The town I live in has about 400 people living in it. No grocery store, but two gas stations, a closed elementary school, three churches, and a closed one. That church closed up due to lack of attendance, last parishioner count being four. Two of the others are on life support, to be honest. The only one that is well attended is the Christian Nationalist one ‘on the hill’. That one also runs the food bank that my husband and I support.
There used to be a few more people, and at one time, if rumor is to be believed, there were a few more businesses. Now, we do have a plumber’s office, an HVAC place and a bargain (junk) store, too. And a post office and bank branch. And, of course, a Dollar General.
We do have a consistent issue with having enough people to man the rescue squad/fire station. As a consequence, we pay an annual fee of $175 to keep the ambulance available. I don’t have an issue with that, but around here, that was cause for an uproar, just like a change to the parking meters in the town down the main drag where the meters went from a nickel to a dime one year, and the cacophony was bad, they dispensed with parking meters altogether!
That town has a few more businesses and a few more residents (about 1800) three gas stations, a Tractor supply, three dollar stores (really) one grocery and the requisite post office. We also have two banks, and two farm credit unions. A 7-11 and a couple of sandwich places, two coffees places and several auto and farm related place, liquor store and fast food. One Chinese restaurant and an American sit down place. Our Walgreen’s closed last year, but we still have a CVS (rumors about its longevity swirl) and a religious pharmacy that won’t fill certain scripts.
Now, why would I write about any of this? It goes back to a terrible decision made in 1870. There were two entities in the state looking for a place to call home. The state university and the state school for the deaf and blind. The town 11 miles to the south of my little village on the main drag was in the running for either one of them, and it was their call to pick. They picked disastrously wrong.
We got the school for the deaf and blind, which is a fine institution but now has a census of 30 - 40 students depending on the time year. There are more empty buildings on campus than those being used, even though most of the buildings are specific to a purpose.
Meanwhile the town that got the university? It has over 31,000 residents. In fact, it is where we go when we want most household products, clothing, shoes, etc. I can’t even list the number of businesses (and, consequently, jobs) there. But I sure do like the restaurants. It is over an hour from us.
Locally here, we do have a higher median income though I think that is skewed due to so many people moving here from the DC area for retirement, so they are bringing in IRA money. There are so few jobs near here that most of the young folks leave.
I am sure in 1870 the decision was taken with the best information available at the time. Also, it probably reflects some of the attitudes toward college and people who attend, since even then, they were considered more liberal and thus would be a bad influence. It sure is interesting how it all turned out.
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