The Rural Midwest Since World War II

4. Midwestern Rural Communities in the Post-WWII Era to 2000

The end of the Second World War resulted in an economic boom in midwestern rural communities. Local retailers satisfied pent-up demand for consumer goods. Farmers came to town to shop and visit on Saturday nights and all the stores were open late. New service clubs emerged, movie theaters expanded , and local baseball and basketball teams drew large crowds. Yet numerous changes were under way that undermined the economic and social viability of midwestern small towns. Television broadcasting and viewing expanded, moving entertainment from the public to the private sphere. By the end of the 1950s, many small-town movie houses had closed and local semipro and church sports leagues folded. At the same time, America’s suburbs, facilitated by government highway construction and a robust auto industry , attracted the young people who might otherwise commute from rural towns to urban areas for their jobs. School consolidation, railroad deregulation resulting in the massive closure of rail lines, the consolidation of retail and creation of shopping malls, the collapse of local newspapers, and the industrialization of agriculture all contributed to the decline of many small towns. Historian Richard Davies, in his study of his hometown of Camden, Ohio, noted the importance of conservative, low tax, and limited government spirit as well as male dominance that drove the town into gradual decay.1 FOUR—Midwestern Rural Communities in the Post–WWII Era to 2000 Cornelia Butler Flora and Jan L. Flora 104 Cornelia Butler Flora and Jan L. Flora By contrast, sociologist Robert Wuthnow, also inspired by his midwestern roots, claimed that the rural American Middle West has “undergone a strong, positive transformation since the 1950s.” Instead of a post–WWII boom described by Davies, Wuthnow claimed that the situation in midwestern communities was worse than the residents, whose measuring point was the Great Depression, realized. By focusing on the relationship between rural communities and urban centers and the ways in which rural communities developed new collective identities and economies to overcome the difficult economic situations, Wuthnow offered a much more optimistic assessment of the rural Midwest.2 Which view is correct? Did rural midwestern communities decline or regenerate between 1945 and 2000? A good starting point for assessing change in the postwar period is to examine the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural community studies conducted on the eve of World War II. USDA leaders contracted with sociologists to assess the stability of America’s rural communities after several years of New Deal programs devoted to shoring up farmers and communities. Two of these studies focused on the Midwest —Irwin, Iowa, and Sublette, Kansas—representing different versions of midwestern communities.3 In many ways, Irwin, in Shelby County, with a population of 345 at the time of the study, represented an ideal rural community. Good soil and a dependable rainfall regime supported the agricultural dominance of the county and the town, typical of Corn Belt communities. Agriculture was highly diversified mixed crop and livestock farming, with the crops fed to animals to add value. Farm owners and renters shared common values of planting straight corn rows and maintaining farmsteads. Increased use of tractors facilitated the concentration of farmland. There was no single dominant ethnic group in Irwin. Much social activity was carried out on Main Street on Saturdays when the farm families came to town to shop. Due to the Depression of the 1930s, land had changed hands and there was a high rate of farm tenancy, with a concomitant decrease in attachment to the land and the community of Irwin. Community institutions were strong in Irwin. Residents were willing to tax themselves to support schools, even if the majority of high school graduates left Irwin for city employment. Churches were considered the most important institutions in the community, contributing greatly to the residents’ quality of life.4 In 1940 there was a fairly complete institutional structure to support the agricultural economy, and the families related to it by providing for the production of goods and services in Irwin, although even then there was a concern about lost businesses. Sublette and Haskell County, Kansas, presented a somewhat different pic- Midwestern Rural Communities in the Post–WWII Era to 2000 105 ture. The population of Sublette, like that of Irwin, was completely non-Hispanic whites, and survey data showed a great deal of mutual support within the community. According to the authors of the study, however, “Instability has been...