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| Watching a city die... | | Date Created: May 27, 2005, 09:05 AM |
The town where I was born and grew up is slowly dying.
Belding, Michigan (a town you've never heard of, population 5,832) was, believe it or not, once one of the major producers of silk in the world. The Belding Brothers started their first factory in 1863. Eventually the city had several silk mills, a hotel, movie theater, several women's dormatories and was quite the bustling little community.
Then came World War II and nylon. The last mill closed in 1932.
Farming, always important to the city, thus became the primary industry in the area for many years, primarily apple growing. (I lived for several years one one of those orchards.)
For the last several years, most of the people in Belding are employed elsewhere: Greenville, Grand Rapids, Rockford, for example. But now, major industries in those towns are closing such as Steelcase, Hitachi, and Electrolux. Now I wonder what is going to happen to Belding.
If you were to visit Belding today, you'd think that you stepped out of the year 2005 into the year 1979. It looks the the recession of the late 1970's never really left. Houses are run down, streets are in disrepair, the horrible "mall" downtown (a result of misguided urban renewal in the 1970's when the real downtown was torn down) is mostly empty except for a Dollar Store and a RiteAid. The median income in Belding according to the 2000 Census is $32,878 compared to the national median of $41,994. And everywhere, according to my parents, houses are for sale. The number of high school graduates in town is higher than the national average, which initially sounds like a good thing, until you realize that's only because the number of college graduates is so low. People who leave Belding rarely come back.
It's funny. I was never a fan of Belding when I lived there, and I couldn't wait to get out. Today, I can't stand going back there, and I only do so to visit my parents. But I am sorry to see it dying this slow death. This story is repeated in small towns all across Michigan right now -- the effects of the "jobless recovery" I suppose. |
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