From New York and Pennsylvania across to Michigan and Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, even a small spot of Missouri: These are the states that make up America’s so-called Rust Belt. It’s a term that reflects the swathe of abandoned warehouses and derelict factories, left behind by the collapse of American manufacturing industries.
What were once some of the world’s most powerful cities are now literally less than half the size they used to be. As businesses relocated out of state and sometimes out of the country, residents migrated out, leaving behind an industrial heritage that is now being rediscovered and repurposed.
Disused rail lines stretching across the Northeast and Midwest have been transformed into some of the best rail trails in North America, for example. Waterways that were once used to ferry agriculture and manufactured goods are now recreational areas. Similarly, the Ohio and Erie Canal towpath has become a popular canal route through a former manufacturing area that’s now criss-crossed with hiking trails. Also, in the search for more affordable homes, families are rediscovering some of America’s most underrated cities in the Rust Belt. Of these cities, which ones had the steepest drop in population and which are now looking to grow again?
Buffalo, New York
The city of Buffalo, New York, is defined by its geographic location straddling Lake Erie and the Niagara River. The Erie Canal, built in the early 19th century, turned Buffalo into a transportation hub linking the Midwest to the East Coast. The city hit its population peak in 1950, at roughly 580,000 residents, according to Buffalo.org. By the 1960s, however, the city was already shrinking, ultimately losing nearly half of its residents…