DCr-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, July 25,1981
Rebirth of rural villages
Agricultural progress has placed
tremendous pressure on the small
towns of rural America. But are
such towns doomed to failure?
There was a time not too many
years ago when it was generally
understood that as the older
populations of such small
agricultural communities passed
away, the towns would decrease in
population and would eventually
die. But the rural scene is
changing, breathing new life back
into many of those villages.
Back in the horse and buggy
days prosperous small towns were
everywhere. Limited by the speed
of a horse, a farmer was forced to
shop in a community no more than
a day’s round trip from home. And
so, thriving agricultural centers
developed throughout the
agricultural area. Each was a
complete unit with farm services
and supplies, markets, and the
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farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
consumer goods that farm people
needed.
Typically, those agricultural
centers provided banking,
equipment sales and repair, a
blacksmith, a general store, a
doctor, and perhaps even some
governmental service along with
an array of other merchandisers.
Small town merchants prospered
and those small towns grew into
economically sound units with
good reason for existing.
Then came modern tran
sportation. The advent of the farm
truck permitted farmers to reach
farther for the supplies, services
and markets they needed. The
general store in the nearby
community became one of many
stores where farmers could shop.
They were no longer forced to sell
their produce for the best price
offered by one buyer.
As agriculture grew bigger and
HS||SS9|
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the demands of farmers became
more sophisticated, many of the
small town services were no longer
deemed adequate. Local im
plement dealers, gram elevators,
and other such services were
phased out or bought up by larger
companies.
Where there once had been an
implement dealer in every small
town, there now were no more than
a handful in a 100 mile radius.
Those that survived grew larger,
and were able to meet the demands
of modem farming. In many cases,
farmers drove right through the
old hometown on their way to the
large grain elevator or farm
supplier 50 or more miles away
The effect on that hometown was
■ 1 , .. cases. This
can be seen on the main street of
so many rural villages where store
after store stands empty and
where old vacant buildings he in
disrepair.
Add another element to this mix
and the problem of the small town
becomes even more difficult. That
is the advent of superhighways.
These interstates and limited
access roads have been a blessing
to motorists, but they bypassed so
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many small towns leaving them
virtually isolated from the rest of
the world. Small towns that used to
be on the mam highway counted on
passmg motorists for business.
isuw those towns are no more than
uiterchange signs to the hurrying
traffic.
No doubt some towns have died
and will never come back. But on
the other hand, some have
managed to hold on and now
something’s happening in rural
America that may revitalize them.
It’s a general move back to the
country.
People are fed up with the
problems of urban living and are
looking for ways to escape. One
way is to move back to a small
town, even if it means commuting
long distances over those
superhighways to an urban job.
And so those communities that
were once the trade centers for a
strong agricultural area are
becoming bedroom communities
for a commuting population. Those
same interstates that bypassed the
small towns now place them within
commuting distance for thousands
of would-be country dwellers.
Not every rural town in America
is within an hour’s drive of a city,
but many are and they’re starting
to feel the pressure of the back-to
the-country movement. Drive
through the small towns of the area
and you see new construction going
on old homes being remodeled
and repaired 'and a general
busyness that denotes a town that’s
making progress.
Granted, some of the stores are
still empty, of if they’re occupied
it’s by a different kind of tenant
than in the good old days. A once
thriving farm supply store now
offers lawn and garden supplies. A
country bank houses a boutique
and the general store is now a
mini-market.
There’s no evidence that small
towns will again become boom
towns. There are those selected
locations where tourism is
bringing unheard of prosperity to
otherwise dying communities. But,
for the most part, small towns that
are growing are doing so slowly
and in a much different way than
ever before.
Farm people may find this back
(Turn to Page D 7)