[Mad Dawgg]

I will post my own small town experience directly. I am still working on my notes and trying to organize it. I have the many trends I have noticed already listed but am working on the examples to better demonstrate what I have noticed.

[reed13k]

For me a town of 10k wouldn’t be small. Grew up in a town of about 600. No stop lights, no flashers, had some old stop signs at a couple intersections that were yellow instead of red.

Everyone knew everyone. Biggest issue was there just wasn’t a lot of work. Earlier in the towns history there had been a couple places in town - paper factory, tomato canning place...by the time I was born they were all gone. Cheese factory is still there, but they don’t make anything but small batch now - outside that its just a little storefront. There was a cafe, a drug store (since closed) grocery (since closed), 3 gas stations (only 1 open now I think), a small bank branch (also gone now). Lumber yard burned down, grain elevator’s all shut up for going on 50 years.

I used to joke that there were 2 bars and a liquor store to balance the weekend out with the 3 churches.

The 3 churches, cheese factory storefront, a gas station, cafe, one bar, and the liquor store are pretty much all that remain outside the post office now. People rent some of the other for odds and ends to try to make ends meet - small motor repair, etc.

At one point there had been a skating rink (roller) and a theater, but the town went through a fire and a couple floods in the early 1900s and that all changed.

A lot changed when they consolidated the school with other nearby towns.

But the people were always nose to the grindstone, don’t complain about your situation (though they always did lol) and get your work done. Fair amount of gossip. No one thought twice about someone defending themselves or their family/friends.

My best bud’s mom had a big cast iron bell. We’d ride our bikes everywhere often all the way to the river bottom - no matter where when that bell rang it meant his supper was ready and time to get home (quick!).

Parade on the fourth even as small as it was. Volunteer fire dept. No cops - at one time there was a town cop, but it didn’t ‘work out’ so instead the deputy sheriff would come by once in a while - definitely on Saturday night so the ‘teens didn’t get out of hand’.

One sure thing to this day is the county fair was always in our town, despite not being located centrally, it just was. Carnies and the big black horseflies would come in the week prior and leave the week after. You could hear the demolition derby on Friday night all the way out to the countryside if you decided to do something else.

It’s hard going back - having traveled you’re accepted, but still not an insider. Oh they’re proud as hell of all those that ‘make good’ and ask after you and brag constantly. You want to share what you’ve experienced but you don’t want to come across bragging either. They want to know, but they don’t want to pry or feel like they’ve missed out. I’ve talked with my family and closest friends about it - they agree it’s an odd situation and that I haven’t missed on my assessment.

I don’t miss driving 1/2 hour to get to a fast food place or any other shopping. I do miss the smell of the hog farms when the wind comes out of the northeast, and walking down the middle of the street of an evening with no sounds but the crickets and the hails coming from the front porches leading to hour long conversations.

We didn’t have the fancy setup in your picture for christmas - just some wreathes, big plastic candy canes, and some tinsel to hang up at the downtown doorway stop on the telephone/power poles.

I’ve often thought, if I was ever in a high enough position that cost wise I could convince someone to put in some production there, they do work hard. But during one of my recent visits I’m not so sure folks back home would want it. They put in an interstate nearby that had been planned for 40 years finally and all anyone had to say was how they didn’t care for it and farmer xxxx lost his land and home (he was well compensated). They want to change you can see it in their eyes, but they also don’t want to change and hold back.

I do have a feeling though with some of the upcoming production methods that there is going to be a change in how things are delivered and it will allow us to move back into those small towns. 3-D printing, the internet, some of the quick-change processes in image transfer, robotics, recent agriculture discoveries - I could see those creating a move away from the population centers and back to a smaller community. People already work remotely in a lot of capacities....

So yeah I’m from a small town, but 10k - pshaw - that there’s a county seat or one of them community college cities.

[Ingtar]

Oakland is a town in Fayette County, Tennessee, United States. In 2010 the population of the town was 6,623,[4] a gain of 417.8% since 2000, for the largest gain of any municipality in the tri-state area of Memphis TN-MS-AR.

The thank you sign from Trump is still up in front of the county Trump office. The Christmas decorations have been up for a month, though some here from Memphis prefer happy holidays. We have a locally famous bell ringer at Kroger.

I hope this answers what you need.

[freedomfiter2]

The nearest town to me has a small country store. One day I stopped in to buy a snack on the way to do a job. There were several guys hanging out on the benches out front and when I went to the door one of them said that the lady that runs the store had to run some errands but I could just get what I wanted and leave the money on the counter. Well nothing had prices marked on them and I didn’t have change. They told me to get what I wanted a settle up later. I did and stopped back that afternoon. The lady acted like that was normal. I’ve been stopping there often ever since.

[Chuckster]

I come from a small town in Vermont but spent half my life on an island in the Pacific with a nearly a million people on it.

Now I live on a different island with only about 3K souls. We have police (8), a Fire Dept. (Volunteer) Municipal water, hydro-electric, trash pick up and sewer service. Most of the streets are paved but there are no multi-lane roads. There are no traffic signals except the one that flashes in front of the Fire House when the engine is about to come out, and another flashing amber light that runs when school lets out.

There is no Walmart, Costco or other big box store on the island. There are two hardware stores, two groceries, Two bars (Plus the Moose and Elk clubs), three marine chandleries and thirteen churches. There is no restaurant open after 4PM so there are a lot of dinner parties, pot lucks, church socials and community events. We have an excellent library and community theater too.

There is no road connecting this community with any other town; no bridge to the mainland. Access is by boat or airplane only. No large ships call here either. Tourism is limited to a few hunting and fishing lodges on the island or ferry passengers stretching their legs.

P.S. Didn’t see a single yard sign or bumper sticker for the national election.

[equaviator]

Utica, MI in Macomb County has been swallowed up by the suburban sprawl of its surrounding communities. Roundabouts are being installed all over the place because of traffic congestion. People all over are texting while driving...First there was “white flight” coming north out of Detroit. Now there’re McMansions, fast food, strip malls, supermarkets, superstores and sports bars everywhere. I liked it the way it was in 1967 when Utica celebrated its sesquicentennial. The Down Home Days summer festival and the Fall Roundup carnival are gone too. For a while there, Utica, Michigan had it all.

[newfreep]

Well I was born in a small town and I can breathe in a small town. Gonna die in this small town and that’s probably where they’ll bury me.

Well, someone had to post this...

[Publius]

Upon being priced out of Seattle when I retired, I tried a little town on the Georgia coast that I had discovered when I was stationed at Fort Gordon in 1971. I learned to love small town life, but the humidity and the Georgia mosquito (aka the state bird) drove me out.

I settled into a little Dutch farming village in western Washington just 5 miles from the Canadian border. Our industries are all related to agriculture. The meat packing plant has its Mexican workers, some of which may even be here legally. If you want to know what is going on in town, just sit down for a huge country breakfast at my favorite Dutch restaurant, keep your ears open and you'll hear what is going on.

I still travel the 110 miles to Seattle and back for chamber music concerts in January and July. But I've found a thriving classical music scene in Vancouver, and the venue downtown is only a one hour drive. (A 90 minute drive if they hold the concert at the University of British Columbia.)

When the customs people see me in jacket, tie and displaying my passport, they say, "Oh hi, Pub. Got a concert tonight? Who's playing?" I get the same friendly response when I cross back after the concert.

I saw only one Hillary sign in town and plenty of Trump signs. When Trump came to town during the campaign, the protestors lining the streets were all from Bellingham or Seattle.

I like the sense of safety, peace and quiet.

[shhrubbery!]

Interesting project. My town is about 6,000 residents. Yes we have a police and fire dept. While I've "only" lived here 25 years, I'm the town's historian and have a pretty good idea what it used to be like.

The town's old newspapers have been digitized, so we're able to read a lot of local stories dating back to 1880. Funny how the old saying, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" (the more things change, the more they stay the same) seems to apply here! Human nature doesn't change. much.

But I have noticed two big changes:
(1) the public schools here were ok 25 years ago; now they're terrible
(2) the opioid endemic; many deaths from heroin overdose, esp young people.

Every small town in America has probably been plagued by drug infestation since the 1960s. But the opiate addiction situation has really exploded.

You might already be familiar with Charles Murray's book, "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010"? My town has a significant number of Hispanic and Asian immigrants, but is still majority white. And while I would say it is a decent place to live, it resembles Murray's prototypical "Fishtown," a working class community that used to be close-knit, but has lost stability in recent years. I blame this mostly on family breakdown that has been promoted by the Left for many decades.

[JimRed]

The definition of small town varies from place to place. For example, in our section of the New Jersey Shore the small towns run north to south in a continuous strip (interrupted by larger towns/small cities, like Asbury Park and Long Branch) for the first mile or two from the oceanfront. Unless you see the “welcome to” sign or know the area it’s hard to determine where one ends and the next begins. So the impression is that of one very, very long town.

[Ditter]

We lived in a small Texas town for a number of years. When we moved back to the city I felt like I had awakened form a long sleep.

I absolutely hated small town life. Everyone knew everyone else’s business or thought they did. The bank employees talked about your bank balance, the doctors nurse talked about who’s daughter got pregnant. The court house employees talked about who was getting a divorce. The final straw was when the realtors neighbors knew what our house was worth before we did.

Nothing was private! Never never again for me!

[Chuckster]

Did you say “Small Town”? Here are a couple we visited before settling in here:

https://youtu.be/n03wfCcIiec Tenakee Springs Pop. 100 (40 people and 60 dogs, according to one local)

https://youtu.be/IobjXz4A2TE Port Alexander, Pop. 35 but they have a K-12 School.

I could go on...

[TexasTransplant]

Brilliant

[Repulican Donkey]

Since 2002 we have lived in a small county in Texas. The county seat has about 4,500 people. There are drawbacks but we have decent doctors; great neighbors and we love living here. People say “hello”; races get along; all in all it is wonderful!

[whodathunkit]

Living in rural central PA. Not a resident of the local town (pop. ~2000) but address is through their post office. About two decades ago all of the stores in town closed at noon on Wednesday and Saturday and of course all day Sunday. I do mean ‘all’ of them. Need gas? SOL!

Finally got a convenience store open 24 hrs 7 days a week and all of the other businesses changed their hours to modern standards. Too little too late from what I see. Lots of empty storefronts and only one grocery store left in town. Nearest chain grocery store is now 20+ miles away.

Drugs are a local problem, having drug searches in the local school was a deciding factor in homeschooling our kids. The school district can’t control who influences my kids but I can, as well as many other parents in the community. Internet access for home schooling provides an alternative for us that wasn’t available ten years ago. It stresses the districts budget and will eventually cause the school to have far fewer attending students.

Crime is not an overwhelming concern here but does occasionally occur. Firearms are plentiful and with the the passage of stand your ground laws in PA, there seems to be far fewer break ins. Most often it is by an unattended vacation home by some local misguided youth.

UPS, FEDEX and USPS service is a godsend that allows us to not be traveling all the time for store items not available locally. Daily deliveries and online ordering are common occurrences. Regular two day service and next day if needed.

One of the trends I have noticed in the last ten years is the relocation of troubled urbanites to small towns outside of their home area. The theory is that it will separate them from the drug and crime culture. Most are on relocation programs to get them out of living situations that are less than ideal.The problem is brought to the small town when friends and acquaintances come to ‘visit’ weekly and bring the urban problems with them. Well intentioned it may be but the fact is it is a program that spreads problems into rural areas that otherwise would not have had to deal with them at that level. Schools, Police, local and state agencies are required to provide services and at a cost to the local community.

[Mad Dawgg]

I have lived America in a small town in Southern Ohio under 11 Presidents (soon to be 12). When I was a kid you played outside unless it was a thunder storm or hard rain. And yes when the street lights came on your behind better be home or there better be a damn good reason.

You rode your bike everywhere, Mine were almost always Schwinn Stingrays My favorite one I can remember was a model called the Lemon Peeler. It was a cross between these two versions in the following pictures:

Mine had the 5 speed gear shift and the hand breaks but the large front wheel it was custom assembled out our local bike shop with the confusing name of Ohio Auto. The old guy had started in the auto parts business circa late 40s early 50s and slowly transitioned over to bikes and toys. I was given this bike on my birthday probably when I was around 11 years old. I had that Bike until I was in High School. I was rarely outside without it.

A bike was just an extension of your outside self. All the neighborhood kids had something similar. My next door neighbor rode Huffys and we spent many a summer day arguing the merits of our "rides" over the other guy's obviously inferior bike.

We adapted our bikes to carry the many tools of our daily outdoor world like ball bats and gloves and tools like shovels and hammers and saws that we used to build interesting things like tree houses and go-carts. The tree houses were built in the woods a couple of blocks to the east of where we lived, it was the edge of town and to this day I have no idea who owned or owns that property. There were no signs or any structures save for our many and varied forts and tree houses some of which are still there today though in less-than acceptable condition to serve any useful purpose.

These structures were kid-haven no adults ever came there many because we just did not tell any of them about these places. This was where the many discussion on the opposite sex took place all the speculation of young boys about girls and what they were like how they were shaped etc. When I think of the hours and days spent there it always brings a smile to my face and I am sure at the time if any parents had overheard us there would have been shocked dismay and probably a permanent banishment from said havens But when I compare those memories to what kids of that same age bracket as we were at the time are doing and experiencing presently it would not even raise an eyebrow today of must parents.

Being a kid in small town America in that era (late 50s 60s and 70s) was to me a Golden Age. The adventures I and my pals engaged in are fond memories and are something my daughter did not get to experience much because by the time she was born much had changed for the worse. She was born in the 90s and there just was no thought of allowing any kid under 15 or so to spend the day away from the house. When she was 4 a friend of hers was grabbed and was being hefted into a car when a neighbor parent saw the ordeal and ran full on towards the vehicle with a rake in hand ready to do battle. The child was dropped and the vehicle fled. The only info the neighbor parent got of the vehicle was an out of state license plate most likely Indiana and the make which was most likely a rusty Chevy van with no windows except in the back.

There are several events some major some not that I remember as a kid that would most likely not occur today. One happen mid 70s and it was the Town's Centennial of course that is an event that only happens once in a town's life but the scope of the event was huge or at least it seemed so to us kids. There was a festival held to celebrate the event that lasted over a week (Our town did not have any such events before that save for the fair which is at the fairgrounds on the edge of town but not in the town proper.)

There were two parades one to open the festivities one to close them. Both took hours to watch. The theme was of course based on what the town was like at it's incorporation 100 years ago. When the floats and parade participates lined up the thing stretched for several miles and took considerable effort to organize blocking many streets in neighbor hoods just to stash everyone in order to get in line. Marching bands from neighbor cities for miles came to march in the parade. Horses from all the horse show arenas for miles came also (in fact there were dozens of people dressed as clowns all along the parade route with shovels and carts to collect the multitudes of "road apples" deposited by the alarming number of horses that descended on the town for those two parades. Some estimates have the number of horses in the parades at well over 200 both ridden and pulling the many varied wagons and carts from the era of the town's founding. This may not sound like many but when your town is only around 5000-6000 in total population it seems like all the horses in the world suddenly rode into your town.

Horses were always a part of our parades in town and my family almost always ride our horses in these parades. I can remember riding in the Centennial Parades and my Dad carrying buckets of water many times filled with hoses of friendly homeowners along the side street were assigned for our staging area to the parade. When the horses started depositing "rode apples" on the street one of the older neighbor ladies asked if she could have it all for her gardens. My dad smiled and and said sure and handed me a shovel.

The Centennial Festival was something I will never forget because there were so many things going on. People usually attended the Festival in "period dress" There were several notable Townspeople who were in Character during the entire event.

One character was Judge Roy Bean (apparently because the movie of the same name had released around the time of Centennial and was very popular and of the same era as the Founding of the town) The Judge would hold daily trials after Festival goers were arrested by several of his "Deputies" under highly controversial laws that tended to be made up on the spot. Many were put in the "Stocks" which were located in prominent corner near the Festival stage in the center of town. Some were given community service such as sweeping the streets and/or picking up litter with a fake ball and chain attached to their ankles.

There were also small side events going on constantly in the downtown's store windows. Many of these windows were decorated up to "period" interiors of how such would look from the time of the Founding and then locals would act out small one act plays. One I remember vividly because Our neighbor Cloyce (my best friend's Dad) was a main character involved in a card game in a Saloon that erupted into an argument and a bar fight.

This whole festival was literally years in the making people in town worked on costumes and decorations and and planned events like the one act plays for months even years in advance.

And for the life of me I cannot imaging anything close to the level of commitment and detail that was applied then to a similar event in any town near me in this present day. Not because I don't think local people could not handle such. It is just that an event like that Centennial of my youth would not be considered worth the effort that was put forth then. Mainly because the people that would do it now are my age and I know most of them and they would just not have the time and most certainly would not have the money it would take to hold such an event presently.

Another minor event that stands out for me when I was probably around 9 or nine was a "wanted Man" was in our area. I don't remember his name or exactly what all he had done wrong but he had beaten his wife and one of kids bad enough that both were in the hospital and someone else much worse and was trying to hide out locally. Word had spread he maybe about in our neighborhood and I can remember my Dad and several Neighborhood dads grabbing weapons (mostly 12 gage shotguns) and searching the area checking on neighbors and going to all the outbuildings and garages in our area making sure he was not hiding there. Of course most every Neighborhood Dad had served in the military either in WWII or Korea

Again I cannot imagine anything like that happening today. For a host of reasons not the least of which a large group of men walking about town armed would cause all manner of concern and probably elicit an unwelcome response from State and maybe even federal authorities. But back then it was just part of town life that you did not allow bad men to roam the town and many town officials including police were in amongst those men leading and organizing the search groups. Another yearly event I remember is decorating the town for Christmas this was done up with much gusto. lights were strung all up and down the streets on the phone poles and store windows were fully decorated The Christmas parade was a large affair with sometime a hundred parade entries. Marching Bands from around the area the Local Groups like Kiwanis and Rotary and of course the popular Shriners members in their very rad mini-cars that all us kids wanted so badly.

Today the Christmas parade has our local marching band, two or three Fire trucks, a couple police cars and maybe a couple of local children's baton groups and a dilapidated float with Santa in a sleigh with one reindeer It is over in ten minutes.

The main thing I notice is that town events are few and far between and are poorly attended to the point many have been permanently canceled. Fourth of July Fireworks are gone. the annual Little League parade is in danger of cancellation because though all the teams participate hardly anyone watches the parade ( one of the saddest things I have ever had the displeasure of watching is 20 or so little league teams riding through town and not a single person on the streets watching besides me and two others who were taking pictures.

. Something in small town America was lost these past few decades I know it is just not my area. I know our area has been hard hit by several government schemes that crushed the local economy but I know also I get reports of the hallmark events of small town life fading away where the economy is in no way as bleak as it is here.

And it makes me sad to think it is probably gone forever.

[relentlessly]

I grew up in a small town, returning after 40 years of working in big towns......big difference now - drugs and even less working opportunities - especially for young people. Those who don’t finish High School are hardest hit, but even those that do finish but don’t continue to even community college find it difficult to find work - other than minimum wage jobs.

Big box stores have moved in - downtown stores are now just tourist traps selling antiques, beer, trinkets. Property values have gone through the ceiling.

With that said, small towns are great for the retired set, especially when a high rated hospital in part of the mix - it’s the most popular place in town.

[Rubiman01]

1960-1970. Level Green, PA. Population had to have been less than a grand. Now it’s running over 4K. Had one grocery store, one gas station and a pizza joint. Delivered papers for some spending cash and worked at that grocery store. One set of scout packs/troops. Rode that bike everywhere no matter what hour or what the weather was. Snowed like crazy at times and now I laugh when the neighbors kids get out of school because of cold weather. Used to sit on the wheel well of the school bus and stomp on it till the bus driver had to get out to check the tire chains. Now the place is a bedroom community for the ‘burg. Grandparents passed away and now, after the demolition, they put like six houses. All we had was a kindergarten and an elementary school. If I remember correctly, up hill both ways.

[CarolAnn]

I grew up in the city, lived there for 25 years, but now I live in Louisburg Kansas, a town of 3,500 and have for about 25 years. I might move further out in the country, but will never move back to the city. I have to work there and that's bad enough.

We have a big parade down Main Street on Labor Day, and on Memorial Day, the cemetery is wall to wall flags. We have a few whacked-out libs around, but we live and let live, and so far don't have any trouble. Kansas is a Republican State and being smack dab in the middle of fly-over country makes us the ultimate idiots to the elitist left. But we are happy, peaceful, accepting of all points of view (unless you have a terrorist bent) and we love God and Country. Pretty much in that order.

To give you an idea of how different we are from those in a big city, our pastor is from Chicago. He had friends visiting one Sunday, and they overheard a conversation we were having about hunting. They asked him "Do you mean they actually shoot animals and eat them?!!!" The way I see people is that they are different - just different. Not better or worse. I think people in the city see people as right and wrong - better and worse. Maybe people in the city all have to think alike or they wouldn't be able to live in such close proximity to each other.

[oldvirginian]

I live in a village of about 200 people.

There is a state route that cuts through the middle of the village but the side streets are nice and quiet.

One grocery/hardware store with everything from groceries and a deli to nuts and bolts, fertilizer garden implements and bulk seeds. But no gas.

There’s a convenience store a half mile outside the village with a lunch counter and gas.

Elementary school and two churches.

We have a parade each July 4th and Christmas.
Usually have some nice vintage cars as well as some vintage farm equipment.

About a fourth of the homes are rental but the renters are nice and neighborly.

When the wife passed away and my finances tumbled, the landlord (it was her childhood home) readily dropped the rent so I could afford to stay here.
Good people.

Mostly white with a good mixture of age groups.
No damned yankees as yet.

There’s a Masons lodge across the street and one of the churches beside that. The church chimes ring about five times daily. I go on the porch to listen to them.

I go to the elementary school to watch the Little League football and baseball.

Place is so quiet you can hear a mouse break wind.

I love my little village.

[Dr. Sivana]

My family and I lived in the small town of Edgerton (5,000), north of Janesville, WI and south of Madison. It reminded me in some ways of the bigger town I grew up in, with its small non-chain stores, walkability, and decent folks all around (despite being majority Democrat, they live mostly like Republicans).

The police monitored the two main drags and its 25 mph sped limit. The park has a great community swimming pool, though the youths showed off with foul language with no adults willing to do anything about it (I only found out after we moved, the local pool here in Georgia dows not have that problem to my knowledge).

The local police department was a pleasure. The water bill gets dropped off in a special mailbox just for water bills and property taxes, etc.

Kids could ride bikes and take walks with no issues. So can grown ups. Not a lot of local work.

The old tobacco warehouses have been turned into lofts (though some of the vintage advertisements on the side of teh buildings remain, the rare exception to anti-tobacco advertising). The independent car mechanic was close enough to my house that the car could be pushed in, if needed. Neighbors were nice enough, though we never really got to know each other.

Really good local home schoolers groups provided our friends. Even though we were of different faiths (Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, etc.) we all wanted compatible things for our children, and had a mostly common understanding of natural law.

I don’t miss 25 below, snow plows that undo my shoveling, but overall a very positive experience. I would recommend Edgerton for people who want to raise a family in Wisconsin and have to work in Madison or Janesville.