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Re: [OM] Old house in the inner-city

Subject: Re: [OM] Old house in the inner-city
From: Paul Braun <pbraun42@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 10:02:24 -0600
On 3/8/14 07:25 : , Dean Hansen wrote:
> Every time I see an old home decaying, and a neighborhood decaying, I get
> sad.  We have lived in our 1873 home in Stillwater, MN, since 1974, and,
> while it has taken several thousand man-hours of work, it's not decaying.
> Nor is the neighborhood.  I'll occasionally drive by the home in south
> Minneapolis where I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s.  Built in 1923, it is
> still a fine home and is obviously being well cared-for.  Wish I had some
> easy answers for "neighborhood decay."  I don't .
> Dean
It all depends on the town.  In the case of Gary, IN, the town grew up 
around the steel industry.  People flocked there from Tennessee and 
Kentucky when jobs were plentiful and paid well.  When the steel 
industry started to decline, so did the job market.  Lots of little 
industries had been built up around supporting the mills, and they also 
went under.

When that happens, crime starts to grow, and the neighborhoods become 
unpleasant to live in.  And then there's a mass exodus.

Back in the day, Gary was a happening city.  People from Chicago would 
all come out to Gary on the weekends for dinner and dancing, to see 
movies and watch bands.

Charlie O. Finley, the former owner of the Oakland A's, was raised in 
Gary and lived there for years before he bought the ranch in nearby 
LaPorte, IN. (As a side note, he made his money in insurance, owning his 
own company in Chicago and being one of the first to sell medical 
insurance to doctors.  My mom was working in the secretarial pool and 
Dad was a salesman for Finley's company when they met.)

Finley's old neighborhood in Gary still has mansions, some have been 
cared for, some are rotting.  The house he grew up in, however, is still 
there.  I've been through it, since my wife also grew up in the Gary 
area and knew Charlie's kids from school.  There were also two Frank 
Lloyd Wright-designed "System-built" houses in that area as well. (These 
were "catalog" houses for average families.  You picked a design from a 
catalog, and a Wright-approved builder would build your home).  While 
that particular neighborhood seems to be fairly well-cared-for, the 
neighborhoods you have to drive through to get there are most certainly 
scary.

Another related side note - my first job out of college was managing a 
Wendy's franchise restaurant.  The franchise was owned by Charlie 
Finley, Jr.  Had no idea about my parents' history with the Finley 
family until they found out who I was working for.  And then after we 
were married my wife told me about growing up around the Finley kids.  
Small, small world.....

-- 



Paul Braun
Certified Music Junkie
Valparaiso, IN


"It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever." - David St. Hubbins

"Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life" - Harlan Howard

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