Newton, Iowa: After Whirlpool bought Maytag, it shut down the Newton appliance manufacturing plant in 2007, and 550 workers lost their jobs (the plant’s workforce was already down from 2,600 employees in 2000). According to a ProPublica/Frontline documentary, 400 people died from fatal overdoses in Montgomery County (which includes Dayton) in the first half of 2017. The opioid epidemic has hurt Dayton more than most small cities. There has been an increase in murders, violence, drug abuse, and abandonment. Dayton has lost 50% of its population since 1960, and one-third of its current population lives in poverty. Today, the city struggles with the ongoing problems of poverty.
In the 1980s Dayton had more than 600 machine shops, but by the 1990s the number had fallen 50%. But the loss of major corporations only tells part of the story. An article in New Geography explains that since 1980, Dayton has lost 15,000 manufacturing jobs at large companies such as NCR, Mead Paper, Delphi, Reynolds and Reynolds, and General Motors. But Dayton's problems go back many years before the shooting. The median household income dropped from $44,357 (adjusted for inflation) in 1992, to $32,935 in 2015.ĭayton, Ohio: The city of Dayton is back in the news after the shooting on August 7 that killed eight people. In fact, from 1997 to 2009, 650 textile plants were closed, says the National Council of Textile Organizations.Īccording to the Coalition, the murder rate in Danville has tripled, gang activity has increased, and food stamp recipients increased from 5,000 in 1989 to 13,000 in 2018. But, after Congress approved NAFTA in 1995, Dan River began laying off their employees-and by 2001 they were all gone. According to the Coalition for a Prosperous America, in 1993, Dan River Mills had 6,500 employees operating seven mills. These changes led to the devastation of many smaller cities and towns.ĭanville, Virginia: The Danville River Mill was incorporated in 1882 and four generations of local families have worked at the mill. The Chinese were allowed into the World Trade Organization and the NAFTA Agreement went into effect.
But, at the turn of the 21 st century, two things happened that would seal the fate of many of these communities. Things began to change for these communities in the 1980s, when American corporations began to outsource production and re-engineer their organizations to adapt to globalization. When these plants were built, whole communities formed around them providing good paying jobs for millions of people without college degrees, as well as jobs for all of their supplier companies and the merchants in the communities. There were food processing plants, auto manufacturers, textile fabric mills, cut and sew apparel mills, paper mills, foundries, hand tool manufacturers, major appliance manufacturers, machine shops, and many others, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data from that era. During the 20 th century, America built thousands of manufacturing plants in small cities in the Midwest.
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