What Happened to Elyria Ohio?
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- čas přidán 16. 02. 2023
- The story of Elyria, a once prosperous retail destination…
References:
US Census
www.cityofelyria.org/history-....
ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Elyr...
ohiomemory.org/digital/collec...
www.morningjournal.com/2012/0...
www.brookings.edu/wp-content/...
Images:
"Greetings from Elyria, Ohio - Large Letter Postcard (4481460080)" by Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
"File:Elyria-ohio-ely-park.jpg" by Derek Jensen (Tysto) is licensed under CC BY 2.5.
"Sunrise in Elyria, Ohio" by runneralan2004 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. - Zábava
I was born in Elyria Ohio. I’m from the South Side, & my mother secured an apartment with me still in her belly. 136 Tedman Ct, the Wilkes Villa housing projects. I can vividly remember my mom working at JCPenneys for 15 plus years. We’d (my brother & I) go to the mall on a Saturday morning when her shift would start at 9am, & stay until the mall closed at 9pm. This is back when HigBee’s was still Up & running, & Gold Circle (later KMart) was still the place to shop. My grandmother (God rest her soul) used to love to shop at Gold Circle, & Woolworth’s. Woolworth’s was sweet because they served food there. This was way before “food courts” at the mall. I remember the chairs that lined the middle of the Midway Mall used to have ashtrays built into them, yes U used to be able to smoke inside of the mall. Exhaling Heavily…times sure have changed. I miss those childhood memories. I’ll take them with me to my grave. They belong to me, & they make Up who I am to this day. 🙏🏿
Oh hey I remember that too - always walking behind some squad of smokers in the mall - smokes were like 50 cents back then.
@@trainlinezoo Imagine people not knowing the dangers of second hand smoke.
@@maclac48 lol the times I was literally burnt by a cigarette as a child in the mall, by some lady (hair caked in 80's aquanet) walking around flammable clothing with a lit cigarette. Wild.
It's one of those things I'm glad we don't do anymore as a society.
@@tehrinny7031 Lol, no doubt!
Your "What happened to [city]?" series has been doing really good in views and I've been enjoying them. I live in WA so I've barely ever heard of a lot of these rust belt cities. I hope you make more
What's ironic is I moved from WA to Cleveland 2 years ago, and now I'm very familiar with all these rust belt cities. I've spent a bit of time in Elyria and it's not even close to the worst rust-belt decay present in NE ohio lol. I remember thinking Tacoma was depressing, but Tacoma seems like a modern metropolis compared to some of these places.
@@GavinMichaelsElyria is actually a pretty cute little town all things considered. Get down to Youngstown or Dayton or northern west Virginia and compare, loo
I was born in Elyria, and Midway Mall is a pillar of my childhood and teenage years. I have many fond memories of hanging out there with my friends, playing games at the arcade, and seeing what was new at the bookstores and hobby shops. Sad to see what’s become of it.
Do U remember how ashtrays were connected to the seats in that lined the middle of the mall? U could actually smoke inside of the mall, seems crazy to today’s standards. The ashtrays had like sand in em.
The Richfield Coliseum might make a good video in this series.
Love the videos.
I just drove by there yesterday. It’s a field now.
Loved Richfield Colesium, it was empty for years
There is a suburban mall outside of Minneapolis that is like 70% vacant yet remains open, called Burnsville Center. It’s an interesting place to visit if you’re in the mood to see some post-apocalyptic retail just hanging on by a thread.
Now you should do what happened to East Palestine, Ohio.
Probably too soon
We ain’t forgetting that one
You're going to get this guy whacked.
Palestine ohio Pitsburgs forgotten western exurb
Big class 1 freight railroads cutting costs……
Elyria is such a dump. I live in the city next door and grew up in the city next to the one I’m in now. All I know is, every time I get a neighborhood alert notification from my stupid ring doorbell app, every potential gunshot, car theft, suspicious person, break in etc. they all come out of Elyria.
Like most suburbs certain parts of Elyria may be a dump but not all. My grandparents lived there for over 50 years . They had the best neighbors young & old. Their neighbors were also their friends. Their church was & still is a wonderful church which we visit once a year while in town. So there are amazing people that live there ..just NOT everywhere.
You are just wrong! Not all knocks, camera ring views are from Elyria people! Stereotype much? There are still nice neighborhoods here and people as myself, friends, even my 80 yr old mother that still live here. Crime is everywhere.... Even whatever city you didn't last living in, has bad people in it!
I’m 38, and used to go to Midway Mall all the time as a kid. Watching its decline was heartbreaking.
I'm the same age, and I went to college in Lorain County back in 2004-2009.
The whole region just seemed like it peaked a couple decades before we were born, and has been declining ever since.
I remember seeing a traffic light being removed somewhere in Elyria or Lorain, and just being struck by the fact that I'd never heard of that in the booming part of Tennessee where I grew up.
At least you still have Great Northern Mall and Sandusky Mall nearby. Those are nicer malls.
Midway Mall was the place people went to hang out back when I was a teenager and that area was where everyone's parents shopped for just about everything that wasn't groceries. The cracks started forming for the area when the K-Mart closed. Then with years of mismanagement and the mall being passed around like a hot potato between companies, it was just a matter of time until it's anchor tenants (who were usually poorly managed themselves) started to disappear. Once Macy's pulled out and Sears went bankrupt, the writing was on the wall. RIP Midway Mall. It will be interesting to see what the Port Authority does with the property.
I was born and raised in Elyria. And I totally agree. I moved many years ago. In the 80s as a teenager we practically lived at the mall. I remember when the Kmart was a Gold Circle. I believe it’s a Marks now.
@@deborahchapman7882 My grandmother always shopped at Good Circle. I miss those days. As a child I thought they’d never end. 🙏🏿
My hometown. There's still much to love in Elyria. The downtown area has much potential and there are strong retail areas - just not in the Midway Mall area. Most of it moved towards the border with Avon and Sheffield (near LCCC's main campus). The Walmart on the east side remains. So I'd say the only dead zone is in Midway area and this is further away from the city center. The Midway area would do well for redevelopment with commercial, residential, and retail space. A big issue for it is that it lacks residencies - in a place where it be be optimum due to the proximity to the Turnpike and I-90.
Well, there is always the trailer park next door. =/
Ridgid Tools used to be made in Elyria, Ohio. The best pipe fitting tools ever - wrenches, pipe cutters, etc. Back in the day, I guess.
It's still there, in operation, to this day
It's the only big manufacturer left in Elyria.
Wal~Mart didn't leave Elyria. The Wal~Mart near the mall had built itself into a corner up against the Metro Parks and the city wouldn't let it expand so they built the new one on the Southeast corner of the city where they could add groceries and make it a super center. At one point in the early 2000's, the original location was one of the biggest stores by sales in several nearby states, but they had to close it because with the opening of the ones in Avon, Amherst, Lorain, and the new one in Elyria, it wasn't sustainable.
You said it yourself, these stores were commuter locations. People from Sheffield Lake, Avon, Lorain, Amherst, etc. used to have to travel to Elyria to buy their goods. With new locations closer to home, they no longer had to do this. It's not a mystery.
I remember not being able to find a parking spot at xmas at Midway mall in the 70's n 80's. Midway destroyed Sheffield mall and Sheffield destroyed Downtown Elyria and Lorain shopping stores I believe Online shopping had a small part in this too.
The decline really didn't have much to do with online shopping. It was declining before online shopping was easy and prevalent. It was noticable in the early 00's when only the computer savvy were shopping online. By the time I moved in 2009, the mall area was showing steep signs of decline but was still decentish. Though it went downhill from there pretty rapidly.
In the 70's - early 90's there were a lot of manufacturing jobs and a steady middle-class. When all the various plants and manufacturing facilities closed, people went elsewhere to live or work. If they stayed, the work wasn't as well paying (no unionization). I feel like a lot of people went into retail and customer service jobs as those were plentiful at the start. But they're low-paying jobs and hard to make ends meet. People weren't shopping or dining out like they had, creating a kind of snowball effect.
The decline of Elyria was Reganomics, plain and simple.
By the time smartphones and Amazon were commonplace, most retail in the mall area had dried up. It probably did squeeze the last few drops out of what remained. But it had already been through the wringer for a few decades.
@@tehrinny7031 LMAO
Do some research on Lima, Ohio next. Ford plant, oil refinery, Army tank plant, locomotive works, etc… tons of rust belt history but some resiliency.
Walmart did not leave it moved to a bigger spot (1000 Chestnut Commons) and with that move so did most of the retail stores Gmap it it's a nice location.
I know it moved, but thats in lorain now which is separate from elyria
@@forgottenplaces9780 Walmart is still located in Elyria. Chestnut commons is on the east side
You should do either what happened to West Mifflin PA or McKeesport PA both interesting stories. West Mifflin has a ton of closed retail space including the massive Century III Mall. McKeesport has a largish abandoned downtown with many abandoned buildings and empty lots.
How about Ned Skeldon Stadium in Maumee OH or Swayne Field shopping center in Toledo?
the lorain mill closing down, just north on Elyria had a lot to do with the decline as well
I grew up in Elyria.. When the Ford plant in Lorain moved and the Steel plant in Lorain went down....Invacare shut down.... After all that the population declined..The mall area died..Downtown looks deserted now. It's crazy to see from what it looked like in the 90s
my mother in the 90s had some wild times in that ghost town she claims 🤣 so I believe that
Im in Elyria every other day. Its ok, but its in need of an overhaul of sorts.
Elyria has one of the best artesian water wells ive ever drank from. High in natural alkanine. In case anyone is around and wants to try it, Its called white house artesian springs and its open 24/7 for now only 0.25 cents a gallon (used to be $0.10) and is still such a good deal despite the raise in price and for the quality.
Elyria Township is an amazing neighborhood
I work nearby. Poor Midway Mall
Inflation has everyone checking Amazon prior to purchasing in stores. I just spent $80 at Rural King for trailer leaf springs. Amazon would have gotten me the springs the 4 U-bolts and the nuts as well as the 2 plates that the U-bolts go through for the exact same price.
I have been all across the usa and elyria is a unique city the way it is planned/laid out, also a large % still works in manufacturing
Im 49 and i remember that the mall was the happiest place to go as teen that the icerink and the skate place
Elyria is basically a hood outside of the Cleveland Metropolitan area.
🎯
So is Lorain probably even more so.
@@dvferyance I wouldn’t say more so at all. They’re pretty identical cities/towns.
@@maclac48 I say it because Lorain has seen larger population losses. I think the reason why Lorain county voted Republican in 2020 for the first time since the 80's is because of the declining population of these 2 cities.
@@dvferyance I hustled in both cities for years, I’m now 49, so I lived what I’m speaking on. 🤷🏾♂️
My mother growing up would always drag us to Elyria for the stores. And she still can’t stay away from there. I think it’s because she grew up there so the old mentality that Elyria was the place to be hasn’t changed😂
You should do Stockton, Vallejo, or Riverside, CA.
Hey, I’ve in Stockton for 20 years. We get way too much bad and undeserved publicity.
@@neneshubby Did the bad publicity begin abut twenty years ago?
Walmart didn't leave the city. They built a new Walmart Super Center on the other side of town
The problem is is it was blue collar and there is also a lot of crime there just like in the city of Lorain
They keep building new malls life in Sheffield and Avon, and then Eyria suffers because of that and loss of manufacturing, strongsville not close to elyria
SouthPark Mall. Epic name.
I live here lol (in Elyria)
Elyria is still my city and the home of twisted tea incident
It seems shoplifting and in general loss is what retailers cite as part of the reason for closing and moving stores. Perhaps it played a role here. Stores cannot stay open and profitable with a steady diet of stealing.
That's where i was born and raised and still live. They need to sell the building already there is like 2 stores and one resturant in the whole thing. Its mostly used for speed walkers and the one restuarant that survived it's the best terriyaki ever or was not sure now haven't been in years.
also walmart didn't leave they changed locations to the other side of town
It's May 26 2024. The part where he mentions Walmart left Elyria is not true. The original Walmart on Midway boulevard by Midway Mall closed and a new one supercenter was opened in South Elyria on Chestnut ridge road in the shopping center known as Chestnut commons. The address is 1000 Chestnut Commons Elyria Ohio 44035.
Harsh, but not untrue. It's been painful watching businesses just evaporate.
Garfield one....
23 23
Well didn't Elyria used to have a bunch of Automobile parts factories? NAFTA killed Elyria, just like Youngstown and Mahoning Valley.
You see this in every town in ohio huge empty parking lots
I remember the city a while back why do every cities in Ohio have this problem
Ohio has been hard hit by the decline of the rust belt, and even more so following the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and Kasich balancing the state budget by cutting state aid to cities
It's usually tied to minorities moving in and ruining a nice place.
I left Elyria in 1968 and moved south (Texas). My last visit to Elyria was in 1974 to attend a wedding. I didn't return until 2016 for my 50th EHS reunion. I was appalled at the overall appearance of that town. Absolutely heartbreaking. The ironic part is, I have several friends in the Houston area who are, originally, from Elyria. The consensus is pretty much unanimous. Elyria "could" market itself as a bedroom community for Cleveland, but to do that, the Cleveland economy has to be a lot healthier than it is. Y'all might want to look at your political situation.
Even the Best Buy is bad!
It might be because it closed long ago.
Hi.
didnt ask
Sad sad stories like Greek tragedies.
Midway mall dead
Let me ADD that the mall was a big mistake from the beginning . Elyria had/has a beautiful town centre with large century old buildings that housed wonderful small retail shops up & down the streets. They even had a trolley systems at one time . In the 70' s a piece of garbage mayor much like the mayor Elyria has now was quick to see $$$$ kickbacks from real estate investors wherever he could. He closed down the shops & the mall appeared & apartment buildings in the most beautiful neighborhoods! Its true most of the industry left in the 80's & 90's but some are still there.Wth the proximity to Cleveland people who want to work find jobs quickly There are 2 beautiful waterfalls & plenty of metroparks. Elyria still has a Wal-Mart albeit larger and on the other side of town ..which helped to close even more smaller businesses. The mall also had a huge theft problem with criminals stealing left and right . My grandmother lived there over 50 years and we were grateful to move her out years ago before she died as her once beautiful home was just too much for her to upkeep. Good video!
What makes the mayor of Elyria today a piece of garbage?
Well that said mayor just lost his re-election. Probably a lack of vision. He’s a nice guy and he claimed to have all these ideas. But nothing ever materialized. I’m sure covid didn’t help. And the town has a really bad council that wouldn’t cooperate with him because he wasn’t part of their political establishment.
Elyria is a mess .. we grew up there .. we went home in July and there isn’t even a hotel there to stay in
That's not true, there's a very nice Courtyard by Marriott there
I was home in August, & stayed at the Days Inn in Amherst, & it was a straight dump. My Son & I had to go to the Dollar Store, buy cleaning supplies, & literally clean, & disinfect the entire room. Straight crazy.
No big industry… no people no shoppers… and if the you know come in…..you really die….. this cycle pretty much goes everywhere!
I haven't forgotten Elyria because I'm not stupid.