I read of a man who wanted to retire to Clinton, ia. (houses, cost)

[christianstad]

He grew up there back in the '50's and went on to have a career in Hollywood as a sound stage person. He always dreamed of retiring back to the nice town of his youth.
I went to school in Clinton in the early '60's and it was a wonderful little town. Thriving. 5 Catholic parishes, filled every Sunday...then something happened as it did to Small Town America.
The jobs began to go away, the young people moved on, many businesses closed up, etc.
I wonder if that man retired back there or did he go back and take a look and change his mind.
Its still a nice little town but no where what it is in our memories.

[Luvvarkansas]

The town my husband grew up in was like Mayberry. It's still sorta that way, but people don't keep up their houses like they used to (well, it was a mill town and the mill owned them all, so the mill kept them up), lots of trailers going up in place of falling-down houses, and the cool old buildings that were there then are mostly gone. It's sad.

[CtrlEsc]

Originally Posted by christianstad

He grew up there back in the '50's and went on to have a career in Hollywood as a sound stage person. He always dreamed of retiring back to the nice town of his youth.
I went to school in Clinton in the early '60's and it was a wonderful little town. Thriving. 5 Catholic parishes, filled every Sunday...then something happened as it did to Small Town America.
The jobs began to go away, the young people moved on, many businesses closed up, etc.
I wonder if that man retired back there or did he go back and take a look and change his mind.
Its still a nice little town but no where what it is in our memories.

I was there for the fall...
The Clinton, Ia of my youth was the "busy city" where we went to find retail stores and see movies. We would go to Pauls to find discount hardware/sporting goods. After going over the Lyon's Bridge, we would stop at Quick's for $.29 cheeseburgers. The first Tuesday of Christmas Break, me and the other wrestlers would hit up All-You-Can-Eat Taco Tuesday at Taco John's to see who could eat the most tacos (18). During the summers we would cruise The Dyke (sp, because of filters) to meet girls (That word has a whole other meaning these days.)
Somewhere in the late 80's early 90's, Clinton took a turn for the worse. It became the place we went to fight. You would go to the bar, get bumped by someone, then meet them out back for a fist-fight. Fights were cheap entertainment. Jobs seemed to dry up and I remember people getting mugged at the South Bridge Eagles grocery store for their groceries. You would never leave anything in your car because of smash-and-grab thieves. Leaving a nice sweatshirt or gym bag in your back seat would not only cost you your item, but a new car window. I moved away from NW Illinois and haven't been back to Clinton, Ia in 25 years. I hope the city has found it's way back out of the darkness of the late 80's.