The changing face of rural USA

[JoeWras]

A "chicken or egg" or "a bit of both" I suppose. But I do associate the huge Walmart just outside of town that's filled to the brim with Chinese imports with the demise of the locally owned shops on the town square.

Let's be fair and add Amazon to the mix.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I do associate the huge Walmart just outside of town that's filled to the brim with Chinese imports with the demise of the locally owned shops on the town square.

In my RV travel through the Yukon, I spent a night at the Walmart there. Yes, the Walmart, as it is the only one in a Canadian province larger than California. And it is in the capital city of Whitehorse, which has a population of 25,000. No other smaller towns in the Yukon have any store worth anything.

... even going way out in the sticks:

http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/harvard-il-population/
2018 9,130
1970 5,177

We could look at economic data, but I doubt those areas would be growing if there were no opportunities.

-ERD50.

I went on Google Map, then Zillow to look at Harvard, Il. It does not look too bad. Homes there go for $150K to $300K. There's even a mansion listed for close to $3M.

Come on, y'all. I have been binge watching Youtube videos made by an intrepid British guy, who wandered around the old Soviet republics. I really wonder how the people there survive.

 

[RobbieB]

And the median age is 28. Not many geezers, young folks town. Bet it gets cold in the winter!

 

[timo2]

For some parts of the prairie, some people have a plan: the buffalo commons
"The Buffalo Commons is a conceptual proposal to create a vast nature preserve by returning 139,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of the drier portion of the Great Plains to native prairie, and by reintroducing the American bison ("buffalo"), that once grazed the shortgrass prairie. The proposal would affect ten states: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Commons


Buffalo Commons | Great Plains Restoration Council

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I went on Google Map, then Zillow to look at Harvard, Il. It does not look too bad. Homes there go for $150K to $300K. There's even a mansion listed for close to $3M.

You can hop on a commuter train in Harvard and be in downtown Chicago in an hour and a half. It's an exurb.

 

[Ronstar]

You can hop on a commuter train in Harvard and be in downtown Chicago in an hour and a half. It's an exurb.

Harvard would be a lot bigger today if the Motorola plant was still operational. Thousands of jobs lost there.