They leave one thinking of a bygone era, when business boomed and these places thrived. They backslid because of deregulation and an uptick in foreign competition, not to mention a downturn in labor power and a failure of certain businesses to adapt to changing times.

1. THE RISE, FALL,
AND RISE
AGAIN OF
MIDWESTERN
TOWNS
MICHAEL ZARANSKY

2. MICHAEL
ZARANSKY
THE IMAGES OF RUST
BELT CITIES HAUNT
AND AMAZE

3. BUSINESS INSIDER
PREDICTS THAT THE
BOTTOMED-OUT HOUSING
MARKET IN SUCH RUST
BELT CITIES AS
MILWAUKEE, CHICAGO,
INDIANAPOLIS, DETROIT
AND CLEVELAND WILL
MAKE A COMEBACK OVER
THE NEXT 20 YEARS.
MICHAEL
ZARANSKY

4. CHICAGO
175,415 - 80,000
POPULATION
DECREASE
MICHAEL ZARANSKY
170,000 - 66,000
OHIO

5. MICHAEL
ZARANSKY
SOUTH BEND, IND.,
SAW ITS FORTUNES
SAG WHEN
STUDEBAKER — ONE
OF AMERICA’S FOUR
LARGEST
AUTOMAKERS THE
FIRST HALF OF THE
20TH CENTURY —
WENT OUT OF
BUSINESS BACK IN
1963.

6. SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AND
THE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL OF SOUTH
BEND
NOTRE DAME DEVELOPED
INNOVATION PARK
JOINED WITH FIVE PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE PARTNERS TO BUILD A
TURBOMACHINERY FACILITY IN
IGNITION PARK
MICHAEL
ZARANSKY

7. MICHAEL
ZARANSKY
GALENA, ILL
Once a lead-mining center
Sagged when the steamship was supplanted by
railroads as a major transportation mode in the
late 19th century
It too shrank, from 12,000 inhabitants to 3,500
But it reinvented itself as a tourist destination
Today the town has more than a dozen live
music venues and art galleries, a riverfront
walkway that entices people to ride bikes and
run, and the river itself offers the fun of fishing
and boating

8. MICHAEL
ZARANSKY
ITS FELLOW RUST BELT BRETHREN HAVE HOPE
FOR SIMILAR COMEBACKS — THAT IN THE
COMING YEARS NEW IMAGES WILL, FINALLY,
SUPPLANT THE OLD HAUNTING ONES WITH
LIVELY, THRIVING, VIEWS OF TOWNS
REJUVENATED

9. THANK YOU
MICHAEL ZARANSKY