Most depressing city/town you've been to?

[CapeCodder]

In all of my travels, I look for the good and often come across the depressing.

#1 Cairo, IL: It was a typical gloomy early spring day the day I stopped there. The sun, despite trying to fully reveal itself, cast a wan light. The wind, blowing up from the Gulf made the air feel mild. The town was dead quiet, the only sounds were aluminum cans and other items of litter blowing up the street. Seeing the abandoned and burned out houses and buildings made me feel a sense of loss. All the sense of pride that the residents had in their town seemed to have dissipated a long time ago.

#2 Erie, PA: I had been there twice, and both times it was in the evening.

#3 Cleveland, OH: Truly a depressing city.

[Rothman]

New Straitsville, OH, by far left the most depressing impression on me.  Been to Erie and Cleveland as well, but neither of those places were half of a downer as that little town in southern Ohio.

[TheStranger]

Stockton, California.  Went through there twice this year and once in 2017 and while the northwest part of town near San Joaquin Delta College and the two malls (Weberstown and Sherwood) and up to Miracle Mile is decent, the downtown area is pretty much either devoid of people or run down, or both.  Even the area around Stockton Arena isn't all that much better than the rest of the district.

The portions of town where old US 99 (Wilson Way) and old US 50/Route 4 (Charter Way originally, now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) cross are a bit more lively, but still pretty run down.

[Max Rockatansky]

Gary, Indiana by far.  My home city of Detroit is pretty depressing too but at least it still has a pulse and people who care about it. 

[JayhawkCO]

East St. Louis, IL.  No contest.

Colorado edition: Alamosa.

Chris

[kphoger]

East St. Louis, IL.  No contest.

Same here.

[Takumi]

Franklin, VA

[1995hoo]

Weldon and Rocky Mount in North Carolina. They both just seemed like old, run-down, economically-depressed, dying areas. Empty storefronts, dilapidated buildings, etc.

[kphoger]

Kermit (TX) was pretty depressing.

[kphoger]

Also...

Wait for it...

We've done this before.

[hotdogPi]

I've passed through Death Valley on Amtrak, which is depressed (i.e. lower elevation than its surroundings).

(Death Valley is farther north than I thought.)

[index]

Weldon and Rocky Mount in North Carolina. They both just seemed like old, run-down, economically-depressed, dying areas. Empty storefronts, dilapidated buildings, etc.

Around when was this with Rocky Mount? They seem to have made an effort to clean up the downtown area and are still undergoing a bit of local revitalization (along with other economically depressed places in Eastern NC like Goldsboro) although under the hood, all still isn't well.

Personally the most depressing place I've been to is the sort of out-of-the-way, rural bits of the northern Shenandoah Valley. A lot of unincorporated towns and crossroads so no one town in particular. Everything seemed so dumpy and ran down there, traces of former industry, you can tell a lot of stuff there is just remnants of a former golden age. I had visited my grandmother in a nursing home and even in that place, everything kind of felt so dead and depressing. Nobody really seemed happy at all.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've passed through Death Valley on Amtrak, which is depressed (i.e. lower elevation than its surroundings).

Speaking of the desert probably the most depressing place in California that I can think of is Needles.  That's some serious decline and neglect going on in that city. 

Edit:  I thought that you probably referring to Needles above but I wasn't quite sure you weren't making a geology joke about Death Valley either.  I just saw you edit so I assume you probably were thinking of Needles?

[kphoger]

Speaking of the desert probably the most depressing place in California that I can think of is Needles.  That's some serious decline and neglect going on in that city. 

I've never been to England.

[bandit957]

Cincinnati during winter from about 1987 to about 2005 looked like something out of eastern Europe in the Soviet era.

[on_wisconsin]

South Bend, IN

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Utica, Thunder Bay, Forest City, MN.

[Rothman]

Utica, Thunder Bay, Forest City, MN.

Thunder Bay, MN?

[CapeCodder]

Utica, Thunder Bay, Forest City, MN.

Thunder Bay, MN?

Exchanged for the NW Angle 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Keiser, West Virginia; Glendive, Montana; Salesville, Ohio.

[webny99]

Utica ... MN.

Utica, NY is much larger, but probably even more depressing.

[Rothman]

Utica ... MN.

Utica, NY is much larger, but probably even more depressing.

A friend of mine from there said the big thing to do is watch buildings be demolished.

From the looks of things, Utica, MN is a ghost town.

[webny99]

Utica ... MN.

Utica, NY is much larger, but probably even more depressing.

A friend of mine from there said the big thing to do is watch buildings be demolished.

My personal big thing to do there is fuel up on the way to the Adirondacks! 

From the looks of things, Utica, MN is a ghost town.

Population 291, so not far off.

[Takumi]

Weldon and Rocky Mount in North Carolina. They both just seemed like old, run-down, economically-depressed, dying areas. Empty storefronts, dilapidated buildings, etc.

Around when was this with Rocky Mount? They seem to have made an effort to clean up the downtown area and are still undergoing a bit of local revitalization (along with other economically depressed places in Eastern NC like Goldsboro) although under the hood, all still isn't well.

Personally the most depressing place I've been to is the sort of out-of-the-way, rural bits of the northern Shenandoah Valley. A lot of unincorporated towns and crossroads so no one town in particular. Everything seemed so dumpy and ran down there, traces of former industry, you can tell a lot of stuff there is just remnants of a former golden age. I had visited my grandmother in a nursing home and even in that place, everything kind of felt so dead and depressing. Nobody really seemed happy at all.

I drove through Rocky Mount about a year ago now. It was very hit and miss. There was new development, but I could also see where there were areas where time had gone by. Weldon, meanwhile, gets overshadowed by the relative glitz (heh) of Roanoke Rapids.

In addition to Franklin, the general vibe of the towns south of Richmond on 301/95 is pretty depressing. Jarratt, Petersburg, Stony Creek...even Emporia is pretty run down once you get away from the bypasses.

[kphoger]

Speaking of the desert

Along our usual route in Mexico, there is a whole string of really depressing "towns" along Carr. Fed. 40.

The largest (and not very depressing) has a population of 423.  But here's one with a population of 57.  And here's one with a population of 73, just named "Kilómetro 64".  There's no money in these villages.  Because they're on a federal highway, practically every house doubles as a "restaurant" for truckers to stop at and/or a tire re-vulcanization shop.  It's hard to see houses that look uninhabitable, missing wall or even a section of the roof, with residents sitting inside.  What do they do when the rain comes, when the temp drops to below freezing in the winter?

In July 2014, my traveling companion's front wheel bearing broke along this stretch of road.  He and I and a couple of hitchhikers from the back of his pickup started hunting in these villages for a real mechanic–not just a tire re-vulcanization shop–stopping in each village along the way and asking around.  Each time, the answer was just "no, puro vulka" and a suggestion to try the next village down the road.  Finally, on the outskirts of a large-ish village (pop. 376), we ended up finding this mechanic shop.  Rusty car parts piled up in the dirt, inoperable vehicles out back of the building, and a mechanic who'd had a tracheotomy and couldn't sound out vowels.  With only one day left on our tourist cards and vehicle permits, it was more than a little stressful.

Now that friend has a wife and two kids and a baby on the way, they live near there, and they do mission work in villages just like those alongside a local pastor.