Western PA, Gary, IN, RocHESTER, NY, Western, MA. Since I grew up in a Pennsylvania steel town and then moved to Boston about an hour away the Berkshires, not to mention Northeastern OH and WV... this could have its own YT channel🔥
Yep when Flint was going down some union employees were transferred to Lansing and then Oldsmobile went down. Lucky Lansing Capital and big college town
There is a TH-cam video that does show what happens when a company like Walmart moves in and then leaves. The lack of grocery stores and unemployment experienced by those workers who couldn’t commute.
Appalachia has this problem on a regional level; I worked out there last summer, and my heart goes out to the good people there. There is nothing to replace coal, and little infrastructure to attract alternate industry.
Westmoreland Coal Co.screwed the people of Appalachia , took the money and ran away. Destroyed towns in VA, Ky,and WVA, now operating in the western part of America, making millions , while destroying millions of people's lives again.
Trump could change it if he waned to. Instead he prefers to kiss big oils ass and deny climate change. Makes up stories about windmill cancer and shit like that. We need our government to invest in We The People for a change. Invest in renewable energy and go green. Displaced coal miners can be retrained for green jobs in the new field of renewable energy but Trump prefers to let them sink and lie to them about it. He works for the Establishment oligarchy and does not give a shit about us or our future.
I lived in the nearby town of Moab during the early 80's. My 1st Grade teacher lived in Thompson Springs. She'd ride the bus in with the few kids that lived there as well. I found out she still lived there up until she died in 2014 at age 78.
The BRAC Closures did that to a ton of areas. IDK what those Politicians were thinking! A Military Base can generate a lot of (federal) revenue for a city.
I used to live 30 miles north of Rantoul. Most of Illinois outside major cities is drying up. Small towns all over this state have tons of empty houses!
I’m in Elkhart IN- if we lost the RV industry we’d be a different town for sure...fortunately we are stronger than ever here - even after the pandemic.
Northeast Indiana is poppin off. I really hope the proposed Chicago-Ft Wayne-Columbus passenger rail gets built. No brainer project, where even at its slowest version is still faster than driving thanks to its direct route. Would serve hella smaller towns in Indiana like Valpo, Columbia City, Warsaw
I went to basic training at Fort McClellan in 1973. That's when it was a women's only basic training base. I had no idea it closed. Never got to see the town though because we couldn't go off base.
There a Greedy company and need to Return the Jobs from the other Countries and the Republican's and the Democrats of the State of Michigan need to release the State money to Rebuild Detroit and Flint allow it to be successful again .
When I moved from Rochester New York, Kodak had 55,000 employees. Plus Xerox. Rochester Products and Delco. It was an industrial powerhouse and provide a solid middle class lifestyle.
@@Dragon_rls Not just south of the border, but overseas, like Vietnam, Burma, Bangladesh, and such. That was an extension of NAFTA that would include the pacific trade pact later on. Just look at your shirt label in the back. You'll see.
@unarmed blackman You make me think any textile mills that don't play nice with big box retailers will die no matter where they make their products. Did Cannon Mills failed to cut a deal with Walmart or Target and died when old department stores and town sellers died.
I mean........I'm sorry and that sucks but it's called Capitalism. Corporations go where the labor's cheap. That way they can make more money, employ more people and produce cheaper products. If you don't like capitalism just say so. This happens a lot. Any actually good economy has what's called economic diversity. It's why Tokyo, London or NY just keep swimming and Detroit still misses GM or why the Potato famine was an issue. More economic diversity and a bad potato season wouldn't have meant starvation for an entire country (not to excuse the British but same concept).
@@neilpuckett359 and inland steel also the problem is they went from 34000 jobs in the 70's and 80's to roughly 6 thousand jobs and most of those 6 thousand employees are temp employees...dad worked at inland for 35 yrs💯
I lived in Pullman from 1976 to 1980. There’s a renaissance of sorts going on there now. The cool thing about the place when I lived there was there was a bar just about in every corner. Didn’t have to worry about getting a DUI.
there wasn't when Pullman was alive. The only bar in town was in the hotel for visiting executives. He also was famous for the first "interfaith" temple. He built one church and expected all the religions to share it. :)
Betteravia was a small company town that became abandoned once their sugar Mill closed in the '80s. A few miles away, the town of Casmalia is now nearly abandoned due to toxic drinking water discovered in the '90s. The irony is that both of these towns are in Santa Barbara County, on California's Central Coast, an otherwise beautiful area with a healthy economy.
My first thought was the coal mining areas in West Virginia, my family moved from Logan to central Florida when I was very young and even then I knew it was the best decision my parents ever made.
Your wrong with number 4. Its no where near pullman. Its about 15min southeast of Whiting Indiana, and its in Indiana not Illinois. True its all called east Chicago, but it's not. Its called Marktown to btw.
@@AkeoT9 Whuchu talking about Willis? Pullman Car Company housing is in Illinois. Marktown, Indiana housing was created by The Mark Manufacturing Company. Two completely different and separate "company towns." Secondly, I just typed the list according to what Briggs listed.
Welcome to Hinton west va where I live at. Now they trying bring Hinton west va back to life. But still no jobs . But the whole state of west va is going under . Because of coal mining is gone .
Coal has been an unpredictable resource since the beginning and West Virginia should have diversified many years ago....but a bright spot the cost of living is much cheaper then many other states. I was in Hinton about a week ago the wife and I just started out for a ride ( from Beckley) and ended up in Hinton .....we come down almost every year for Railroad Days hopefully it will be back this fall.
My dad's job got shutdown and torn down in Newark Delaware. He worked at Chrysler plant. They forced him to retried. They closed in 2007. And torn it down . And the UD took over the land and build something on that land .
Love watching your videos. Had some ideas for some new videos. How about a video on cities/towns that almost died due to companies? Or how about biggest towns in the middle of nowhere? Excluding Las Vegas.
I used to work for a trucking company That Set me to Kingston on several occasion The one thing that I found was dreadful was the exits they were far apart from each other.
What about towns that died after the railroad was abandoned and torn up? I can name several - Egan, Clare, Richardson, Kent, Woodbine and Florence in Illinois and Durango in Iowa. All were towns served by the Chicago Great Western until CNW bought it and abandoned it later.
Video suggestion: top ten superfund sites, or ten top states with most superfund site, or towns abandoned because of superfund site. Times Beach, Missouri is interesting story. One man accidentally contaminated entire town.
I like this idea. My city has millions of tons of toxic coal ash sitting in unlined ponds located near the river that cooled the plant. Power company trying to do the bare minimum but one bad flood could cause a devastating coal ash spill which would be a first for an urban area (that I know of)
Anyone ever heard of Roxbury, NH, just east of the City of Keene? It is nearby the Otter Brook Flood Control Dam. There is very little of this town today, if you ever seen old maps of the area from way back then.
I expected Lackawanna NY to be on here because when the steel mills started shutting down in 1982, that whole city ended up on life support from state and federal sources. It is still one of the poorest cities in western New York.
Yeah! I'm in Masontown WV and 1 mile west was the town of Cascade. One building remains, it was a company town that was essentially removed after the coal/coke business closed up.
There are a lot here in Utah, too. The main towns of Carbon County, Price, Wellington, and Helper, are still here, but surrounding them are numerous small ghost towns that vanished when the coal mines closed.
I grew up in Pontiac MI, home to Pontiac motors, part of GM. Although still running, most of the plants are closed and all the property value dropped to almost nothing, just like Detroit. I now live in Olive Hill KY. Built around a thriving brick yard, it closed in 1971 devastating the community. On top of that they have repeated floods that ravage down town or at least what's left of it. Most of the buildings down town are just brick husks of buildings waiting to fall down.
The sass in the video was entertsining. I been thru anf in bruceton tn in 2014. Its depressign as hell. Very little there, home prices are reasonable though! Lot of old folks for sure. Its a nice small town if you want to avoid people and technology.
Bruceton, Tennessee is my mother's hometown. During my father's last tour in Vietnam we lived there. One of the pictures that you used looked like the house that we lived in 1971. Rev George
You missed my favorite, Buford, Wyoming. Built for the Union Pacific Railroad, which began its downfall with the relinement of the UP mainline and moving the shops back to Cheyenne. Now population 1.
You touched on it a little with Thompson Springs. A video about towns devastated by being bypassed by a new highway or end of rail service. Cisco, Colorado for example bypassed by I70 or towns like Seligman, Az on route 66 bypassed by I40. Lots of towns on route 66 were devastated by I40.
Not only Thompson Springs but also Floy, Woodside and Cedar, all in Utah and all ghost towns on one railroad that bypasses them all, Union Pacific's former Rio Grande. I'm pretty sure the Rio Grande was all the rage as a railroad in the old days of the West.
San Bernardino, CA lost its Norton Air Force Base in 1994. And as of the 2010 census, the poverty level is 30% below the Federal national average. They filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
CSX has a yard in Bruceton if your trying to get a job in the rr in bruceton your ok I have plenty of friends that works out of the bruceton CSX yard the never had a lay off
Eagle Mountain, California is a fascinating one not mentioned. There is only one way in and out and the road is blocked off. When the town closed down a private prision built a facility behind the town....then THAT closed down. So there is an abandoned mine, town and prison. Our high school used to play them when I was in high school in the late 70s when the mine was still active..
kelton davis I recently visited Mansfield and Lima and was impressed compared to most small towns. Have not been to Youngstown. terra Haute, Evansville, Peoria , Bowling Green Kentucky, Macon Ga. look much worse.
Live right next to Batsto. There are a lot of these old abandoned industry communes all over the woods along the rivers. You go canoeing and you'll see brick buildings over taken by the woods everywhere.
Great video. How about top ten towns ruined by the Interstate. Such as McLean Texas that once had Rout 66 running straight through it but I40 diverted most the traffic away from it. Interesting bit of trivia about McLean: it is home to the Devils Rope (barb wire) Museum.
You just gave me an idea. Places and towns ruined by a single roadway. First there was Spring Hill Mall that siphoned off much of the business in Meadowdale Shopping Center in my hometown Carpentersville. Now Randall Road that spans the entire length of Kane County and a portion of McHenry County has siphoned off much of the business at Spring Hill Mall including Carson's, JC Penney and Sears. Sears is going under at the mall next month. Now there's talk about IL Highway 47 making short work of Randall Road because of Woodstock, Huntley, Pingree Grove, Elburn, Yorkville, Oswego and Sugar Grove. Urban sprawl anyone?
Used to go to Batsto on the way to Atlantic City. It's nice. If you are in South Jersey, it's a nice tourist site... not too busy, so you don't have to fight crowds. I live in Bethlehem, PA now. This town almost died when Bethlehem Steel went belly up. It's coming back now thanks to the casino here.
@worldaccordingtobriggs Really enjoyed this one though it is a sad topic. But I was sure Missouri would have had one on this list. Have a great day, Briggs. ☺️
I live in a small town in Indiana with a population of 1,500 & our only factory here, Sayco Faucets, went completely outta business in 2004. The town is still thriving, but we are only 25 miles or less from 5 large cities.
@Mungo Munro I might be Australian, but he said the last factory closed last month and Obama wasn't the President then. Might want to move your thinking on to the President you've had for the past two years, who promised to be turning the closures around. MAGA
I went there many years ago. they had built a mall but it was struggling. There was a ton of fast food places and a movie theater, and that was about it.
Hi, interesting - of course made me think of my area in Northern Michigan and across into Northern MN, usual mining town stories dotted across the landscape, a few ghost towns for sure
@Emporer Palpatine tl;dr- N/A Actually this in particular has to do with things like the mining industry, high-grade ore being used to build the country’s infrastructure and provide literally 70% of the iron ore used in the Allied war effort, automation, and industry reducing/taking their interests elsewhere when it became less of a cash cow because of the switch to taconite and easier to employ people in other countries for far less. Decline started as early as 50s-60s. Population was around twice today’s before 1980. I was born in the area myself. Before he died my grandfather took me around the area, pointing to blank meadows, mining pits, and dilapidated overgrown buildings- “This used to be such and such town….this is where my brother and I would come after work for a drink…. this is where your great grandma’s house used to be…” It’s a string of communities created to service the mining interests of the wealthiest east coast tycoons in the early 1900s and is slowly being swallowed by those same mines and/or the bogs/forests. It’s got a specific history that’s often rather different than the state at large and has had significant national and international impact , and many people even in the same state don’t know about it. Blanket political statements about causality without context are polarizing, frequently inaccurate, and generally are about picking fights with perceived rivals like it’s some kind of sports match. We can do better than that, man, ya know? I reckon it’s safe to assume that however something is portrayed, it’s likely a good deal more complicated.
Weed Heights NV. There's a big pit a mile long, 1/2 mile wide, 800' deep. When the mining stopped, the company owned town emptied. Row after row of decaying houses. Decades later someone bought the property and started renovating the hundreds of 1950s homes, and now they are rented out to people that mostly work in nearby Yerington, since the only business in Weed Heights is a dance studio.
Just to name a few non automotive companies headquartered in Detroit (proper) are Ally Financial, Quicken Loans (largest mortgage company in the US), Little Caesars, DTE Energy, health services such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, DMC, Henry Ford Health Systems, etc. Doesn't include other companies that have moved to the city such as Amazon (Tech Hub), Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, etc.
Bates, Kinzua and Valsetz in your state, Briggs, were lumber company towns that survive only as memories. The mining towns of Acme, Gebo and Cumbria in my state have gone the way of the dodo bird as well.
Gilman CO had lots more than a silver mine. The eagle mine extracted much precious metal and much non-precious. Pic in the vid shows the loadout in Belden CO on D&RGW Tennessee Pass rail line. The town of Gilman was 600' above on the shoulder of Battle Mountain. Lots of abandoned mines in western CO.
Talk about Denver Denver is not a good place to live it's expensive and it's dry and there's are so many homeless and Denver is not good place to live so tell people don't come down here if you're looking for a fresh start because it's expensive and it has more people and bad singles
I have heard that a lot of people and even companies are moving from California to Denver to avoid taxes---- any sudden infux of people for good or bad reasons will make it crowded and expensive and polluted and lots more things for original inhabitants to complain about---?Bad singles?
Got a great suggestion for part 2. Sherwood Tennessee. Pretty interesting. I won't spoil it for you, but I'll throw out a few words to capture your interest...Sherwood TN, Gager Lime, Castle...possibly Frankenstein.
Some of these are in pretty spots, but still real isolated. Wonder if the folks still there have internet? Be nice to live somewhere not surrounded by cell towers, if that's even possible in this country, without having to drive 50 miles or more for groceries and medical. That would make it tough for retirees...
Check out Kitsault, BC up in Canada. This town is a time capsule and seems to be unique because the buildings and grounds are being preserved and maintained. But no one lives there... it's amazing.
Ride my quad in Livermore. The logging trails have been opened up. You can even ride on the side of the road to get to a small restaurant. Mill still stinks too high heaven. Reminds me of a tannery
I live in western PA and while not ghost towns a lot of these places have seen better days, and economy collapsed with the steel industry
Was looking in that area but found many small towns with crime rates worse than Newark NJ.
Same as Gary, IN
Some parts of eastern PA got screwed, too.
The Bronx Bunny Man I’m sure
Western PA, Gary, IN, RocHESTER, NY, Western, MA. Since I grew up in a Pennsylvania steel town and then moved to Boston about an hour away the Berkshires, not to mention Northeastern OH and WV... this could have its own YT channel🔥
General Motors took out two towns in Michigan alone, Flint and Detroit.
Chevy in the hole and Willow Run.
Did it really "take them out" if the only reason they were there in the first place was because of "them"?
Why did the Whites leave?
@Roary Calhoun426 white flight did that to every major city in America.
It's more like Flint and Pontiac. Ford and Chrysler are more to blame for Detroit than GM.
Lansing, Michigan. The home of “Oldsmobile”.
Flint and Detroit imploded Lansing not so much. As of 2018 Lansing was still one of the best places to live in Michigan.
My hometown....
Yep when Flint was going down some union employees were transferred to Lansing and then Oldsmobile went down. Lucky Lansing Capital and big college town
1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme , worst piece of junk I ever bought , it was made in Framingham Ma .
@@romanromanowski9038 The workers in Framingham were pissed off about the Bruins being knocked out of the playoffs. : )
Hey Briggs you should consider a video on top ten towns that were destroyed by the introduction of a single employer
E.g. Walmart, Amazon
There is a TH-cam video that does show what happens when a company like Walmart moves in and then leaves. The lack of grocery stores and unemployment experienced by those workers who couldn’t commute.
Really amazon or Walmart your a idiot
Lampoonism dollar Fucking general
Alfredo Alcantar “your a idiot” what are you on child
@@alfredoalcantar8691 you're* oh the irony😂
Appalachia has this problem on a regional level; I worked out there last summer, and my heart goes out to the good people there. There is nothing to replace coal, and little infrastructure to attract alternate industry.
Westmoreland Coal Co.screwed the people of Appalachia , took the money and ran away. Destroyed towns in VA, Ky,and WVA, now operating in the western part of America, making millions , while destroying millions of people's lives again.
Trump could change it if he waned to. Instead he prefers to kiss big oils ass and deny climate change. Makes up stories about windmill cancer and shit like that. We need our government to invest in We The People for a change. Invest in renewable energy and go green. Displaced coal miners can be retrained for green jobs in the new field of renewable energy but Trump prefers to let them sink and lie to them about it. He works for the Establishment oligarchy and does not give a shit about us or our future.
Yea worked in coal mines ...Pike co Kentucky
Jimmyinvictus ginger root lo
Folks were starving when coal jobs were here. The coal jobs were always overrated
FordCity PA when The PPG factory closed.much of the small steel towns in SW PA when the steel industry collapsed.
I know the town well I used to haul out of there.
I lived in the nearby town of Moab during the early 80's. My 1st Grade teacher lived in Thompson Springs. She'd ride the bus in with the few kids that lived there as well. I found out she still lived there up until she died in 2014 at age 78.
I was stationed at Chanute Air Force Base, in Rantoul, Illinois...and when the base was closed, this just f*cked the local economy.
The BRAC Closures did that to a ton of areas. IDK what those Politicians were thinking! A Military Base can generate a lot of (federal) revenue for a city.
I used to live 30 miles north of Rantoul. Most of Illinois outside major cities is drying up. Small towns all over this state have tons of empty houses!
Moral of the story: don’t base your entire town off of one industry
How? Wave a magic wand and ten new factories just appear?
Like gold rush mining camps?
*cough* Las vegas
That’s how towns and cities exist is because of industry.
But...immigration and free trade are the real issue, not stupid economic decisions. 😅
I’m in Elkhart IN- if we lost the RV industry we’d be a different town for sure...fortunately we are stronger than ever here - even after the pandemic.
Northeast Indiana is poppin off. I really hope the proposed Chicago-Ft Wayne-Columbus passenger rail gets built. No brainer project, where even at its slowest version is still faster than driving thanks to its direct route. Would serve hella smaller towns in Indiana like Valpo, Columbia City, Warsaw
I worked at the Chevrolet dealership there for a couple years in the late 90's.
Anniston, Al has turned into a huge living ghost town since Fort McClellan closed and the Anniston Army Depot laid off most of it's civilian employees
I went to basic training at Fort McClellan in 1973. That's when it was a women's only basic training base. I had no idea it closed. Never got to see the town though because we couldn't go off base.
In the early 1990s, Anniston was also affected by the closing of the Magic Chef appliance plant (mostly microwave ovens).
@@georgekraus9357 sad indeed. Didn't know it existed though 🤔
@@chrissy4500 I bet it was a cool town back then. Now it's mostly an incorporated ghetto
@@chrissy4500 Ft. Mac closed in 1995-ish
I know it’s not abandon but flint mi was hit pretty hard when GM left
There a Greedy company and need to Return the Jobs from the other Countries and the Republican's and the Democrats of the State of Michigan need to release the State money to Rebuild Detroit and Flint allow it to be successful again .
When did GM leave? My 2020 Silverado was made in flint just last February. Have they left since then?
Sandusky, OH was very close to going under before Callahan Auto Parts booked a single order for half a million brake pads to keep the company afloat
When I moved from Rochester New York, Kodak had 55,000 employees. Plus Xerox. Rochester Products and Delco. It was an industrial powerhouse and provide a solid middle class lifestyle.
Yes! I remember Kodak
Here in the south, we have a lot of towns that were devastated when the textile mills closed and went overseas, thanks to NAFTA...
You must mean over rivers. NAFTA North American free trade agreement.
@@Dragon_rls Not just south of the border, but overseas, like Vietnam, Burma, Bangladesh, and such. That was an extension of NAFTA that would include the pacific trade pact later on. Just look at your shirt label in the back. You'll see.
North Carolina lost most of their textile mills. Thanks to Nafta and slick Willie
@unarmed blackman
You make me think any textile mills that don't play nice with big box retailers will die no matter where they make their products. Did Cannon Mills failed to cut a deal with Walmart or Target and died when old department stores and town sellers died.
I mean........I'm sorry and that sucks but it's called Capitalism. Corporations go where the labor's cheap. That way they can make more money, employ more people and produce cheaper products.
If you don't like capitalism just say so. This happens a lot. Any actually good economy has what's called economic diversity. It's why Tokyo, London or NY just keep swimming and Detroit still misses GM or why the Potato famine was an issue. More economic diversity and a bad potato season wouldn't have meant starvation for an entire country (not to excuse the British but same concept).
I'm surprised Gary Indiana wasn't on this list
City not a town
@@frankdracman831 Gary is.or was a city
NO BODY CARES BOUT GARY IN. IT'S A FUCKN GHOST TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN.
@@donjuanseville3039 US Steel is still there.
@@neilpuckett359 and inland steel also the problem is they went from 34000 jobs in the 70's and 80's to roughly 6 thousand jobs and most of those 6 thousand employees are temp employees...dad worked at inland for 35 yrs💯
Like Sandusky Ohio ALMOST was when Callahan Auto was in jeopardy !! Holy Schnikes
😂😂😂
Kenneth Bossio Do you think anyone will get what you’re referencing Tommy Boy?
@@004Black yes I do dumbass !!
Kenneth Bossio wow, way to take a joke not even at or about you dipshit. I knew you got it, fvck.
By the working man for the working man!!
I lived in Pullman from 1976 to 1980. There’s a renaissance of sorts going on there now. The cool thing about the place when I lived there was there was a bar just about in every corner. Didn’t have to worry about getting a DUI.
there wasn't when Pullman was alive. The only bar in town was in the hotel for visiting executives.
He also was famous for the first "interfaith" temple. He built one church and expected all the religions to share it. :)
Like any mining town,once the mine goes dry!!!!!
Betteravia was a small company town that became abandoned once their sugar Mill closed in the '80s. A few miles away, the town of Casmalia is now nearly abandoned due to toxic drinking water discovered in the '90s. The irony is that both of these towns are in Santa Barbara County, on California's Central Coast, an otherwise beautiful area with a healthy economy.
I'm really enjoying these spooky style videos
My first thought was the coal mining areas in West Virginia, my family moved from Logan to central Florida when I was very young and even then I knew it was the best decision my parents ever made.
There was a whole town that was destroyed by a flood and mudslide in Utah in 1983 - Thistle.
Hey Briggs hope you and family are well, great informative video thanks bud.🏴🏴🏴🏴
10 Graysonia, Arkansas
9 Marktown, Indiana
8 Bruceton, Tennessee
7 Livermore, New Hampshire
6 Batsto Village, New Jersey
5 Segundo, Colorado
4 Pullman, Illinois
3 Lynch, Kentucky
2 Thompson Springs, Utah
1 Gilman, Colorado
I was raised in bruceton h.i.s killed my town
Cumberland Maryland is almost abandoned.
Your wrong with number 4. Its no where near pullman. Its about 15min southeast of Whiting Indiana, and its in Indiana not Illinois. True its all called east Chicago, but it's not. Its called Marktown to btw.
@@AkeoT9 Whuchu talking about Willis? Pullman Car Company housing is in Illinois. Marktown, Indiana housing was created by The Mark Manufacturing Company. Two completely different and separate "company towns." Secondly, I just typed the list according to what Briggs listed.
Pretty soon unless we get a new mayor, New York, New York
7:12 is a perfect view of the topography left as The Flood waters drsained away 4,350 years ago!
Welcome to Hinton west va where I live at. Now they trying bring Hinton west va back to life. But still no jobs .
But the whole state of west va is going under . Because of coal mining is gone .
Same up here in Weirton.....steel mill went down, yet we still have arcellor/mitral and Wal-Mart keeping us going lol
Coal has been an unpredictable resource since the beginning and West Virginia should have diversified many years ago....but a bright spot the cost of living is much cheaper then many other states. I was in Hinton about a week ago the wife and I just started out for a ride ( from Beckley) and ended up in Hinton .....we come down almost every year for Railroad Days hopefully it will be back this fall.
Yep. I'm from White County TN and we used to have the largest coal mine in the world..until the 50s.
My dad's job got shutdown and torn down in Newark Delaware. He worked at Chrysler plant. They forced him to retried. They closed in 2007. And torn it down . And the UD took over the land and build something on that land .
Love watching your videos. Had some ideas for some new videos.
How about a video on cities/towns that almost died due to companies? Or how about biggest towns in the middle of nowhere? Excluding Las Vegas.
I feel Kingston NY should've been here after ibm left
I used to work for a trucking company That Set me to Kingston on several occasion The one thing that I found was dreadful was the exits they were far apart from each other.
Binghamton too. But they’re doing ok
@@Happypappytappy lol No.. They're not..
NY in general
All of upstate is a barren wasteland.
The title is a bit strange. The business or industry did not destroy them, their closure did. They usually built them too.
It is by design, to foster disdain for Capitalist economic systems. You are not immune to propaganda.
If a town loses a carpenter, it's been said the town starts at that moment in the decline of ueban matter
Brian Glade
Really?
What about towns that died after the railroad was abandoned and torn up? I can name several - Egan, Clare, Richardson, Kent, Woodbine and Florence in Illinois and Durango in Iowa. All were towns served by the Chicago Great Western until CNW bought it and abandoned it later.
Video suggestion: top ten superfund sites, or ten top states with most superfund site, or towns abandoned because of superfund site. Times Beach, Missouri is interesting story. One man accidentally contaminated entire town.
I like this idea. My city has millions of tons of toxic coal ash sitting in unlined ponds located near the river that cooled the plant. Power company trying to do the bare minimum but one bad flood could cause a devastating coal ash spill which would be a first for an urban area (that I know of)
New Jersey has the most super fund sites
Yes, times beach is an interesting story.
Wasnt there already a documentary on it?
Livermore, NH! I'm surprised anyone knows of it. It's now all a part of the White Mountain National Forest growing over.
Great! so it's part of a beautiful national park. Anybody disappear there yet?
Anyone ever heard of Roxbury, NH, just east of the City of Keene? It is nearby the Otter Brook Flood Control Dam. There is very little of this town today, if you ever seen old maps of the area from way back then.
I expected Lackawanna NY to be on here because when the steel mills started shutting down in 1982, that whole city ended up on life support from state and federal sources. It is still one of the poorest cities in western New York.
the legend of the Bethlehem plant lives on throughout Buffalo, its closing affected all of Erie County to some degree...
Yes I used to haul steel out of that plant too.
All of upstate NY is struggling. I was born and raised in Elmira, NY. Nothing there anymore.
there are a lots of ghost towns or almost ghost towns here in west virginia witch was build just for coal you shoud do a video on some of them
Check out the "Appalachia project", he's got a ton of videos of small towns.
Yeah! I'm in Masontown WV and 1 mile west was the town of Cascade. One building remains, it was a company town that was essentially removed after the coal/coke business closed up.
Does ANYONE still live in Coalwood (from the book ”Rocket Boys” & the movie ”October Sky”?)
There are a lot here in Utah, too. The main towns of Carbon County, Price, Wellington, and Helper, are still here, but surrounding them are numerous small ghost towns that vanished when the coal mines closed.
I grew up in Pontiac MI, home to Pontiac motors, part of GM. Although still running, most of the plants are closed and all the property value dropped to almost nothing, just like Detroit. I now live in Olive Hill KY. Built around a thriving brick yard, it closed in 1971 devastating the community. On top of that they have repeated floods that ravage down town or at least what's left of it. Most of the buildings down town are just brick husks of buildings waiting to fall down.
The sass in the video was entertsining. I been thru anf in bruceton tn in 2014. Its depressign as hell. Very little there, home prices are reasonable though! Lot of old folks for sure. Its a nice small town if you want to avoid people and technology.
Just my speed . . . Only problem is it is a landlocked state.
These videos never cease to amaze and entertain, we simply don't have these sorts of areas in the UK and find it fascinating
“Workers handling their wood.” That’s it, I quit.
Therein lies the problem: “Handling their wood” instead of working. 🤣
Over a thousand, no less!! Talk about Splinters,,,,,
Get my mind out of the gutter!
@@robertkirchner7981 Wood you? :)
Bruceton, Tennessee is my mother's hometown. During my father's last tour in Vietnam we lived there. One of the pictures that you used looked like the house that we lived in 1971.
Rev George
You missed my favorite, Buford, Wyoming. Built for the Union Pacific Railroad, which began its downfall with the relinement of the UP mainline and moving the shops back to Cheyenne. Now population 1.
You touched on it a little with Thompson Springs.
A video about towns devastated by being bypassed by a new highway or end of rail service.
Cisco, Colorado for example bypassed by I70 or towns like Seligman, Az on route 66 bypassed by I40. Lots of towns on route 66 were devastated by I40.
Not only Thompson Springs but also Floy, Woodside and Cedar, all in Utah and all ghost towns on one railroad that bypasses them all, Union Pacific's former Rio Grande. I'm pretty sure the Rio Grande was all the rage as a railroad in the old days of the West.
At 5:35 there's a hippie ziplining over the water... maybe that's 1 of the 3... lol
earlier today I saw a unisex poster. You are very low key funny. I now have to go thru and watch all your videos over again so I don't miss the humor.
Is ad blocker still a thing? These TH-cam commercials are driving me insane! 🤬
3rooklyn - yup, but ya gotta pay. It’s worth it to me. I never get commercials.
Just watch the ads. Briggs is providing free content, help him out by giving him ad revenue.
I might just pick up smoking out of spite
Get yt premium like a pimp.
Yt premium
San Bernardino, CA lost its Norton Air Force Base in 1994. And as of the 2010 census, the poverty level is 30% below the Federal national average. They filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
Actually just saw a job offer in bruceton TN about 3 days ago for CSX railroad as a conductor but definitely not going to take it lol
CSX has a yard in Bruceton if your trying to get a job in the rr in bruceton your ok I have plenty of friends that works out of the bruceton CSX yard the never had a lay off
Larry Teague they just finished their new hire group about 2 weeks ago. Thank you for the offer
Mountain Pine, Arkansas.
Just outside of Hot Springs.
Barely remaining since the loss of Weyerhauser
They still have a nice little Air BnB in Thompson Springs, UT--bills itself as a ghost town.
Eagle Mountain, California is a fascinating one not mentioned. There is only one way in and out and the road is blocked off. When the town closed down a private prision built a facility behind the town....then THAT closed down. So there is an abandoned mine, town and prison. Our high school used to play them when I was in high school in the late 70s when the mine was still active..
Must have been hard for them to choose just
Ten there's thousands of them still happening now..
Another interesting topic and very thought provoking. Many thanks.
My father lived in Graysonia, Arkansas before the war (WWII).
My wife's kin lived there from 20's to 40's
Love your videos, and the hilarious narration for each video.
Was hoping for Jeffrey City, WY. Still great video as always though
I think you'd enjoy looking into Salem County NJ. Between the Snapple glass plant and Dupont about 6 towns are basically gone.
Youngs town, Mansfield, Lima... Numerous other small Ohio cities
Connersville, New Castle, Kokomo, Muncie, Ind..
kelton davis I recently visited Mansfield and Lima and was impressed compared to most small towns. Have not been to Youngstown. terra Haute, Evansville, Peoria , Bowling Green Kentucky, Macon Ga. look much worse.
Hocking and Vinton counties
lowlife74 I have been to Hocking and Vinton counties and everything is extremely rural there with mostly farms and hilly countryside.
This is fascinating. Consider doing another ten towns.
Hey Briggs
You should do a part 2 your missing
A few states..
Briggs thanks for the videos, I enjoy them all.
Take a look at the history surrounding Portlock, Alaska
Be nice to each other!....
Live right next to Batsto. There are a lot of these old abandoned industry communes all over the woods along the rivers. You go canoeing and you'll see brick buildings over taken by the woods everywhere.
Great video. How about top ten towns ruined by the Interstate. Such as McLean Texas that once had Rout 66 running straight through it but I40 diverted most the traffic away from it. Interesting bit of trivia about McLean: it is home to the Devils Rope (barb wire) Museum.
You just gave me an idea. Places and towns ruined by a single roadway. First there was Spring Hill Mall that siphoned off much of the business in Meadowdale Shopping Center in my hometown Carpentersville. Now Randall Road that spans the entire length of Kane County and a portion of McHenry County has siphoned off much of the business at Spring Hill Mall including Carson's, JC Penney and Sears. Sears is going under at the mall next month. Now there's talk about IL Highway 47 making short work of Randall Road because of Woodstock, Huntley, Pingree Grove, Elburn, Yorkville, Oswego and Sugar Grove. Urban sprawl anyone?
This is happening in Boulder, NV due to RT 11. Just outside of Las Vegas.
Used to go to Batsto on the way to Atlantic City. It's nice. If you are in South Jersey, it's a nice tourist site... not too busy, so you don't have to fight crowds. I live in Bethlehem, PA now. This town almost died when Bethlehem Steel went belly up. It's coming back now thanks to the casino here.
This is a good list concept.
I liked this list very interesting
Look up Calumet Michigan. It was once considered to be the actual capital of the state. It’s population is now 500 ish
@worldaccordingtobriggs Really enjoyed this one though it is a sad topic. But I was sure Missouri would have had one on this list.
Have a great day, Briggs. ☺️
Good video. Keep up the good work. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Interesting topic.
I live in a small town in Indiana with a population of 1,500 & our only factory here, Sayco Faucets, went completely outta business in 2004. The town is still thriving, but we are only 25 miles or less from 5 large cities.
My town had 4 factories like 15 years ago only down to 1 now one just closed down last month
MOOOOOOOOOOOVE
Cadillac Seville not really a option at the moment being I’m 15
@@treycanafax4438 Gives you 3 years to plan. There are a lot of places that are great places to be FROM. I know, I'm from one of them.
@Mungo Munro I might be Australian, but he said the last factory closed last month and Obama wasn't the President then. Might want to move your thinking on to the President you've had for the past two years, who promised to be turning the closures around. MAGA
Altoona PA - from international railroad hub to dying rustbelt town with big city crime/drug problem.
I went there many years ago. they had built a mall but it was struggling. There was a ton of fast food places and a movie theater, and that was about it.
Very interesting, but also sad 🙁
Canada - Ford , freightliner , Clark equipment , gm , and so on just in ST Thomas and Talbotville
Hi, interesting - of course made me think of my area in Northern Michigan and across into Northern MN, usual mining town stories dotted across the landscape, a few ghost towns for sure
Minnesota's problem is their "Progressive" business tax.
@Emporer Palpatine
tl;dr- N/A
Actually this in particular has to do with things like the mining industry, high-grade ore being used to build the country’s infrastructure and provide literally 70% of the iron ore used in the Allied war effort, automation, and industry reducing/taking their interests elsewhere when it became less of a cash cow because of the switch to taconite and easier to employ people in other countries for far less. Decline started as early as 50s-60s. Population was around twice today’s before 1980. I was born in the area myself. Before he died my grandfather took me around the area, pointing to blank meadows, mining pits, and dilapidated overgrown buildings- “This used to be such and such town….this is where my brother and I would come after work for a drink…. this is where your great grandma’s house used to be…” It’s a string of communities created to service the mining interests of the wealthiest east coast tycoons in the early 1900s and is slowly being swallowed by those same mines and/or the bogs/forests. It’s got a specific history that’s often rather different than the state at large and has had significant national and international impact , and many people even in the same state don’t know about it. Blanket political statements about causality without context are polarizing, frequently inaccurate, and generally are about picking fights with perceived rivals like it’s some kind of sports match. We can do better than that, man, ya know? I reckon it’s safe to assume that however something is portrayed, it’s likely a good deal more complicated.
I like the Pullman story, as his name is synonymous with absolute craftsmanship, throughout the WORLD.!🥳!.
I would like to see more videos like this
Weed Heights NV. There's a big pit a mile long, 1/2 mile wide, 800' deep. When the mining stopped, the company owned town emptied. Row after row of decaying houses. Decades later someone bought the property and started renovating the hundreds of 1950s homes, and now they are rented out to people that mostly work in nearby Yerington, since the only business in Weed Heights is a dance studio.
Just to name a few non automotive companies headquartered in Detroit (proper) are Ally Financial, Quicken Loans (largest mortgage company in the US), Little Caesars, DTE Energy, health services such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, DMC, Henry Ford Health Systems, etc. Doesn't include other companies that have moved to the city such as Amazon (Tech Hub), Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, etc.
Yep there’s lots of companies in metro Detroit.
Bates, Kinzua and Valsetz in your state, Briggs, were lumber company towns that survive only as memories. The mining towns of Acme, Gebo and Cumbria in my state have gone the way of the dodo bird as well.
West Virginia has multiple ghost towns. would be a good place to do a video on for this.
It is a ghost town! Nuttin worth a damn there!
Gilman CO had lots more than a silver mine. The eagle mine extracted much precious metal and much non-precious. Pic in the vid shows the loadout in Belden CO on D&RGW Tennessee Pass rail line. The town of Gilman was 600' above on the shoulder of Battle Mountain. Lots of abandoned mines in western CO.
You forgot Mansville, NJ. The town almost disappeared when JM Mansville went bankrupt following judgements against it for asbestos.
I live about 40 minutes from there! My town is barely holding on too unfortunately.
Surprised by lack of the west Virginia towns
Benjamin Wagner right!
Me too! Weirton should definitely be on this list because of the steel industry. Other towns because of coal.
forgot Flint MI after GM left
GM was doing fine for awhile, not sure now. Flint should be doing better.
I actually checked out Marktown last week. Felt so bizarre seeing the abandoned houses amongst the surrounding industrial sites.
Talk about Denver Denver is not a good place to live it's expensive and it's dry and there's are so many homeless and Denver is not good place to live so tell people don't come down here if you're looking for a fresh start because it's expensive and it has more people and bad singles
Yeah, but weed.
I have heard that a lot of people and even companies are moving from California to Denver to avoid taxes---- any sudden infux of people for good or bad reasons will make it crowded and expensive and polluted and lots more things for original inhabitants to complain about---?Bad singles?
Did you mention that it's not a good place to live??
Got a great suggestion for part 2.
Sherwood Tennessee. Pretty interesting. I won't spoil it for you, but I'll throw out a few words to capture your interest...Sherwood TN, Gager Lime, Castle...possibly Frankenstein.
East st. Louis, and cahokia il.
I"m liking these spooky videos too. What could be more frighting than #10 Arkansas?
Some of these are in pretty spots, but still real isolated. Wonder if the folks still there have internet? Be nice to live somewhere not surrounded by cell towers, if that's even possible in this country, without having to drive 50 miles or more for groceries and medical. That would make it tough for retirees...
Check out Kitsault, BC up in Canada. This town is a time capsule and seems to be unique because the buildings and grounds are being preserved and maintained. But no one lives there... it's amazing.
Nice topic
Ride my quad in Livermore. The logging trails have been opened up. You can even ride on the side of the road to get to a small restaurant. Mill still stinks too high heaven. Reminds me of a tannery
Wheeling wv/steubenville ohio- wheeling pittsburgh steel corporation
Youngstown ohio-youngstown sheet and tube
Weirton wv-weirton steel
Canton ohio- republic or.timken
Hannibal ohio- ormet corporation
Just a few others
For the one in East Chicago, I am not surprised by the description. I am originally from a city near there.
Advances in technology also plays a role in cities turning into ghost towns
Technology plays a much bigger role than politics.
@@franevanisko8806 it’s gonna get so much worse.
My grandmother was from Arkadelphia