Once upon a time, you could get in your car and get on a random road and just drive. You could drive for hours and hours, and pass through hundreds of small towns that boasted vibrant city squares filled with quaint storefronts. You would see people gathered outside the country courthouse, sitting in gazebo's, talking to each other. You could stop at the old Dairy Queen or the Soda Shop for some Ice Cream or a bottled drink.
Fast forward forty years, and those small towns are almost dead. The once vibrant squares sit empty, nobody sits in the gazebos and talks. The old theaters sit empty, testaments to days gone-by.
What killed the small towns? Honestly, I blame their deaths on the advent of the Interstate Freeway. Those long stretches of straight road don't cut through the small towns anymore, they go from one big city to the next, taking all of the traffic with them.
People no longer stop in these small towns, they no longer eat at the Homegrown hamburger places, or stop at the soda shops, or even stop and talk to people on the town squares. All that is left are dying towns that will, in the next ten to fifteen years, be ghost towns.
It's really a shame, since each small town is full of history and the people have interesting stories. Just in the area where I live, one forgotten town was the birthplace of Dan Blocker,
Another was the birthplace of Ron Ely, another the birthplace of The Big Bopper. Sissy Spacek and Rip Torn also came from small towns in Texas.
What will happen when all of these small towns are gone? When they all sit empty and abandoned?
that's only partially correct
back in the day villages, the hub of commerce were located no more than ONE hour away from the 'people'
that would be 'about' fifteen miles..one hour of travel would be 7 miles by horseback..(about)..the guy in the middle had a choice of two villages...each of them an hour away.
SO...when cars were invented..they built roads...now people could go faster..the little town began to dry up...people still lived...ONE HOUR away from the hub of business.
When interstates were built...same thing...on steroids.
towns (like Amarillo, Plainview, Lubbuck, ...an hour appart via freeway.. not much between them...O'donnel, Tahoka, NewDeal, Abernathy,....drying up and blowing away.
why have excess towns?
Why does everyone have to live in big cities? There is something to be said about living in a small town and knowing your neighbors.
it you're gonna live in a town it might as well be a big one...it's not total population that matters it's population density. Small town, big town...same difference if it's very large.
BIG cities used to have the advantage of economies of size...not so much any longer.
I had, a few years ago, discovered a town with brick-built 3 and 4 bedroom homes, some with swimming pools. I did not see any people and asked. I was told the train station closed and the houses are now empty.
The price for each house was ridiculous (about $2,000).
It made sense to me that we use these houses for housing the elderly at a very cheap rent, since the government cannot handle the problem.
I still think it is a good idea...but, here at least, people are moving back to the villages and some of the properties are now more expensive than they are in the big towns and city suburbs.
The same is happening in Greece. I don't know about other countries, but I suspect more nd more young people don't think it is that fab to live in a city anymore.