ALLTOURS

Silent Mills to Superfund Sites: Why Economic Growth Slowed Since the 1960s in the United States

1. Youngstown, Ohio: The Steel City's 'Black Monday' Echoes

Youngstown, Ohio, United States

On September 19, 1977, known locally as "Black Monday," Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced its closure, triggering a wave of industrial shutdowns that devastated the city.

2. Centralia, Pennsylvania: A Town on Fire, a Resource Exhausted

Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States

Since 1962, an underground coal seam fire has burned beneath Centralia, forcing its abandonment and leaving a modern ghost town that symbolizes coal's fiery end.

3. Kannapolis, North Carolina: From Textile Thread to Biotech Strand

Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States

This former textile town, once home to the world's largest towel factory, dramatically reinvented itself after its industrial heart closed, illustrating a national shift.

4. Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado: The Cold War's Costly Legacy

Arvada, Colorado, United States

This serene wildlife refuge, once a secret nuclear weapons plant, now represents the enormous environmental cleanup costs inherited from Cold War-era industrial growth.

5. Gary, Indiana: The Zenith and Nadir of Steel

Gary, Indiana, United States

Gary's once-grand municipal buildings and neighborhoods now stand as haunting monuments to the rapid collapse of the American steel industry and urban decay.

6. Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York: The Birth of Environmental Regulation

Niagara Falls, New York, United States

This residential neighborhood became a national symbol of environmental disaster in the late 1970s, forever altering how industrial waste and public health are managed.

7. Spring Hill, Tennessee: Saturn's Failed Promise

Spring Hill, Tennessee, United States

Once home to the highly anticipated Saturn Corporation plant, this site became a symbol of American automakers' struggles against foreign competition and internal challenges.

EXPLORE THE HIDDEN STORIES

Uncover America's Economic Past, One Landmark at a Time

Point your camera at any landscape or landmark mentioned here – or any other in the US – and hear its history, geology, and culture narrated in your language.