Most depressing city/town you've been to?

[webny99]

I find Gloversville to be pretty run-down and depressing.

Yeah, really the entire Mohawk Valley is depressing, despite being scenic. It's almost West-Virginia-esque.
Besides Utica, Amsterdam and Johnstown are potential candidates, too.

Downtown Amsterdam, sure, but it does have the more livelier commercial strip on top of the hill.

I've actually never been up in that direction on NY 30.
Usually just using NY 67 to cut over to the Northway, which involves a grisly few miles. Maybe that's why I have such a bad impression.

[Flint1979]

You could say that any city that's lost half it's population over the last 70 years and has lots of poverty would be pretty depressing.

[capt.ron]

Pampa, TX, especially the stretch along US 60. It's run down and exceedingly bland.

[Max Rockatansky]

You could say that any city that's lost half it's population over the last 70 years and has lots of poverty would be pretty depressing.

That got me thinking, when do you lose enough people that it starts to change into something other than a depressed locale?  Most of the Copper Mine towns in the Upper Peninsula have had just as big of not bigger declines.  The communities that survived their mining decline more or less have evolved into some quite lively and upbeat places.  A similar phenomenon happened with the Gold Rush County in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California and around the Comstock Lode in Nevada.  Even places like Colorado have some really colorful mining communities that might have something like 10-25% of their peak population. 

[Dirt Roads]

You could say that any city that's lost half it's population over the last 70 years and has lots of poverty would be pretty depressing.

That got me thinking, when do you lose enough people that it starts to change into something other than a depressed locale?  Most of the Copper Mine towns in the Upper Peninsula have had just as big of not bigger declines.  The communities that survived their mining decline more or less have evolved into some quite lively and upbeat places.  A similar phenomenon happened with the Gold Rush County in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California and around the Comstock Lode in Nevada.  Even places like Colorado have some really colorful mining communities that might have something like 10-25% of their peak population.

Seventy years ago Huntington, West Virginia was a vibrant college town with a base industry of railroading, specialty metal foundries and coal loading facilities (that made it the nation's largest inland port).  The population topped out in the 1950 U.S. Census at 86.353.  After a steady downhill decline, U.S. Census estimates a population of only 45,110 as of July 2019.  Most likely, the true Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metro area has dropped more than 50% in the past 50 years (Putnam County and Lincoln County got added to the MSA count in the 2010 U.S. Census, with Putnam switching over from the Charleston MSA).  But the worst part of this downturn occurred after CSX Transportation relocated 1,300 of us mostly to Jacksonville and Baltimore shortly after the Chessie-Seaboard merger in 1986.  I don't know how true, but locals reported that small business was down 25% and population dropped almost 10,000 in one year.  A couple of decades later, Huntington seemed to have come back from the ashes and thing didn't look so bleak on more recent visits.

[hbelkins]

^^^

I rarely go downtown, but it seems to me that the Barboursville area and the property surrounding the mall appears to be thriving. There's a relatively new retail center on the hill in the NE quadrant of the Merricks Creek/I-64 interchange.

I can see Putnam and Lincoln being a part of either Charleston or Huntington MSA. In fact, I could see merging those two MSAs since Huntington and Charleston seem to be getting closer together all the time.

[Sctvhound]

South Carolina in a lot of places is like that, especially south of I-26, east of I-20 and west of I-95. Outside of Aiken, there is very little population and industry in that part of the state. Orangeburg is a depressing town. There is not a lot for young people to do at all there. A tiny mall, fast food, and a few other things. It's 45 miles from Columbia, close enough to be in the TV market, but it feels like a world away for those folks, and 70 miles from Charleston.

Places like Allendale, Bamberg, and Hampton still haven't recovered from US 301/601/278 getting bypassed in the 1970s by I-95. Allendale's population has declined 40% in 30 years. People are moving to other parts of the state and other parts of the country. In some of those towns you have to drive to Columbia, Charleston, or Augusta to get more than basic medical care.

[hotdogPi]

South Carolina in a lot of places is like that, especially south of I-26, east of I-20 and west of I-95. Outside of Aiken, there is very little population and industry in that part of the state. Orangeburg is a depressing town. There is not a lot for young people to do at all there. A tiny mall, fast food, and a few other things. It's 45 miles from Columbia, close enough to be in the TV market, but it feels like a world away for those folks, and 70 miles from Charleston.

Places like Allendale, Bamberg, and Hampton still haven't recovered from US 301/601/278 getting bypassed in the 1970s by I-95. Allendale's population has declined 40% in 30 years. People are moving to other parts of the state and other parts of the country. In some of those towns you have to drive to Columbia, Charleston, or Augusta to get more than basic medical care.

The state government is probably neglecting that part of the state intentionally.

[Flint1979]

You could say that any city that's lost half it's population over the last 70 years and has lots of poverty would be pretty depressing.

That got me thinking, when do you lose enough people that it starts to change into something other than a depressed locale?  Most of the Copper Mine towns in the Upper Peninsula have had just as big of not bigger declines.  The communities that survived their mining decline more or less have evolved into some quite lively and upbeat places.  A similar phenomenon happened with the Gold Rush County in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California and around the Comstock Lode in Nevada.  Even places like Colorado have some really colorful mining communities that might have something like 10-25% of their peak population.

The U.P. only peaked out at 332,000 for the entire peninsula and today it's at 311,000. It's peak happened in 1920 so it was 100 years ago that the U.P. was at it's peak population. I guess it just depends on how places have handled their population loss, some better than others. Ontonagon was a city that came to mind being at half it's peak population, not a very large city and it never was but it has the appearance of a depressed place to me anyway. Houghton didn't really seem like that to me, neither did Hancock or Marquette (which is very close to it's peak population today being only about 2,000 people off of it). I don't think Marquette suffered the same fate as some of these other U.P. cities. I guess the larger the city in the U.P. the better off they are but the more populated places in the U.P. are pretty far and few in between.

[ftballfan]

South Carolina in a lot of places is like that, especially south of I-26, east of I-20 and west of I-95. Outside of Aiken, there is very little population and industry in that part of the state. Orangeburg is a depressing town. There is not a lot for young people to do at all there. A tiny mall, fast food, and a few other things. It's 45 miles from Columbia, close enough to be in the TV market, but it feels like a world away for those folks, and 70 miles from Charleston.

Places like Allendale, Bamberg, and Hampton still haven't recovered from US 301/601/278 getting bypassed in the 1970s by I-95. Allendale's population has declined 40% in 30 years. People are moving to other parts of the state and other parts of the country. In some of those towns you have to drive to Columbia, Charleston, or Augusta to get more than basic medical care.

Orangeburg has two HBCUs that are located right next to each other. Both seem to be struggling

[GCrites]

You could say that any city that's lost half it's population over the last 70 years and has lots of poverty would be pretty depressing.

That got me thinking, when do you lose enough people that it starts to change into something other than a depressed locale?  Most of the Copper Mine towns in the Upper Peninsula have had just as big of not bigger declines.  The communities that survived their mining decline more or less have evolved into some quite lively and upbeat places.  A similar phenomenon happened with the Gold Rush County in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California and around the Comstock Lode in Nevada.  Even places like Colorado have some really colorful mining communities that might have something like 10-25% of their peak population.

Seventy years ago Huntington, West Virginia was a vibrant college town with a base industry of railroading, specialty metal foundries and coal loading facilities (that made it the nation's largest inland port).  The population topped out in the 1950 U.S. Census at 86.353.  After a steady downhill decline, U.S. Census estimates a population of only 45,110 as of July 2019.  Most likely, the true Huntington-Ashland-Ironton metro area has dropped more than 50% in the past 50 years (Putnam County and Lincoln County got added to the MSA count in the 2010 U.S. Census, with Putnam switching over from the Charleston MSA).  But the worst part of this downturn occurred after CSX Transportation relocated 1,300 of us mostly to Jacksonville and Baltimore shortly after the Chessie-Seaboard merger in 1986.  I don't know how true, but locals reported that small business was down 25% and population dropped almost 10,000 in one year.  A couple of decades later, Huntington seemed to have come back from the ashes and thing didn't look so bleak on more recent visits.

It's funny, so many of the businesses I frequented when I lived there 15+ years ago are no longer there -- a lot of the ramshackle or cheaply done buildings have been torn down and replaced -- but clearly the town is in better shape. The term I want to use is "well-maintained". Where I live now if a building is from the '60s or '70s it's almost certainly been torn down or is in terrible shape. That's not true there. But I was really surprised about how short of a lifespan some of the family businesses last there -- seemingly only one or two generations.

[TheGrassGuy]

Zhangzhou, China

[Konza]

I've never found much redeeming about Terre Haute, Indiana or St. Joseph, Missouri.

Since I moved to Arizona, the easy answer to this question is Douglas.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've never found much redeeming about Terre Haute, Indiana or St. Joseph, Missouri.

Since I moved to Arizona, the easy answer to this question is Douglas.

Over something like South Tucson?  Miami, Superior, Peridot, San Carlos, and Ajo would also be pretty high up that list for Arizona IMO.

[Flint1979]

I was driving through Lima, Ohio on Saturday and this was actually the first time I've driven through the city of Lima. I wanted to take OH-65 to OH-109 to M-52 to get back to Saginaw, Michigan instead of taking I-75 to US-23 to I-75. So I drove through Lima and my first impression of the city was that it looks a lot like Saginaw does. Old buildings, run down parts of town, abandoned buildings, boarded up buildings and stuff like that. So I think Lima could qualify for this thread.

[SkyPesos]

Zhangzhou, China

China in general is full of apartment complexes, either as its own city or in the outskirts of another major city, that seem to be empty or even abandoned

[mgk920]

Zhangzhou, China

China in general is full of apartment complexes, either as its own city or in the outskirts of another major city, that seem to be empty or even abandoned

Or never occupied.  Time and weather both take their tolls and there will be many truly depressing places there.  Demographic changes over the past few decades and their governing structure guarantee that.

Mike

[andrepoiy]

Surprised no one has mentioned this, but for Ontario, Canada, there exists a place called

Hamilton, Ontario

Which looks pretty sad.

[webny99]

Surprised no one has mentioned this, but for Ontario, Canada, there exists a place called

Hamilton, Ontario

Which looks pretty sad.

Yeah, if you want the Rust Belt in Canada, Hamilton is definitely it. It gets lumped in with the Toronto area because Burlington is basically a suburb of both cities, but the Hamilton side of the bay has much different and more depressing vibes.

[US 89]

Clovis, NM. For a city of nearly 40,000 it seemed very dead and run down.

[Max Rockatansky]

Clovis, NM. For a city of nearly 40,000 it seemed very dead and run down.

Always got the same vibe from Roswell.  Alamogordo isn't exactly the most pleasant feeling place but it definitely has more of a pulse given the nearby military bases. 

[cl94]

Anyone giving a "worst cities in New York" list without Newburgh is automatically wrong. Having been to nearly municipality in the state (and all on the state highway system), I would easily rank that as the worst.

Elmira, Niagara Falls, Salamanca, and Utica are also on that list, not in any particular order. Schenectady, Gloversville, and Watertown are honorable mentions. If you want to include villages, you can throw Hudson Falls and Wellsville on the list.

[Rick Powell]

Did anyone mention Butte, MT? Definitely a downer vibe compared to other similar sized cities in the state like Bozeman, Billings and Great Falls. Copper mines and ramshackle houses. Years ago, I read that FBI's Butte office was used to exile problem employees.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/08/15/fbi-agents-siberia-lives-on/be4abec3-b888-4414-b906-de1cfa1a64f6/

[Rothman]

Did anyone mention Butte, MT? Definitely a downer vibe compared to other similar sized cities in the state like Bozeman, Billings and Great Falls. Copper mines and ramshackle houses. Years ago, I read that FBI's Butte office was used to exile problem employees.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/08/15/fbi-agents-siberia-lives-on/be4abec3-b888-4414-b906-de1cfa1a64f6/

Heh.  My first visit to Butte in the early 1990s was definitely one where the impression was "Ugliest Place on Earth."  However, I was just there a few years ago and thought it didn't look as run down.

Probably a case of very low expectations being easily exceeded, though.

[Flint1979]

Anyone giving a "worst cities in New York" list without Newburgh is automatically wrong. Having been to nearly municipality in the state (and all on the state highway system), I would easily rank that as the worst.

Elmira, Niagara Falls, Salamanca, and Utica are also on that list, not in any particular order. Schenectady, Gloversville, and Watertown are honorable mentions. If you want to include villages, you can throw Hudson Falls and Wellsville on the list.

I thought I might of mentioned that before. I remember talking about Newburgh on here and agree that it is probably the worst city in New York. Another one was Gloversville for New York, I wasn't impressed with either city.