Since many of us live in parts of the country where the population has been continuing to increase and there's too many people, it's easy to forget that there are some parts of the country that have been on the decline, for many decades. These were once important regions of the country that later saw loss of jobs and population decline, many abandoned and falling apart buildings. These regions include Upstate New York, the Mississippi Delta Region, and the Rust Belt centered around Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and into Michigan. Why have some parts of the country grown with too many people and unaffordable housing costs, while other once prosperous parts of the country have been emptied out and the remaining inhabitants struggle to survive there? Read the stories of cities like Albany, NY, or Cairo, IL.
While New York’s population is still growing, in part because of immigration, many residents are leaving for other states because of high property taxes, a lack of business opportunities and unaffordable homeshttps://nypost.com/2016/09/15/taxpayers-are-fleeing-new-york-in-droves/ Anthony Bourdain visit to the Rust Belt: Abandoned buildings in Upstate New York, remnants of former prosperity: Nearly abandoned Cairo, Illinois, in the far South of the state on the Mississippi River:
Cairo built up on the steam riverboat business, the steam railroad business and the ferry business. Whole trains were once ferried car by car. With the advent of the diesel engine the steam riverboats were gone except the few tourist boats. The towboats and barges didn't have to stop at Cairo with their increased range. The railroads didn't have to stop anymore because bridges were built and diesel replaced the steam locomotive. The ferry business lost all of their business. Roads, bridges, and diesel power caused the beginning of decline for Cairo. People in cars, the trains, and commercial river traffic were able to bypass Cairo.
Yes, but you'd think people could still manage to live in Cairo. Why are there so few job opportunities there? It would actually be a pleasant place to live, if the few people still hanging on there had any hope. Looks like the quintessential American town, and up until the 50s it was quite prosperous. The old buildings were high quality construction, although they have fallen apart now.
Diversify or die. Cities in Oklahoma learned that the hard way when oil prices dropped to nothing in the 80s. Leaders worked to bring new industries as job base and it worked to keep things stable. It starts with leadership I think.
Natchez is similar. They've lost employers, especially International Paper. They have a heck of a lot of history and great beauty, plus they are the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace, so they've built up a pretty good tourism industry that has kept the town going. But they are trying to land major employers. The population now is about 60% of the 1950's and 60's population.
What most people from other parts of the country don't realize is that most of New York state has been in decline, with the exception of the far lower part of New York state around New York City.
Photographer Seph Lawless captures eerie images of decaying structures in Rust Belt cities: https://weather.com/travel/news/ruins-rust-belt-abandoned-buildings-photos-seph-lawless-20140206
