Huntington, West Virginia | What Happened?
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Huntington is one of the POOREST cities in West Virginia, but is it really as bad as people say? With a violent crime rate more than twice the national average, a poverty rate of 32.5%, dwindling population, and a homelessness problem, this city is in big trouble. I recently took a drive through some of the worst areas and here's what I saw.
This country never appreciated its healthy middleclass.
Visited Huntington on an Amtrak excursion in 2021. I heard some things about it and I only stayed on the river which is I guess the nicer part I liked what I saw. Considered buying a cheap property there.
I'm telling you this as a resident of huntington
Don't.
It's not as nice as you think.
Look into other states.
Please.
That is a nicer area of town. Ritter Park area and up above it are nice. There is also a fairly nice neighborhood in behind SMMC as well.
Would love to see you add some somber music to your videos. Very eye opening.
The majority of folks hate the music.
I live in the west end i’m from Philadelphia I’m not gonna lie. I like it better out here than in Philly.
Pull up to Columbus B. I still got them spots for u for some good content if u want em jus lmk on dis comment good video btw!
I live in Barboursville, which is right next to Huntington. I grew up with a Huntington address, but not in the downtown area. I have always loved living here. Now I'm raising a family here, and I still love it. It is very sad how many parts of downtown have become neglected and abandoned. But not all of Huntington looks like this, only certain areas. My parents both grew up in Huntington, both in very poor families. I think the one major thing that is different now from then is the population keeps declining. WV on the most recent census is one of the only states to continually lose more population than it gains. We have a serious brain drain problem here. People come to Huntington to get an education at Marshall, then leave and take themselves elsewhere because of few high paying job opportunities. I would say the main employers in the area are:
Healthcare
Infrastructure (construction, roadwork, etc)
Education (Marshall and public schools)
Retail/restaurants
Huntington was built along the river and became the town it was because of the railroad. The town is literally designed to be a place the people pass through, transporting stuff from place to another. Huntington used to be a boom town in the 50s when manufacturing plants were all over. Now we have just special metals and maybe 1 or 2 other places. Teachers are paid and treated poorly here, so we continue to lose teachers. I do like a lot of the things that Steve Williams has done while serving as mayor. I do think that Huntington and the surrounding areas have bloomed in many ways over the past decade. There really is a whole lot to do here. I'm a lifetime resident and still haven't done everything the area has to offer. Huntington can be a fantastic place to live depending on the neighborhood and what job you have. Utilities run high, but most homes are a lot cheaper here than you can find most other places. I love Huntington, and I believe it can still become something great ❤️
Sarah that is a very well thought out comment, I appreciate that. I'd like to add that what im showing are some of the worst areas and the reality of what that decline looks like. Statistically Huntington is one of the lowest performing cities in WV, and is in the decline on just about everything. High crime + high poverty rate + declining population + major drug issue = A city going the wrong way. Can it turn around? Of course, only time will tell.. Thanks for watching btw!
I’m still in the area as well. When I went to MU it was surrounded by factories and businesses In the mid to late 80s. Comparing that to when my kids went such a change. When CHH had their 60th anniversary they said Lexington and huntington were the exact same size when CHH opened. 😢 I am hopeful as well. I loved your post.
@@christiS907 I've been here all my life... 💜 Y'all's comments ✌️💙
I am from Huntington....heartbreaking what has happened to my hometown. I left in 88...the writing was on the wall and drugs sealed the deal. I hope for a better future. My family is still there trying to make the best of it.
I fell in love with that area...I was working on Dulles airport in 95-96 and spent a lot of my spare time visiting Huntington WV and Harper's ferry... this is very Sad to see indeed ✌️ stay strong and safe
Some of my family too.
Between city fees for living in city limits being outrageous for citizens and companies. Drugs flooding the streets along with roads and other infrastructure being neglected. It's sad really. The good decent people seem to have lost hope. Praying things get better but I doubt it. Can't wait to move.
I still have cousins who live in Huntington. My dad was born there as his brothers and sister. I haven’t been back since my uncle passed in September 1986. He lived in the house near the Frostop Drive In Root Beer stand. I think it’s Hal Greer Blvd it use to be Sixteenth Street. I looked at Google Maps and the house that they lived in was torn down along Hal Blvd. Me and my sister would walk across to Frostop Drive In. Our uncle Ed and aunt Edna’s house was on the corner of Sixteenth & Miller Sts. I remember a grocery store called something like Big Bear…
@@DeeAnnessWorrell yup….Bug Bear Supermarket was a fantastic store.
The whole tri-state area (Ashland-Huntington-Ironton-Portsmouth) are in decline. Other than the downtown areas where they are spending money to beautify and draw people, the rest is really scary.
Ashland has gotten worse for sure, we moved out in 2013 and now live in Texas. Winchester Ave. area has gotten bad.
This is what most of America is going to look like in the next 50 years if we keep going the way we're going.
I am from Huntington pretty much all of my grandmother's family is from there or is still there I haven't lived there since 1997 and I couldn't believe how bad it got when I moved back to Ohio right across the bridge. My daughter was born at Cabell Huntington in 2013 and I haven't been back since 2015 when my brother died at the same hospital. It pains me to see how bad Huntington has gotten but doesn't surprise me it was bad when I lived there as a kid it just seems to be gettin worse....
Portsmouth OH looks the same way. left there 30 years ago, I was 22. Perfect example of what happens when all the jobs move overseas. At one time the Ohio river valley was booming, now it just awful. My parents still live there, I have tried like crazy get them down here in Tennessee, I guess it's just home to them. Very sad to see this decline! Maybe the feds will someday quite sending some much money to our enemies, and help this part of the country be prosperous again.
Portsmouth is horrible! I'm from Ashland.Ky and now live in Southern Texas
The real problem is that cheap labor and abundant land overseas is just too tempting to corporatioms. There is no lack of people in America eager to work for a decent wage. However, when your return on investment is so high by going overseas, that is hard to compete with.
I have my own idea for getting factories here again. Start turning these towns into manufacturing towns for foreign companies, but only lease the land .Do not sell it to them. Make them rent it and pay construction costs for the new manufacturing plants. In return, give them the buying power of American markets with higher returns for whatever is sold here. We take a smaller profit, but sell in volume to Americans. They can sell their products here first, then sell to the rest of the world at whatever price they can get. It is a guaranteed market here with no shipping costs to other countries. I don't know if it would work, but maybe it could be an answer.
@@velvetbees You make valid points. Until we see less greed and more loyalty, it won’t change.
I went to PHS in the early 70's. No jobs so I joined the service. I went back for funerals but it is so sad and depressing to realize what has happened to the whole tristate area.
@@Bornjamerican24 do you really have to ask?
Drugs is what happened.
My company transferred me to Scott Depot in 2015. My district encompassed WV and parts of OH and KY. There are good and bad parts of every area in all states but I’ll have to say most of WV was very depressing. Poverty, drugs, lack of educational opportunity and lack of wealth building employment weigh heavy in the state. After 5 years I was transferred out of the area. I have a fondness for citizens of WV but I was ever so glad to leave.
It seems like politics are responsible for these areas becoming this way.
There's education there. Huntington is a college town, I thought
My brother and I were both born in Huntington and my mom’s family is from there-everyone except her is still there. I spent the first half of my childhood in WV, stayed with my grandparents every summer in Ona. It’s heartbreaking what’s happened to WV.
My families farm is off Howells Mill in Ona.
It's amazing how bad it's gotten out there.
I'm from Ashland and Ona is so pretty.
My parents are from Guyandotte & I lived my first ten years there. Going back in my 40s I was heartbroken to see rot, decay, overgrowth & dilapidated homes that were once nice homes. 💔
Me & John moved away from their thank God 🙏 we're both clean and sober and are doing great here in Kingsland Georgia and we will never move back
I was born in Huntington, I left in 66 a couple of years after I got out of school, I've been back a few times last time was 20 years ago, I don't have any family there anymore no reason to go back again. The one thing I do miss about Huntington is going to Stewarts for hot dogs and root beer, something I did when I did go back.
Yes! That was one of the things I always looked forward to.
Midway is the best fries and shakes
Frost Top is still here and open, along with Cam's Ham
and Camden Park !!!!
@@abl1198 I went to Cam's Ham, they had some good sandwiches. Wasn't it located in the West end ?
This video shows abandoned houses at :38 seconds along that city street to :51 seconds that corner house has the lawn mowed. This somewhat I seen in Detroit. There's places in Detroit of abandoned houses and buildings. Some burned from arson fires and yet some living in that environment. You go away from the downtown Detroit and you see what I described above. You look at RUclips videos of northwestern and northeastern of Detroit and it a complete opposite of the middle of the city.
I was born in Detroit and when I was 10 years old my parents bought a house in Livonia(due west of Detroit itself). This was to be closer to the Ford Motor Company plant my dad worked at from 1950 to 1984 when he retired from the company. Two years after high school I went into the USAF. When my wife and daughter left Texas after discharged, we went to the Grand Rapids, Michigan area where we bee9n ever since. My first job after USAF, I worked at a plant that made appliances like electric and gas ranges. The plant closed down in December, 1987. I was one of 830 people that lost their jobs when the plant closed down. Now because of what life given me my wife and myself have just our Social Security and nothing else to live on.
I use to live in and around Huntington until I was in my late 20s. I moved in 2016, and it was bad then. Looks like it’s gotten even worse.
I worked at that Exxon in my freshman year of college and quit after I got robbed at gunpoint. Honestly though, these aren't 'bad' areas of town. Might have a bad person here or there, but I'd feel comfortable walking through most of these parts of Huntington alone at night.
Agreed
I was looking to see if my daughter was in the groups. We lived in Huntington for about 6 months while she was in recovery, until she went back into addiction. They listen to police scanners and can tell when a shipment comes in from MI. There will be ODs starting at the bus depot and fan outwards. ODs are so bad that the health department gives narcan to anyone who wants it to give to anyone they see ODed. I liked Huntington, but hated it also. I went to the ER for a severe Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) episode, Dr told me what it was, then said "But I have a pill for that". That made me so mad, no wonder there are so many addicts there!
I’m sorry for your daughter’s struggles. I used to work at Kroger on 1st St. and had to call in an overdose last summer. Scary stuff. I carry Narcan now. Hope I never have to use it, but in this town, that’s not a guarantee.
Nah man Huntington rules. It's like real life Gotham City. For real tho everyone keep in mind if the only thing you filmed were the worst parts of any city it would look bad. For example the portion where the text comes up saying there's lots of homeless people he was literally driving in front of the homeless shelter lol. I would assume if you drove past any cities homeless shelter there would be homeless people standing around. No doubt there's sketchy areas but also plenty of good ones as well. Nonetheless the city is worse now than previous decades and I enjoyed the video lol.
possibly the criminals chased most the people out of town.
People can only take so much of crime and they leave to
escape it Leaving the criminals to have less places to rob
and burn down.
I live in West Virginia. Huntington is bad. Charleston too. But I live up a holler with God fearing folks. I love my state. But I’ll stay in my hills and my hollers. Jesus Christ Saves!
The Exxon station next to the smoke shack can’t stay open because they get robbed constantly.
Wow man that is crazy. I used to go through there at nights driving mail truck and it always felt sketchy especially around the gas stations off 60.
Those gas stations get robbed all the time
The start of this looks like something from Fallout 4.
Compared to Chester PA and a few others, this is like heaven. Sunshine, clear blue skies, people too numerous to count, only a few buildings and houses that were total losses. Most areas look well kept.
Drugs have done some major damage
It's mostly the drugs. You show alot of my neighborhood here, it was a nice area when I moved here 2 years ago, but the junkies and the homeless kind of overtake everything so people move out of town. It's cheaper to live out in lavalette or Wayne, and you don't have to worry about your car window getting busted or your catalytic converter getting stolen. Huntington has all the problems of a city with few of the services, and until those services get up to par its just going to keep going down hill.
Starting to look like Detroit does
and lots of parts of new jersey
I uploaded Camden. That’s a mini Detroit right there
It looks so sad and boring. Still lightyears better than Philly.
I was born in Huntington and moved before I was old enough to remember. It looks bad. Some of those apartments look like they could be in South East DC.
So sad. I attended Marshall University in the 70s. To see Huntington in this sad state just rips my heart out.
My dad and uncle ran that exxon for a few years. My initials are in the concrete somewhere
If you work in WV you get taxed like crazy..
Why
Personal property taxes
Them houses are not just dilapidated they are burned to a crisp wonder why they are left up?
It's hard to look at. I remember trucking in Huntington, and Philly 15 years ago.
Exporting industry, and importing drugs is laying waste.
Ghettoville USA at its best! 🇺🇲🤪😜😝
Sad to see that. 🥺
I still have cousins who live in Huntington. My dad was born there as his brothers and sister. He worked in a coal mine for a short time he hated it and joined the USMC. I haven’t been back since my uncle passed in September 1986. He lived in the house near the Frostop Drive In Root Beef Stand. I think it’s Hal Greer Blvd it use to be Sixteenth Street. I looked at Google Maps and the house he lived in was torn down on Hal Greer Blvd. Me and my sister would walk across the street and go to Frostop for root beer. Our uncle Ed & aunt Edna’s house eas on the corner of Sixteenth and Miller Streets. I remember a grocery store called something like Big Bear.
Frostop is the best! And yes, it was likely big bear, they were popular between Huntington & Charleston I know for sure
Was Hal Greer Dr named after a basketball NBA player?
Either you get on with the railroad, become a truck driver, or work at a local gas station. Not much out there for jobs. Honestly I'm suprised how many news cars are on the video.
Don't understand how the mayor let's such a nice community go to waste
Empire's don't last forever
New subscriber. Hard to find words to describe my thoughts as I've watched a few of your videos. Sad. But I wondered if you might be able to include in some future videos, before and after photos of these areas? You can tell these places once thrived with life...so sad.
As the channel moves forward I'll be working on some new ideas and will probably include things like that. Thanks for watching!
I get out of the car to go to the dr there I always have my pistol with me even right downtown isn't good
I like your videos. There's no talking, just read along the bottom of the screen and look. Quiet and your own thoughts as to the places and people. Thank you for that.
Thanks so much for the kind words !
There’s another guy who does city drive around videos who says “hood” every other second. In reality he’s on a main thoroughfare that has 0 “sketch” to it lol
I used to live there in the late 90’s. Such a shame to see how drugs and gangs have destroyed the Mayberry feel it has then.
There was a Mayberry feel here? Must have missed that time period.
I live here. One of the biggest issues is drugs and mental health. My friend who was a sheriff for many years here said other town/cities send there addicts, and mental health patients here due to having several places of treatment and once they come here they usually end up staying. Its not all a bad place, but it has changed a lot in the past 10-15 years.
Dang I thought South Louisiana looked bad. Watched your videos this morning. What is happening to our country. we've been on a decline for years.
Coal died. People followed.
Thanks for the tour! ❤
So the 9th Ave at 6:16 is a ministry known as ReBuild. Lots of good things happening there daily! The owners love the community well. We come from Atlanta a couple times a year to hang out and help with them homes. God is good and He can restore lives!
8:34 definitely the 52 underpass on Jefferson Ave. My grandparents house was on the corner of Jefferson and 16th. Made the drive from Ohio many times and miss it and them dearly. Glad they never had to see it like this, almost all the houses on 16th are gone including theirs. Such a shame and it's only getting worse. Used to love going to the flea market where Sheetz is now.
I didnt know that! Wow! A flea market that's by Barboursville Mall right? I'm from Ashland
.
@@juliecaudill2845 it was actually a flea market right off 52 in west end Huntington. Used to be an old bus barn but was torn down to build a Sheetz.
Remember in 1961 going through Huntington is on route 60 W. coming through town and they had a lot of beautiful homes there at that time I think route 60 was a one-way street on that side that I went through but I remember all the beautiful homes on that I was about 12 years old but I didn’t miss anything special when I came to my home state of West Virginia
I see a lot of newer cars, where do people get their money from? There can't be very much manufacturing around
Marathon Oil is across the bridge in Catlettsburg, Ky. There are high paying jobs there. My husband worked there and my brother in law works there now.
4:54 Nothing to see here
That area at 1:10 is full of tents filled with homeless people. The whole block! Never in my life had I seen that in Huntington. I came through there just a month ago. The city is depressing and not the same place I grew up in. My parents live downtown and I’m always in before dark when I visit. The West end of town is still horrible but much worse than in the 90’s. Even the nice areas near Ritter park are more run down and robberies are commonplace . It’s sad.
Dang, it looks just like Detroit!!!
The sad thing is there are some potentially some nice properties there. With the exception of the graffiti it looks quite pleasant , a lot of the properties seem well maintained. Living in the UK I find it difficult to understand this gereral malaise the US is going through .🇬🇧
That's a shame. I spent a lot of time in West Virginia for work. If you love the outdoors, WV is a great state. It's beautiful but like all other states, you are going to have bad, run down places
Really sad
Braver than I for driving through Marcum Terrace like that. Highest crime area in H-town.
I live right across the bridge, in Ohio, from Huntington. I was actually born at Cabell Hospital, but I've known this my whole life. My mom used to hang out in those houses before I was around. I wish I could say I wasn't desensitized to it, but this video didn't make me feel anything. I pretty much see this every day and have since I was born. You learn to watch your back and don't be alone at night.
I was born in Huntington, migrated out of WVA at an early age and fortunately so. Back then it was the Coal and Union Carbide boom.
Thanks for posting this. This makes me SO sad. I just fell in love with a stone house there and was going to push hard to buy it. But in doing research i saw crime was really high. Then saw this and read a bunch of the comments. Someone calling it "little Detroit" sealed it for me. I'm so sad, all those beautiful old homes there! 😭
Detroit and political corruption is what happened. It's common knowledge around here.
Watched the whole video... Celebrating that I didn't see my house.
I was born in hunington
I love Appalachia, and these videos are great to see, but it's sad whats happened economically. Beautiful country all the same.
Huntington (not unlike West Virginia as a whole) was hit extremely hard with the one-two punch of the loss of industrial jobs and the opioid epidemic. And to this day the city is still punch-drunk and trying to regain its bearings.
Still, I used to enjoy going there. Sometimes I would make weekend day trips and drive out there from Cincinnati (where I lived at the time) just for fun.
These are all the bad spots but to be honest, the town is moving in the right direction now. Marshall University has been expanding and artisan businesses along with restaurants have been fighting back against the run down and empty spaces that used to make up much of downtown and central city. It takes a while for a city to come back from such a huge economic downturn and drug epidemic but I believe Huntington is on the right track
Wow,that city needs a major demolition program!
Always crazy to me how all these neighborhoods everywhere at 1 time was perfect condition hustling and bustling and Now they're like this just would love to know what Happens
I live west of the city in Pea Ridge and just love it here! There are pockets of scary places in Huntington to avoid, but overall I've been in far-far worse small cities all over the United States. Most of Huntington is still very beautiful.
Half my family is from here and I ended up at Marshall for a couple years in 2004 to 06, lived right on 3rd Ave across from Hillbilly Hotdogs (got to help put up decor as they Opened)
It was known as Little Detroit to many, at least then, but it certainly hasn't improved. The train track splitting the low income housing from the University is right out of a comic book or film.
It was wild because they filmed We Are Marshall while I was enrolled, so there was a cool buzz for a bit, but that didn't create any effective change for anyone there.
Not one of those politicians that sent those jobs overseas is living in poverty. Or even in an area of poverty.
Looks like they could use a few handy men & lawn maintenance guys.
WOW, you know i live and work in NC but i have a nice little hideaway/house in Quinwood and the realtor said i can make a SUBSTANTIAL profit so i was thinking of it then reinvest, i see some listings in Huntington so i guess i better do my homework.
There was nothing like Huntington in the Eighties. I started up in Lesage off Route 2 then we moved to 12 Avenue where I went to Children's Place in Guyandotte then on to Miller Elementary. Before the start of 2nd grade my dad and I moved to Hal Greer Blvd, a few houses down the road from Meadows where I attended 2nd through the end of 4th grade. Those were epic times. My friends and I would play any time of the day or night without problems, from 12th ave all the way over to Ritter Park and Enslow Blvd. Then in 89 we moved to Cincinnati. There is something different in the water over in Ohio. West Virginia had the nicest people, Ohio was the opposite. In 2009 I had a brief stint living in H Town, working for a guy painting his properties and living in an apartment behind Subway and RTO Center. What was funny is that the house on Hal Greer where I lived in that time was for rent, I literally walked right into the house and nobody was there. Had a look around and that was surreal to relive childhood in that moment. Now I call Costa Rica home. It's been a long journey. Much love and don't give up hope, the people of the US are going to reclaim their country and cast out the evil that has been plaguing the foundation of society for so many years. If you were in Huntington in the 80s, give me a shout out!
Im wondering something though, you go online and you see homes being sold for $250K in Huntington... is that bc of hedge funds taking over is there good areas and only the bad areas are being shown?
Lol i just knew you would show marcum terrace. That place was built to be a hood. That was dangerous as soon as they started filling it with tenants.
Thanks for sharing your drive!
Huntington use to be a wonderful city. So sad to see how it is today with crime and rundown neighborhoods.
I lived there 40 years , but finally moved out. Felt like it was too dangerous anymore.
That DT area was clean…some people sitting outside but no one living under overpass and bridges.
The rest was old and rough no doubt
I live in Ashland Kentucky. And you may not see people under the overpasses in Huntington during the day, but drive through there at night and it's a different story.
i live near huntington, looks like a populated walking dead city.
Wow. I lived at 1st & 6th in the early 70’s….I guess my fantasy of what Huntington is like today just burst. Very sad. Best not visit in my Mercedes.😢
Looks similar to detroit but not nearly as bad. It's actually pretty clean.
This is going to be every small-town that existed that has had its industry that created the town leave. This is what is kept behind.
You know it’s bad when you see closed down gas stations. Everyone needs gas and if a store can’t make enough money selling gas it must be really poor.
Huntington, WV. has the highest adult poverty in the country for 2022.
Talk about majorly depressing!
The opioid capital of America.
One thing I notice here, these folks might be poor, but you don't see trash all over the place like some cities.
America has dropped the rope; leaving no hope. 🥺
Worked on some of the coal burners in the early 80's. The were getting them under the new EPA standards that had been passed under the carter administration. I told them it was a losing proposition because they would lower the standards again later on until they couldn't reach them cost effectively. Voila now you see the end results.
Tagging on the walls, run down neighborhoods, It’s obvious what happened.
I call it “little Detroit”
Amazing has it changed in 20 years... My mother aunt Mary lived there in the 80's .She came to live with us in Youngstown after uncle harold died from cancer. He worked in the coal mining there. People worked so hard to make a living and got paid so little...
So sad, I was born here at St. Mary’s once this was a thriving bustling community.
"Almost heaven, West Virginia.."
My Dad lived down there and it looked like it use to be a great place to live but when I was down there for a weeks visit it looked like it has Fallen on bad times, i will say this though the local people were super nice and they seemed welcoming , it is still a beautiful place just needs the right people in place to get things cleaned up and make it a great town again.
Even with its issues I still find it a great place. Love the people and the area as a whole