Walk with me (Picture Show of Downtown Middletown)

[Icejuggalo1984]

We should just torch the whole town rebuild it watch the cops let the junkies and drug dealers ruin it all over fuck the middie oh wait it already is

[stinkbugist]

i didn't see the sorg mansion. i live on the edge of downtown. don't go downtown after dark.

[pdcr777]

my grandfather and his dad used to work at armco/ aksteel way back when

[ayjjjj]

it used to be a nice place to go.. the old towne mall and stuff. middletown had it all at 1 time. sad that its gone to hell

[jesilyn73]

I was looking for anything that would show a friend of mine where I was from. There aren't many pic places on the web for our home town. Thanks for sharing, even if it made me sad to c how far it has went down since I left in 98.

[doaholics]

I spent the first 30 yrs of my life in middletown. I worked at the Liberty, Anchor, Central pastry, among other places. I took care of Bill Donham when he was dying in the nursing home. I watched the mall be built, I watched it go down. I lived in downtown, in fact your video shows my old apt! The only way to chg Middletown is to get involved with its care, support its runnings, and elect those who can back you and make it proud like it used to be. I miss OLD Middletown!!!

[angelllSCREAM]

this place sucks (:

[HayesAndCorey]

Ok all you people who think middletown can be saved your stupid its shit i live here and i know the only good place in middletown is john 23rd:) the ghetto will take over theirs no hope move to westchester or mason

[HayesAndCorey]

Hahaha i live in middletown and it has no hope atleast downtown...

[JWilliSuperNinja]

Sadly I used to live near where most of those abandoned bulidings are. As for the apathy in that town, they need Jesus Christ. Honestly, only God can save Middletown.

[merrill1940]

On a much lighter note from an outsider: I remember stopping to eat breakfast in Middletown while on my way to Detroit back in '64. The restaurant was right down town in what is probably now one of the "ghost" buildings. From what I saw of it back then, it seemed like a very nice little quiet town. My only complaint was, they didn't serve grits, only hash browns.

[jack4373]

this place is a shit hole i know i live here.

[Benglator]

It is sad that the city is going downhill. When I lived there AK was ARMCO and it's HQ's was even in the city. Most everyone worked in a factory and that is the way it was. Middletown started dying when ARMCO sold out...period I have not lived there since the end of the 80's but from what I see, it has dried up.

[be10n]

our school board is even more screwed up than before

[jamie1948]

Middletown, Ohio! One of the best examples in the country of the results of conservative politics. In the middle of John Boehner's district, the town is not even on his mind. Let it fail politics came to this town.

[BitterCycle]

Explain many more cities in a lot worse shape that are traditionally liberal and majority black. Detroit, E. St. Louis, Montgomery ring a bell ???

[digicam2007]

I was born there,and my dad worked at the steel mill for many years.We moved to Florida when I was 8 and from the comments it doesn't really sound like a place I would want to return to.

[ilovewebkinz73]

buy house's from martin realty! my grandma work's there her name is martha!

[kittykaypurrs]

Tammy I started watching this and thought wowo nice portray of our city then i watched in horror as you showed the down side EVERY city has and only it then , this is an old video tell me what have you done to make this change in Middletown ? I see it myself yes , But I am doing something to make better changes in this City if we all try to promote rather then cut just maybe we could make it better. The FISH LADY looking to fill each and every one of those rentals

[ZX2ManDave]

Middletown isnt that bad of a place. Its just your average American city that has been beaten up by the outsourcing of Americas factory jobs. At one time there were many great paying factory jobs in Middletown, now almost all of those places have moved out and they arent coming back. They left behind the abandoned buildings and the unemployed workers to suffer.

People dont understand. You take the factories out soon the banks close, the stores close, everything closes. This video is proof.

[BitterCycle]

And when unions gouge the industries to an extreme, and are backed in a corner to make one of two decisions. stay and go under like the auto industries have, or leave. So it's not capitalism, it's the attack on capitalism by socialistic unions.

[ZX2ManDave]

Ah, another one of those people who believes the lie that all GM workers are making 75 dollars a hour.

Explain this one, how come it is that the non union Honda plants in Ohio are now starting to show some of the same problems that GM/Ford/Chrysler are showing? Starting to report a drop in profits and laying off workers?

Im not saying unions are perfect, i can take them or leave them. When it comes down to it they certainly arent the main problem either.

[BitterCycle]

Ah, another one of those people who cling to the old "capitalist pig" cliche, and refuse to admit that unions have ironically capitalized at the expense of the economy.

These union workers ARE making a shitload. When you add their income and medical, they are making anywhere between 50 to 70 dollars an hour, depending on how long they have been in the door, which is very hard to do if you aren't a friend or family member....

[BitterCycle]

.....Why is honda slacking off now ? Why not earlier before the economy was in the shitter ????????

[ribeye38]

You know, most people reading/watching this is really getting the wrong impression here. Middletown is NOT that bad. As a matter of fact, is really pretty nice. We have a brand new state of the art Hospital thats one of the best in the country. Violent crime rate is low. Lots of great places to eat. The Jug serves the best hamburgers on the planet The original poster focused on DT Middletown which is sadly dying off. But, thats only because everything has moved to the east side of the city.

[honeydipper2008]

well do somethin about it shit

[canndoty]

Yeah, a severely segregated, uneducated, dirty town is a GREAT PLACE to live.

[annieduke04]

You know what this city needs...? A casino! That would bring business back to the city from all over Ohio and surrounding states.  The money would flow, the city would be re-built, and its businesses would flourish again. I would say any sort of attraction would work, but as bad off as Middletown is, a casino would pretty much be the only way to get it back on its feet, because casinos are the only thing that people are really willing to travel a great distance for (other than Disney).

[LaineArt]

I can't stand what is happening to Middletown's downtown area...it could be pretty cool if the city was more supportive of local business...and maybe they are trying to do better but, the spaces they have available for retail are too expensive to lease and dilapidated (there are bird carcasses,feces and who knows what else in them). Not much incentive for someone to set up shop there. It really does suck!

I appreciate you posting this.

[zagbug]

Wow,you sure said it. What we all have been thinking. Thank you for sharing. Put together nicely as well.

[tpierett48]

I was born and raised in Middletown. It's sad to see how it has deteriorated. I surmise that its current condition is akin to that of a budding ghost town. Its reason for existing is dwindling. It was a solid mill town and now the mills have closed or gone elsewhere. A puny AK Steel has taken the place or a robust American Rolling Mill Company. The town failed to note how its fortunes rose and fell with that big steel mill. The picture of the old libary with broken windows was tough to look at.

[ribeye38]

Puny AK Steel?? AK Steel is FAR from puny. It's thriving right now. Probably more profitable now than ever before. Check out the stock. It went from like 3 dollars a share to over 40!!!! Mtown has it's problem, but AK isn't one of them.

[tepierett48]

ribeye38...thanks for the response. Compare the number of people AK employs today compared to decades ago. That's what I meant by puny. AK has a skeleton crew compared to the number employed in the 50s and 60s. Also...hasn't the main office moved to another city? Lots of steel mill jobs are gone.

[ribeye38]

tepierett48, AK's Middletown works employees around 3,000 people. I'm not sure how that compares to the work force of the 50s and 60s. Also, one must remember that technology has come a very long way since then and that certainly affects physical labor. Alot of things that were done by hand in the 60s is now done by machines. And yes your right, the cooperate offices did move up the street to West Chester.

[tepierett48]

Ribeye....I will try to find some figures on the number of employees The Mill had in the fifties and sixties. I'd guess it was about twice what they have now. Many departments are gone. My dad worked at the soaking pits for decades and I understand they are no longer there. An event that changed Middletown happened circa 1958. The Middletown Shopping Center opened and it laid a big hurt on downtown. Town Mall in the 70s was another nail in the coffin.

[ribeye38]

Middletown is a great place to live!! I wouldn't even dream of calling anywhere else home. Sure it's got it's problems, but what city don't?

[insanevirtue]

You are so very welcome! Thank you for your comment and hope, it really means allot to me :)

[JulieC321]

Thanks Tammy.

Sad indeed.. I grew up there in the late 50's/ early 60's and remember many of those sites when they were open. I hope you can re-build it.

It was a great town back then..

[insanevirtue]

Thank you all for your comments! Yes this town has allot of drugs, prostitutes etc though. it's not "all welfare people" & I would like to say that not all welfare people are "crack heads" either! Yes there is a need of motavation for people to change, how is any one going to change w/o any support etc. or people just saying it will never change. maybe it wont because people (the sober ones, or the ones who have their S*** together)

[insanevirtue]

just don't want to do anything about it! Why let a town that was so beautiful(from what I've heard)that still can be and, the people who "could" offer the world so much more go to waste? I just don't understand!

[marshantexas]

WOW...I left there 6+ yrs ago and have never once been homesick to come back! That place will never be rebuilt, its all welfare crackheads, prostitutes and drug dealers...no one has any motivation to have any kind of life and thats why they stay there! I was born and raised in South Middletown and still have lots of family and freinds who live all over that area! Middletowns went to Hell in a drug filled handbasket!

[vvines1]

this town sucks im suprised you didnt show the drug sales on freedom court

[longhound]

this city is dead

[parretthead]

Middletown is the armpit of Ohio! I am surprised you didn't have photos of the crackheads on Central Avenue. That is what I am forced to look at whenever I go to the library.

[fullmetalpie101]

I love this town so much

It's amazing to live here