[FromSD]

[QUOTE=Crawford;9798658]
I'd assume places like Scranton were declining 100 years ago bc mining and the railroads started declining. Pretty sure that area was economically dependent on mining and railroads.

I’ve never been to Scranton, but I remember reading years ago that the advent of the Rust Belt in that city was so sudden and complete that you have 1920s neighborhoods on the very edge of town. That isn’t the case in a lot of other slow growth cities where housing continued to be added on the periphery even as metro population growth slowed down or even stopped altogether. And watching episodes of “The Office,” I’m also puzzled at how much the city resembles the San Fernando Valley.