As in "with good internet connectivity you can set your business up in the countryside and still have all the city dwellers see your business"

Of course that's dependent on "good internet connectivity" which can be pretty pants/non-existent out in the wilds of Wales, Scotland or Lincolnshire in some places

[chuck peterson]

There's some serious pockets of poverty showing up across the north east, too...some of those small cozy Vermont villages are crashing and burning under the surface...

[cloudbase]

The worst I've been through is Picher, Oklahoma.  Just up the road from the Mickey Mantle statue in Commerce.

[MotoChuck250]

Cedar Point, KS



GliderJohn

Still looks to be several times the size of Zimmerdale or Elyria.

Is smaller than the thriving metropolis of Walton however. 

[GearheadGrrrl]

Help a small town, help yourself... Move here!

Our little town offers building permits for a dollar, and we have no building inspector. Just enough urban to take the edge off the wild- city water, paved streets, a few streetlights, and a park. The wild is just across the street or the next block over- farms and woods all around, lakes with county park a mile away, and hundreds of miles of backroads for you to explore. We have lots and houses that you can buy for a few thousand and fix-er-up, or build a mansion and dream shop if you wish...

[oldbike54]

The worst I've been through is Picher, Oklahoma.  Just up the road from the Mickey Mantle statue in Commerce.

That is because the town was declared a superfund site and everyone was forced to leave.
Very sad situation .

 Dusty

[vstevens]

The small town I grew up in, leadwood Missouri, may not exist any longer.  I left the small town life at 18 and joined the navy.  It's hard to go back once you've seen the world and all it's diversity. 

I remember when Walmart set up shop a few towns over, and fast food franchises started to pop up.  Local mom and pop businesses couldn't compete.  You know the rest of the downward spiral story. 

It all reminds me of an old parable (don't know from where).  An old man would fetch water from the river every day, carrying it up a steep hill, slipping water all the way home.  A younger man suggested a more efficient method that might result in less waste of water.  The old man smiled and said,"have you seen the pathway to the river?  That 'wasted' water ensures the growth of beautiful flowers and grasses which provide for countless other creatures." 

[vstevens]

Just checked population numbers and I'm 😳.  Oklahoma has less than 4 million, Kansas just under 3 million and Iowa and Nebraska around 2 million.  LA county has over 10 million!  California just under 40 million (5 million more than Canada). 

So... why can't large swathes of the country hold on to people?  Why is the mid west dying?  I don't know.  I just know something is attracting them to the coasts... jobs? Education? Life style? Freedom?  I'm sure it's different for everyone.

I do recall some beautiful scenary and good people in many of those small towns.  In fact, I'd prefer my grandchildren were growing up in a small town rather than the city.

[oldbike54]

 Vince , we have never had large population figures out here in the middle . Weather is probably a factor . Let's face it , how many people want to live where it is HOT in the Summer , COLD in the Winter , with a 40 MPH wind half the time 

 Dusty

[vstevens]

Vince , we have never had large population figures out here in the middle . Weather is probably a factor . Let's face it , how many people want to live where it is HOT in the Summer , COLD in the Winter , with a 40 MPH wind half the time 

 Dusty

Who?  Some good hearted, even tempered, hardy people of common sense... from what I 👂

[Lannis]

I could do a never-ending photo essay on such small towns in Virginia, very many of them within a few miles of where I live.

Pamplin, Clover, Saxe, Randolph, Phenix, Vera, Bent Creek .... on and on.

Used to be centers of commerce, had tobacco warehouses, clay pipe factories, farm supply stores, grocery stores, branch banks, doctor's offices, barbers ....

.... and now all essentially deserted, maybe one convenience store selling beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets.   

The world has changed, we're not manufacturing buggy whips, not selling tobacco (well, not much - we send most of it overseas), local people aren't farming.   

I doubt that if anyone were given the choice, they would go back to the MATERIAL standard of living that people had back then compared to now, especially given the fact that EBT and SNAP money is direct deposited or loaded on a card; you don't even have to mail a check any more ....

Lannis

[Rotten Ralph]

A good read is Hillbilly Elegy. A lot of insight into the fate of small towns in the "rust belt".

[Northern Bill]

It is all very puzzling.  Here in the Toronto area, a small house on a small lot costs at least $600,000.  If you move right into the city the cost jumps to near a million.  Many young people here are having trouble finding jobs that pay more than minimum wage.  Unless they inherit money, there is no way they can afford to live on their own, hence the huge number of young adults living with their parents! Why these young people aren't moving to rural areas is beyond me. 

[Two Checks]

I love when people say small stores cant compete against walmart. The same was said about Sears when Sam Walton started his mom and pop store.

[oldbike54]

Who?  Some good hearted, even tempered, hardy people of common sense... from what I 👂

 Maybe you should visit , we have our share of unpleasant folks out here also 

 Dusty

[PJPR01]

Help a small town, help yourself... Move here!

Where exactly is "here" in this story?

[rocker59]

Just checked population numbers and I'm 😳.  Oklahoma has less than 4 million, Kansas just under 3 million and Iowa and Nebraska around 2 million.  LA county has over 10 million!  California just under 40 million (5 million more than Canada). 

So... why can't large swathes of the country hold on to people? 

Dig deeper, amigo:

Oklahoma is not losing population:
Census   Pop.      %�
1890   258,657      �
1900   790,391      205.6%
1910   1,657,155      109.7%
1920   2,028,283      22.4%
1930   2,396,040      18.1%
1940   2,336,434      −2.5%
1950   2,233,351      −4.4%
1960   2,328,284      4.3%
1970   2,559,229      9.9%
1980   3,025,290      18.2%
1990   3,145,585      4.0%
2000   3,450,654      9.7%
2010   3,751,351      8.7%
2015   3,911,338      4.3%


Neither is Kansas:
Census   Pop.      %�
1860   107,206      �
1870   364,399      239.9%
1880   996,096      173.4%
1890   1,428,108      43.4%
1900   1,470,495      3.0%
1910   1,690,949      15.0%
1920   1,769,257      4.6%
1930   1,880,999      6.3%
1940   1,801,028      −4.3%
1950   1,905,299      5.8%
1960   2,178,611      14.3%
1970   2,246,578      3.1%
1980   2,363,679      5.2%
1990   2,477,574      4.8%
2000   2,688,418      8.5%
2010   2,853,118      6.1%
2016   2,907,289      1.9%

Nor Iowa:
Census   Pop.      %�
1840   43,112      �
1850   192,214      345.8%
1860   674,913      251.1%
1870   1,194,020      76.9%
1880   1,624,615      36.1%
1890   1,912,297      17.7%
1900   2,231,853      16.7%
1910   2,224,771      −0.3%
1920   2,404,021      8.1%
1930   2,470,939      2.8%
1940   2,538,268      2.7%
1950   2,621,073      3.3%
1960   2,757,537      5.2%
1970   2,824,376      2.4%
1980   2,913,808      3.2%
1990   2,776,755      −4.7%
2000   2,926,324      5.4%
2010   3,046,355      4.1%
2016   3,134,693      2.9%

[Mr Pootle]

I've just read Paul Theroux's book "Deep South" on his travels to small southern towns. He writes about how they're dying because of the lack of work and the lack of investment, and throws Walmart in as one of the factors in the slow death.
Over here there's hardly anywhere that's not within commuter range of a large town, so small towns and villages can become desirable.
Our problem is the loss of heavy industry and mining. It's the mid sized northern towns that are dying from the centre out as the factories have shut down. As tris says, you can set up your business anywhere now, so why not set it up where you like to live and play.

[Rough Edge racing]

 NY state has about 19 million people, about 12 million of those live in an about NYC and probably another few million within 50 miles of NYC...other than a few larger cities scattered around the stare, NY is mostly rural . Ranked third for milk production with thousands of smaller farms and 99 percent of the dairy farms are family owned...
  Rural NY towns are generally run down, and people are leaving due to a lack good employment and the highest real estate taxes in the country and without a doubt the most corrupt state government...
 
 

[rocker59]

I've just read Paul Theroux's book "Deep South" on his travels to small southern towns. He writes about how they're dying because of the lack of work and the lack of investment, and throws Walmart in as one of the factors in the slow death.
 

Small towns in The USA have been dying since the 1950s.  At the time of WWII, more than 50% of Our highways were not paved.  People had to shop local because it was inconvenient to drive to the next town or city.  Every little town had department stores, mens stores, grocery stores, hardware stores, etc.  Now, in the 21st century guess what?  All our US and State highways are paved and most county roads are too.  People can and do drive 20, 30, 40 miles for shopping. 

Wal-Mart surely made it hard on small businesses in the 1980s.  However, since the late 1990s, the real "problem" has become the internet.  People can shop from home.  Wal-Mart didn't do that, and is struggling to keep up with companies like Amazon.

As an aside, there are places Wal-Mart has gone into where they employ more people than the the mom & pop stores ever did.  And despite what the media would have you believe, Wal-Mart pays more and offers more benefits than those mom & pops ever did.  Hey, I'm no Wal-Mart fanboy, but they did not single-handedly kill small town America.

Improved consumer mobility is what has killed the small towns.  If we'd never paved the highways connecting the towns, every little town would still be a little stand-alone island of commerce.  Except, now, the internet doesn't really care if your road is paved, or not.  FedEx will still deliver there.

An example of this can be found in the little town where we just had our Knot a Knational.  Cedar Vale Kansas.  At one time is was a prosperous hub of ranching and farming.  It had rail service connecting to the outside world, but the highway (US-166) connecting to Arkansas City (32 miles distant) wasn't paved until 1940.  It's been improved several times since then, and the trip now takes less than 30-minutes.  Pretty hard for local businesses in a town of 500 people to compete with bigger stores awaiting customers only a half-hour down a 65-mph US-Highway. 

Add to that, the fact that ranching and farming now require less manpower than they ever have, due to mechanization, and it's no wonder these small rural towns and cities have suffered with population decline over the last half century.

Cedar Vale is shrinking:
Population       %�
1880   218      �
1890   640      193.6%
1900   932      45.6%
1910   948      1.7%
1920   1,044   10.1%
1930   1,000   −4.2%
1940   952      −4.8%
1950   1,010   6.1%
1960   859      −15.0%
1970   665      −22.6%
1980   848      27.5%
1990   760      −10.4%
2000   723      −4.9%
2010   579      −19.9%
2015   533       −7.9%

While Kansas is growing:
Population      %�
1860   107,206      �
1870   364,399      239.9%
1880   996,096      173.4%
1890   1,428,108      43.4%
1900   1,470,495      3.0%
1910   1,690,949      15.0%
1920   1,769,257      4.6%
1930   1,880,999      6.3%
1940   1,801,028      −4.3%
1950   1,905,299      5.8%
1960   2,178,611      14.3%
1970   2,246,578      3.1%
1980   2,363,679      5.2%
1990   2,477,574      4.8%
2000   2,688,418      8.5%
2010   2,853,118      6.1%
2016   2,907,289      1.9%

[nobleswood]

As we, ahem, get grayer, living closer to Medical facilities becomes more important. Many rural areas do not have the populations to support independent hospitals.

[rocker59]

As we, ahem, get grayer, living closer to Medical facilities becomes more important. Many rural areas do not have the populations to support independent hospitals.

Some older people may want to live closer to medical facilities, but ironically it's the smaller towns which have older demographics.  So your desire is not necessarily universal.

And, median age of USA citizens is not as grey as you may believe.   The number of citizens starts dropping dramatically after age 54: