Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Kansas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-16-2013, 08:03 AM
 
78,333 posts, read 60,527,398 times
Reputation: 49622

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by thriftylefty View Post
Could the advancements in farming technology have played a part in the decline? I once heard a western Kansas farmer on WIBW say he was farming what used to be 20 or 30 family farms. If it only takes a hand full of farmers to farm an entire county,where do all those families go who used to live there?
Yes, this is a national phenomenon due to the economies of scale of agriculture.

The kids take jobs in other places and the parents just retire and eventually pass away.

It's only "news" here because it's an axe grind as if this is something unique to KS and some sort of indicator of how messed up the state is because we happened to get a new gov just a few years ago that gets thier panties in a bunch.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-17-2013, 06:55 AM
 
Location: Burlington, Colorado
350 posts, read 847,846 times
Reputation: 504
Farming technologies played a huge role in rural flight. Some towns are indeed dying off, however we are doing just fine out here right now though... many towns like Hoxie, Oberlin, Quinter, Burlington actually have pretty serious housing shortages right now. Others like Herndon, Goodland, Bird City, etc, are beginning to grow again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-17-2013, 06:56 AM
 
Location: Burlington, Colorado
350 posts, read 847,846 times
Reputation: 504
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathguy View Post
Yes, this is a national phenomenon due to the economies of scale of agriculture.

The kids take jobs in other places and the parents just retire and eventually pass away.

It's only "news" here because it's an axe grind as if this is something unique to KS and some sort of indicator of how messed up the state is because we happened to get a new gov just a few years ago that gets thier panties in a bunch.

Exactly, same thing in Ohio, Indiana, etc.... except there were more people from the City to fill those empty farmstead and commute from the exurbs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-17-2013, 07:34 AM
 
Location: Kansas
25,939 posts, read 22,089,429 times
Reputation: 26665
Kids having to move away for jobs is the biggest complaint that I have heard so that is something to consider if you are moving here with children. When you look at even the smallest of graduating classes, there still won't be that many jobs that will open.

I think the drought is a real issue in the last couple of years along with high gas prices making it expensive to commute to jobs since for years and years, people were easily able to afford driving in for miles for a job and now that option is gone. So many reasonably priced homes in places too far off the beaten path.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2013, 08:04 PM
 
Location: Olathe, KS
180 posts, read 261,536 times
Reputation: 123
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnywhereElse View Post
Kids having to move away for jobs is the biggest complaint that I have heard so that is something to consider if you are moving here with children. When you look at even the smallest of graduating classes, there still won't be that many jobs that will open.

I think the drought is a real issue in the last couple of years along with high gas prices making it expensive to commute to jobs since for years and years, people were easily able to afford driving in for miles for a job and now that option is gone. So many reasonably priced homes in places too far off the beaten path.
There was a good article in (I think) the New York Times a few years back about how high gas prices were just killing farmers in rural Alabama. The issue would seem all the more relevant in rural Kansas, as Alabama is a relatively compact state density-wise. Even though gas hasn't spiraled out of control like some doomsday prophets have warned about, all it takes is just one summer of high prices...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-19-2013, 06:31 PM
 
2 posts, read 4,842 times
Reputation: 10
We r moving to mcpherson I'm excited it's for the plant my husband will b working there. The only thing I'm nervous about besides leaving my entire family is the tornados!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-19-2013, 08:21 PM
 
Location: SAN ANTONIO AREA
179 posts, read 247,162 times
Reputation: 88
hang in there BEVERLY. DON`T LEAVE... the same is happening in rural texas...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-19-2013, 10:29 PM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
3,565 posts, read 7,974,728 times
Reputation: 2605
Having lived in SE Kansas, I was looking the other day at historical population figures on Wikipedia, and was surprised by some of the peak populations, especially Fort Scott. That got me thinking about which towns have seen the most population loss. I'm particularly curious if there were any significant sized small towns that had a huge population loss, like going from 10,000 to just a few thousand or something like that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2013, 09:54 AM
 
Location: Overland Park, Kansas
767 posts, read 1,321,419 times
Reputation: 781
Quote:
Originally Posted by MOKAN View Post
Having lived in SE Kansas, I was looking the other day at historical population figures on Wikipedia, and was surprised by some of the peak populations, especially Fort Scott. That got me thinking about which towns have seen the most population loss. I'm particularly curious if there were any significant sized small towns that had a huge population loss, like going from 10,000 to just a few thousand or something like that.
Quite a few of them actually. Pittsburg, Galena, Parsons, and Coffeyville were all considerably larger back in the day.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-20-2013, 12:17 PM
Status: "119 N/A" (set 18 days ago)
 
12,953 posts, read 13,665,225 times
Reputation: 9693
Quote:
Originally Posted by empires228 View Post
Quite a few of them actually. Pittsburg, Galena, Parsons, and Coffeyville were all considerably larger back in the day.
Manufacturing and industry used to be big in SEK. Helio Craft a small air plane, McNally industriies , Kline tools, Parson had the KATY raill road, Kustom amplifiers were made in Chanute. Everything started to die out in the 70's. By the recession of 1982-83 many of them closed shop. I think this current recession will mop up anything that is left in good jobs for that part of KS.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Kansas

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:37 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top