The Right Armpit of Indiana: Marion
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- Опубликовано: 10 июн 2024
- This place is your classic “Has Been” town. It was great in the past, but no longer is today. There used to be thousands of jobs 50 years ago, but today you’re lucky if you have a good one. This town used to be a thriving community, today it’s a dying community. Community pride used to be on display, but today there’s very little of it on display. Head through town and you get that old blue collar feel, along with loads of abandoned buildings unfortunately so. This is a town that has lost many many many factory jobs since the city was at its peak. As we go along with the video, you’ll see just how rough things look in this town these days and I’ll talk about how this city got to be this way.
0:00 - 0:52 Intro
0:52 - 2:20 It's Marion!
2:20 - 4:45 Appearance matters
4:45 - 14:00 Economic stats
14:00 - 16:45 Industrial past
16:45 - 24:30 Downtown
24:30 - 26:35 Where everything is in town
26:35 - 32:06 More blight
32:06 - 33:00 Marion High School
33:00 - 35:09 Indiana Wesleyan University
35:09 - 42:01 Chris's Livability Score and Final Thoughts
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Marion resident here. If anyone thinks he was too harsh on Marion, I can assure you that he was actually GENTLE. This video only showed some of the main streets in town. Once you get into the side streets- the residential areas- the outlook gets EVEN MORE gloomier. Abandoned and dilapidated houses are EVERYWHERE. I bought a house here about 5 years ago because it was CHEAP. Right across the street is a burned up house that burned over a decade ago, another burned up house on my street two properties down is gone now- but only because I bought it and took it down myself. Also bought the meth den house next to me and tore it down too. Two more are coming down this summer. I literally bought the entire block on my side of the alley, one property across the alley, and one across the street, all for LESS THAN MOST PEOPLE SPEND FOR A DOWN PAYMENT on an average modest-sized house! While my actions have improved just one neighborhood, I'm still surrounded by blight. One more thing- the crime statistics don't show the sheer amount of meth-related issues Marion has- the jail is constantly overcrowded, so you're likely not going to get charged unless you have enough to qualify for "intent to distribute." Meth-related theft (stealing things to pay for your meth) rarely goes reported, because everyone knows it won't be investigated. As far as the new mayor goes- it seems as if he's accomplished more in the short time he's been in office than anyone in the last two decades. He has a steep uphill battle ahead of him, but the man loves this city, cares about the opinion and ideas of people who live here, and rolled up his sleeves on day one. But he can't do it alone. The people of Marion have to start loving Marion again as well. Clean up your yards. Tear down those blighted houses. and QUIT THROWING YOUR GARBAGE OUT YOUR CAR WINDOWS.
I never intend to offend anyone but I understand sometimes that harsh truth and opinions from an outsider can rub some people the wrong way.
Buying entire blocks of real estate though? Wow. Thats what people do in Detroit! For the same reasons that you’re doing it too.
- Best of luck to you going forward in Marion!
@@ChrisHarden I agree with you. And citizens who live in these kinds of cities might not have any control over the employment opportunities, they DO have control over what their properties look like. It costs zero dollars to pick the garbage up out of your yard. And it's not very expensive to help out a neighbor that is down on their luck. I've mowed a few yards to help neighbors out, rehung some gutters, etc. If you want a city to be proud of, often times it starts in your own neighborhood!
Keep up the good work. I live in the suburbs of Portland, and like you said, very basic upkeep of a property costs nothing. The people around here think nothing is a zillion dollars.
@@TheREALJosephTurner One other thing when I was there I had never seen so many white women with black boyfriends or baby daddes like almost half of the couples I saw there were white girls especially the younger ones with black boys, I was shocked, nothing wrong with it but like who do the white guys date then
@@EbenezerWar I can't speak for all white guys in Marion, but in my case... nobody! But then again, I'm in my early 50s, lower income, and pretty set in my ways. I'm not exactly what most women would call a catch these days. LOL
This decline in Marion is sad. I have never lived in Marion, but I used to live about 30 miles away from it in the 1970's. I remember when my family went into Marion to go shopping at the mall or downtown, out to eat, etc.. since there weren't many services where I lived. In the 1970's, Marion wasn't exactly a wealthy city, but it was doing well. Like Chris said, the city had a lot of good factory jobs at places such as RCA and General Motors where car parts were made. State Highway 9 and 15, one of the main business thoroughfares at the time, had a lot of restaurants, a nice indoor mall, a popular department store called Mr. Wiggs, and many other businesses along the highway. Now, most of those businesses are long gone except for a couple of fast-food chains and a few gas stations. The once thriving mall is now defunct, but the last time I was in Marion the building was still there but was an eyesore. The downtown has absolutely nothing anymore. Marion is an example of the need for a city to diversify its economy.
It's a dump, but I met some nice folks there while working in nearby Kokomo, 4 years ago. The trail through town is beautiful, called The Cardinal Greenway. The AmVets in town is nice, and open to the public.
Pretty nice video of Marion Indiana, l see it’s a good sized city with true urban i briefly visited there back in the 90s at night so didn’t get to see much let alone the downtown and size of the city, but this video did it justice, and could only think it has potential, but it takes the new mayor and other leadership and it’s citizens to make that happen.. Thanks for sharing this video.. Tony j. from Indianapolis. 🙌🏼👍💪👏🏼🏢📸
Hmmmmm Outsourcing jobs lowers the price of "Stuff," but then who's left with money to buy the cheap "Stuff."
Another excellent to the point and often hearbreaking portrait. Chris one of your many talents is how you truly paint and narrate the picture and take a place from abstract to real therefore affecting real people. Given my senior citizen age it was easy for me to envision how the good days would have looked. Again thank you for sharing your exceptional ability to making a place alive and authentic especially for those who have never been there like me. Mega bravos! Craig
Chris, your videos are great. I'm sitting here drawing and learning a lot .
Former Marion resident from 1996-2018.
It wasn’t like this when I grew up in nearby Van Buren (my childhood home was four miles north of Indiana 18 on 600 East).
NAFTA did most of this by gutting US industry but many communities were fading as industry changed and efficiency (which also means job destruction) made manufacturing very different.
NAFTA BTW was bipartisan, more proof the parties really are two wings of the same bird. The US was deliberately destroyed and the men in power were not boomers but the two generations before them. I was alive when that 1958 photo looked like much of America. The American public made or permitted or rewarded the choices that ended that era and they did it at the ballot box.
Thank you Chris for sharing. As always great job. I was wondering where you were. Thanks again.😀😃😄👍
This town needs help. It looks abandoned. I like this video!😊❤
Interesting, I had never even given Marion a second thought. This video will probably spare me from a third. As far as Indiana goes, I have only been in South Bend to visit the Studebaker museum, the downtown area seemed reasonably nice but that was in 2000.
The Wesleyan College is a mixed blessing. A bottle company wanted to move in, but the College did not want a place that could make beer bottled to set up shop.
Marion is also the site of the last lynching north of the Ohio, in 1938.
The city government places more weight on the opinions of the college than they do the citizens who actually live here.
Interesting. Being a Christian college I could see that. Wow.
Even Mayor Henry said that bottling story was not true.
@@SDC509BowmanDeal Not sure I'd listen to much he had to say on that issue, but to each their own. After all, he's the same mayor that stuck all the boulders around the courthouse because Marion, Indiana was somehow a target for terrorists...
Maybe Marion is not at the top of its game right now, but I saw very little graffiti during the video, that's a good thing...... Thanks to Chris for his time, work and posting.....
That's because we can't afford the spray paint here...
I hope it's because you have pride in your hometown. @@TheREALJosephTurner
@@jetsons101 It was a joke, based on our average income. Thanks for playing though.
Maybe because it's a bright spring day, but the town looks much more orderly and clean than most southern or border state shrinking towns. No, not New England level tidy, nor Western rustic romantic, but decent. (Good Lord, that's got to be the most boringly plain college campus I've ever seen though!)
I visited Marion in the 80's, my friend had a motel that he had renovated really nicely. There was a exiled persian princess who lived in one of the rooms, a relative of the Shah. Her small room was packed with exquisite furniture and tapestries she had escaped with. She would get all dressed up like a queen and sit in her window all day, every day. I would always wave and smile to her when i passed by, she would stare blankly straight ahead yet raise one of her pinkys, on her bejeweled hand, and ever so slightly acknowledge me.
If you are going to film many of the depressed neighborhoods, why not film Shady Hills? Maybe that's in the 2nd video.
When you see multiple gas stations shut down that's not a good thing for a community. This town seriously needs some good companies to move there and help this economy.❤
My family lived in Marion from 1974-1977, nice place back then.
As a compliment to the left and right armpits, Brazil and Anderson would be the nasty, unwashed underboobs.
Whoops! Looks like you answered my question. Thanks!
Great video
Perfect timing. Can watch while coding
I've driven coast to coast a TON of times. Turns out, I've also driven armpit to armpit. Who knew.🤣
Best comment yet 😂
Greg (from kokomo). Was an educational vid for me as ive never been there (to my memory, and certainly not in today's condition) and never knew anyone that went to Indiana Wesleyan. I thought I remeber in the 80's a Mercedes repair place....as it seems like my parents went there for car svc, but then started to go to W Lafayette.....I know the W. Lafayette moved to Lafayette but googling I think I was mistaken that Marion ever had an agency. looked like an after market repair shop. it just seemed very out of place, considering todays blight and past employer was GM. Indiana has never been very receptive to foreign cars, so we always had to go out of town for svc. Thanks again for your tours of places ive not been
Worked in a jail in a nearby county; at any given time, it seemed like half of the inmates were from Marion.
Thanks! People need to know what is going on.
As an artist living in an expensive state, I’m tempted to show this to some friends…..we could take over some abandoned places and fix them up.
I’d rate Gary as the ahole of Indiana. Far worse than Marion & it’s not even close.
No city in Indiana compares to Gary.
A friend used to live in Marion. He worked at RCA when they were at their peak..
Place looks as if the life has been sucked right out of it. Reminds me of another area that's has the life sucked out of it, the Alton/East Alton/Wood River/Roxana, Illinois area. Saw that six years ago.
Sadly those are some accurate assessments for both Marion and Metro East.
Btw, the "railroad overpass" by the splashhouse is the cardinal greenway. Its a walkway that goes through Marion and Gas City. I think it used to be a railroad tho.
Yeah. Good catch. It was a railroad at one point. I mentioned the cardinal greenway at the end but could’ve said something about it when I passed by it a few times in the video.
@@ChrisHarden its ok. I just didnt know if you knew when you saw it. 🙂👍
That railroad was the Chesapeake & Ohio of Indiana and running from Cincinnati to Chicago. It was abandoned by CSX in the early 80s I think. Amtrak ran on it and had a stop in Marion.
Will you ever do a video of Elkhart Indiana ?
Probably one day
I thought you were going to pick South Bend
I married in Marion 58yrs I worked and had my 1st son
I wonder if you're going to do some of the top 3 places to live in Indiana supposedly. Carmel, Fishers, or Zionsville
Definitely will one day
Columbus
Having watched ton's of these videos of yours and other RUclipsrs who visit and drive through cities, Marion honestly doesn't look that bad. Again, think Cleveland, Detroit or other rust belt cities that lost their industries/jobs and large portions of population plus white flight. I saw one video recently of east Cleveland and just wow.. Horrible. I've seen some videos of downtowns that were empty and vacant in dying cities in Texas and other midwest small towns. The classic downtowns of the early and mid 1900's have been emptying since the 1950's and 60's. Shopping malls opened, big box stores like KMart, Gemco, Walmart closed lots of those downtown mom and pop stores. You use to go downtown to hit multiple stores to do your shopping. Now, you could just go to Kmart or Walmart and do all your shopping there in one store. It's only gotten worse with all the big box stores that opened in the 1980's through 2000. Now, we're seeing those big box brick and mortar stores and companies closing due to online shopping. Hi Amazon. Shopping trends change as do many things in our everyday lives. I'm nostalgic in general and I do enjoy seeing a video of a vibrant old city with a revitalized old downtown with the restored old buildings and architecture, with lots of folks on the streets and every store filled with a business. As you said, it's mainly in larger metro areas or in smaller towns with an population growth.
My bet is in the next 20-30 years, people are going to tire of living in crowded big cities, with all the traffic, expense and other BS and start moving back to these smaller cities for a slower pace and better quality of life.
I thought the same thing, that Marion doesn’t look all that bad, and has big time potential.. 😮😊🙌🏼🏢📸
As a resident of Marion, I can say this- he hasn't even shown you the worst of it yet.
They already have been moving to those relitively near larger urban areas. With work from home growth since 2020 that trend will likely spread geographically.
Wasn't there a General Motors Body by Fisher and Guide Lamp factory back in the 1970s?
The GM plant is still here, but like most automotive factories, automation means that there is only a fraction of employees compared to what they used to have. I remember when the parking lot was full of employee cars- now they could get rid of over half of the parking lot and still have plenty of employee parking.
From what I've seen, it's very similar to Kenton, OH. The people who have jobs and use castile soap live about 5-15 miles outside of town and tend to have a house and it tends to be nice. The people who don't have jobs and use Dove/Irish Spring live in town and have either an apartment, trailer or a house that it's an ugly state of disrepair. The people that live in town just can't get it together enough to leave.
I have a factory job and live in an apartment. My rent is $800/month and 25% of my check is taken in taxes because minimum wage is still $7.50. Give me a way to get a better job having epilepsy and I will be out of here in a heartbeat. Some things you just can't help. I was born in this town. I didn't choose to be here.
@@JenSAN4105 my situation isn't too different. There are videos about online/at-home work which can frequently be flexible and not crazily hard to get in to. Good luck out there
Marion is probably similar to a lot of places in Ohio. Lima comes to mind. I have yet to see many of the small rust belt cities spread throughout Ohio though.
marion needs to build these battery plants like kokomo indina.
I’m from Chicago working out there.. I just sit in a meeting for a $3 billion dollar plant. One is in progress and the other ones starting soon.
Do they sell toilets here . I think 🤔 they sell them in either Gary Indiana or flint Michigan or Camden nj or Chester pa or even pine bluff Arkansas 😮
💛💛💛
Love all your content will done
So so sad to see what used to be a very pretty city go down hill so bad. People dont care about keeping their lawns mowed or keeping their homes up,this town could get cleaned up if only the residents would get in there and get busy. The businesses need to start up again but this falls on the Mayor and others in office to do something!! Maybe that would give the residents some incentive ,looks like a lot of people just gave up!!
Sounds like flint mi!😮
Yes, a mini flint. Minus the lead water.
Yep
U HAVE A VERY EAZY TO LISTEN TO VOICE YOUR TRAVELOGS ARE CRISP & PRETTY MUCH NON-JUDGEMENTAL I'D SAY U WERE ROOTING FOR THE NEW MAYOR TO START A REVITALIZATION OF MARION...THEY MIGHT GIVE U THE KEY TO THE CITY ..MAKE SURE GARFIELD GIVES IT TO U 👍👍👍👏👏👏🤓🤓🤓
Listen. Do you all hear the loud sucking sound in Indiana? Hoosier government seems to allow most industry and higher paying jobs to go to one city. Indianapolis. Ever since Dick Lugar was mayor of Indy it seems like everything that made Indiana vibrant has been centralized toward its capitol city. If you are withing commuting distance of Indy you are ok, while outlying cities have or are becoming a footnote of the past.
The repairs needed on the older homes (replace plumbing, etc.) might come close to the value of the homes. Seems like a sleepy Midwestern town that might not wake up unless society becomes less global.
I think I saw " one" piece of litter in that whole Town. Apparently the people of this armpit have a lot of pride. Interesting?
I'm glad you didn't pick my hometown of Richmond,. It looks like Marion is a lot worse off.
ive been to richmond. it sucks but marion looks a lot worse
Marion today is what Richmond will be in a few decades if Richmond is unable to reverse their own negative economic trends.
@@ChrisHarden It's been in a steady decline for 50 years. I went to Muncie last summer just to look around...and it's no better off. Is there any exception to the East Central Indiana die-off ?
@@JonEdwardJordan development is heading towards the cities. i live in central ohio, it’s similar. columbus and the surrounding counties are booming but much of the state isn’t. cities like marion (OH), chillicothe, springfield and zanesville have definitely seen better days
indy seems to be the same way. ive driven the 70 corridor between indy and columbus many times, and there’s a good amount of development in the mount comfort/greenfield area close to indy. not much farther out tho.
@@JonEdwardJordan If anything Greensburg and Greenfield are both doing ok I feel like. Might be a stretch to call those towns apart of East Central Indiana though. Amazingly, I'd say Richmond is actually the nicer one out of the cluster of Anderson, Muncie, New Castle, Marion, Connersville and of course Richmond. That's not saying much though.
Towns like this, Terra Haute, East St. Louis, when would you say was their "peak"? 1958? 1969? I heard that the middle-class basically peaked in 1969, and has been on a slow downslide since then.
Late 60's early 70's depending on the town. Anytime around that era for most of the Rust Belt cities
You didn't show the Bypass
Did in the 2nd video. Link is in the pinned comment and description. Don't talk in that video though as it's just extra footage of the town.
Indiana Weslyan is also known for buying up as much property as possible and being too expensive for anyone in the area to afford. They have ridiculous rules and treat their workers horribly. IWU has an aweful reputation in Marion.
Interesting. Other people have mentioned that about IWU too.
All the business are out on the bypass
This is what Niagara Falls NY looks like, deteriorating, depressing, and impoverished.
I’ve been there. I’d say Niagara Falls is worse!
Really, and that city has a fancy name like that, you would think they would pour all kinds of money into it to keep it on point.. and a visitor attraction type of city too . 🏢🏢📸
1958- looked decent . Things seemed to have gone downhill in 1968. For the town where I was I was born, it did go downhill fast. White Flight. This was in Passaic,N J.
@@anthonyjackson1446 A small area around Niagara Falls is ok to visit and stay at a hotel in for a weekend. Otherwise it's easily the "Left Armpit" of New York
Born and raised here in Grant County. Marion is pretty shitty and so glad I left. Gas city is way better even though it's right down the road.
Where did you end up moving to?
Gas City
Thats blinn a slumlord
Why not Brazil?
Why not Zoidberg?
(Sorry. I had to. I don't know big Brazil is.)
@GeeEm1313 Biggest town between Terre Haute and Indy. That said, it's maybe to far left/west to be the right armpit
@@pascalfriedmann1479 Brazil was a solid contestant but Terre Haute won the prize
Who mows all that vacant land?
We have a work crew at the jail that helps with rehabilitation and gets the guys out for the day working on things like this. They have been doing pretty awesome lately. I'm glad we have this program.
They're doing an excellent job.@@JenSAN4105
Man, this dude does not like Indiana 😂
seems the town might want to take advantage of the influx of workers and right the ship. What industry relies on migrant factory workers and then bring that industry to town. you got the buildings and infrastructure, lots of empties. also, as home owners, they tend to improve the property, aka taking pride in where you live
From a symmetry prospective I think Richmond is the right armpit, awful people as well
The city may want to consider becoming a retirement community.
You know, sad as it may be, I don't see a rash of graffiti that's so common where I live. I guess it's lacking a Latino population. They are obsessed with it.
They save that for the trains that go through. 😂
Dont care for the city, you can say Im not the "marion" kind
A horrible city in a terrible state.
Great video