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On the death of rural America
Jun. 12th, 2023 07:22 amOn the occasion of having come back from a visit to one small town, here are my thoughts on rural American.
It’s fashionable in some circles to complain about the ongoing decline of small town America and to attempt to offer solutions. I think it helps to understand why small towns are in decline. Small town America has been in decline since the 1920s, and it was and is being killed by the internal combustion engine.
Most small towns existed as a place for farmers take their output to sell and to buy what they didn’t make themselves. As tractors became mechanized, it took a lot fewer people to produce a bushel of corn then it did when horses did the work. A horse is not a motorcycle with hair – it requires rest. So, farms slowly consolidated and fewer people were employed in farming.
The second effect of the internal combustion engine was that one could travel farther to get to a market. When going to the store involves looking at the south end of a northbound horse traveling at 5 miles an hour, you want the market to be close. When you jump in your Model T and go 20 miles an hour, that’s a different story.
The small town I’m most familiar with, Westville Illinois, was a coalmining town. It was built when the miners had to walk to work. Now they don’t – they drive. Also, the same factors that changed agriculture changed mining – it takes a lot fewer people to dig up a ton of coal.
Fewer people = fewer reasons for a market town. Although modern "work from anywhere" technology appears to offer hope for a reversal of this trend, I wouldn't bank on it. The typical tech worker wants amenities that aren't available in small towns. They can get all the advantages of small-town living in smaller cities of 50,000 to 100,000 people. In short, the decline of rural America is permanent.
It’s fashionable in some circles to complain about the ongoing decline of small town America and to attempt to offer solutions. I think it helps to understand why small towns are in decline. Small town America has been in decline since the 1920s, and it was and is being killed by the internal combustion engine.
Most small towns existed as a place for farmers take their output to sell and to buy what they didn’t make themselves. As tractors became mechanized, it took a lot fewer people to produce a bushel of corn then it did when horses did the work. A horse is not a motorcycle with hair – it requires rest. So, farms slowly consolidated and fewer people were employed in farming.
The second effect of the internal combustion engine was that one could travel farther to get to a market. When going to the store involves looking at the south end of a northbound horse traveling at 5 miles an hour, you want the market to be close. When you jump in your Model T and go 20 miles an hour, that’s a different story.
The small town I’m most familiar with, Westville Illinois, was a coalmining town. It was built when the miners had to walk to work. Now they don’t – they drive. Also, the same factors that changed agriculture changed mining – it takes a lot fewer people to dig up a ton of coal.
Fewer people = fewer reasons for a market town. Although modern "work from anywhere" technology appears to offer hope for a reversal of this trend, I wouldn't bank on it. The typical tech worker wants amenities that aren't available in small towns. They can get all the advantages of small-town living in smaller cities of 50,000 to 100,000 people. In short, the decline of rural America is permanent.
