Would you consider Baltimore a Rust Belt city?

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by P47P47

I think Sparrows Point alone qualifies it, and plenty of other departed manufacturing - GM Bruning Highway, Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock, Glenn L. Martin, many smaller manufacturers.

Sparrows Point employed 31,000 in the 1950s. Other steel mfrs. Eastern Stainless whose offices were across from Eastpoint and Armco - Rustless Iron & Steel whose furnaces could be viewed from the bridge on Edison Hwy.

[Blimp]

Baltimore is in the BosWash corridor, which I've never considered the Rust Belt. I always assumed the Rust Belt was out in Michigan, Ohio, western Penn., and maybe western New York.

[paulklee53]

Yes, I think we're a rust belt city, we're just not in the rust belt proper. But we meet all the other qualifications. It's kinda like the Bible belt. Officially, it's a southern thing but I feel like most rural areas in the country are like the Bible belt - they vote pretty much the same way, they're just not quite so fundamentalist evangelical Christian, they have different accents and they don't fly the rebel flag.

[ktaadin]

Yep, rust belt for sure. Our steel history + industrial/blue collar legacy is just as strong as for any of the more traditional rust belt cities.

[ialmostforgot]

Baltimore definitely had industrial departure, but I think that it hasn't had enough to rank up with those Midwestern cities like Detroit. There isn't THAT much urban decay here.

[DistrictSonic]

Originally Posted by Blimp

Baltimore is in the BosWash corridor, which I've never considered the Rust Belt. I always assumed the Rust Belt was out in Michigan, Ohio, western Penn., and maybe western New York.

This is where you are wrong.

Part of the BosWASH corridor is part of the rust belt though, specifically Philly and Baltimore, but also parts of NJ. It goes from the east coast, all to the Mississippi river. Baltimore, NJ, and Philly are the starting points. The rust belt extends all the way to the east coast. It's not just a great lakes region thing. Baltimore was a large steel town at one point, as was Philly.

While there isn't as much urban decay as Detroit in Baltimore, it has far more than Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, etc. Some of these rust belt cities are far better off than Baltimore. It is actually pretty high up there on the list, maybe not Detroit, but is right there with Cleveland.

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by DistrictSonic

This is where you are wrong.

Part of the BosWASH corridor is part of the rust belt though, specifically Philly and Baltimore, but also parts of NJ. It goes from the east coast, all to the Mississippi river. Baltimore, NJ, and Philly are the starting points. The rust belt extends all the way to the east coast. It's not just a great lakes region thing. Baltimore was a large steel town at one point, as was Philly.

While there isn't as much urban decay as Detroit in Baltimore, it has far more than Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, etc. Some of these rust belt cities are far better off than Baltimore. It is actually pretty high up there on the list, maybe not Detroit, but is right there with Cleveland.

Baltimore does have a lot of urban decay because almost every house that has been abandoned is still standing. In cities like Cleveland and St. Louis, which have lost about 60% of their 1950 population (vs. 34% in Baltimore,) a far higher percentage of the abandoned houses have been demolished.

Population loss vs. 1950 is very common in cities that haven't been able to annex. In fact, DC has lost 18% of its 1950 population and Cincinnati has lost 41% of its 1950 population. Milwaukee did an annexation in 1960; so its population decline from 1950 is pretty minimal.

If you measure blight by abandoned houses still standing, Baltimore does very poorly vs. most other cities. Detroit, Cleveland, etc. sometimes claim that they are doing better than Baltimore because their former neighborhoods are now open land and not abandominiums. I think this is a little misleading.

I don't really know what to do about highly abandoned neighborhoods. Demolition costs for rowhouse blocks are sky high because of federal relocation rules. The city clearly doesn't have anything like enough money to take out the 5,000 houses most in need of demolition. If those houses were detached wood frame houses, they would be gone already.

[Urban Peasant]

Yes

[U146]

Yes