Wal Mart came to Caruthersville in 1976...and pretty much hollowed out the downtown area. No more Ace Hardware, sporting goods, 5 and dime type stores-they all went out of business. Then, Wal Mart closed and the town was left with almost nothing. It is also important to note that a terrible tornado destroyed a large portion of the city in 2006, and it really hasn't recovered.
@@Kevin87A A place like that does drive others out of business, and that's usually the downfall of places like this. There's less diversity in what's on offer, and once a massive, country-spanning company things "Oh, not enough profit, shut it down" then suddenly there's virtually no shopping ecosystem anymore, and the people living there are too poor to set up a shop or too old.
One other famous person from Caruthersville, MO was the late, great electric guitarist Reggie Young, who toured with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison in the 50s, played lead guitar for Johnny Horton on the Louisiana Hayride in 1958, toured with the Beatles with their opening act Bill Black's Combo on their first US tour in 1964, played lead guitar in session recordings with Elvis on his comeback album From Elvis in Memphis in 1969, and toured live as lead guitarist for The Highwaymen for five years in the early 90s after playing sessions with them in the 80s, as well as playing in sessions at American Sound Studio in Memphis for various artists including Bobby Bland, Wilson Pickett, the Box Tops, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson, Etta James, Boz Scaggs, Waylon Jennings, Dusty Springfield, Joe Tex, B. J. Thomas, Solomon Burke, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and many others. He was elected to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019, the year he passed. He was recognized for being one of the "Memphis Boys" that recorded over 120 hit records in the late 60s and early 70s, and was later recognized as being a "Nashville Cat" after he later relocated to Nashville and began doing country music session work.
Thanks for adding that information apparently this jackals doesn't tell all the famous people from that town ohh I'm sorry he said no one on the A list
So I grew up in Kennett. 1. The Daily Dunklin Democrat is not boarded up that's just the design they went with. It's still being published 2. Sheryl Crows parents lived on Washington Ave, one of the roads you drove down with the nice houses, right across from the High School for many years before. relocating to a new subdivision. 3. Palace Theater has looked like that for at least 30 years. 4. That trailer park you drove past is where my parents lived when I was born. It wasn't like that 35 years ago from what I've been told.
In a way, people probably don’t like living where you travelled to but they don’t have many options, if any. This is what happens when companies go overseas and leave USA citizens high and dry when it comes to jobs that pay a livable wage.
They got what they voted for...In my State, the Minimum Wage is $17/hr....In Missouri, low wages keep the Working Poor working and poor...We got what we voted for - Liveable Wages.
Walmart opens stores in small towns to put local retailers out of business. When they build regional Walmart super centers, the smaller satellite Walmarts are shuttered. So now folks in smaller towns have to drive miles to buy groceries. That's how Walmart rolls.
The city hall and post office in Caruthersville are gorgeous. Love the river views. I’m guessing the houses in Kennett would sell for $50-60k. It always amazes me that people are allowed to stack up piles of things outside their homes. Thank you for another great video!
You're viewing audience love Animals of all kinds . Always a pleasure to see so many different places and attractions on your journeys. You are a wonderful tour guide . Thank you . 🌷🐕🐾💞😻 .
Caruthersville looks rough but weirdly fascinating at the same time. Never been to that part of the state. It makes my brain hurt when I think about the fact that the town of Caruthersville Missouri is actually SOUTH of most of the northernmost counties in Arkansas and Tennessee!
My sister worked here as a travel nurse a year ago in a town called Bolivar. She pretty much said the same thing about Missouri. Bleak, depressing, poverty stricken, desolate, no culture, and almost dystopian. All the furniture outside the homes scream eviction, sadly. Never before have I seen the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar in one building. So sad that all of this can be found in the country’s heartland.
Now, I heard glowing praise about the Ozarks. Pretty much every state in the country has beautiful nature, and Missouri has amazing rivers. It’s just that the towns there are in stark decline.
@@ricardohurtado5646 I’d rather live in a poor town than the actual dystopian societies held in other states. Every state has bad towns, at least in Missouri you’re free
Republican politicians and willfully ignorant christian voters assure that in most of Missouri, the rich will get richer and the poor will multiply. If only these people would take an interest in education for themselves and their children.
The town Haiti is pronounced like Hey- tie. We have different ways of saying things in South East Missouri and Southern Illinois. Cairo Illinois is pronounce Care- oh New Madrid Missouri is pronounced Mad- rid. I'm sure people all around the world get annoyed when the names of their towns are mispronounced.
But who's mispronouncing them? Maybe the original name was meant to be pronounced differently than they town's people pronounce it. People can sure get silly about such things. Kinda like the pronoun mistakes. There is a guy who melts down anytime someone calls him a "sir", and if you ask me, I think this just encourages people to intentionally call him that just cause he's so serious, which makes it so silly. When verbal errors made are your worse problem, then you must have very few problems.
I'll show my grandad this, his family are from this area, principally Hayti missouri which is a stones throw away, also used to holiday in Cape giradue? Not sure where that is in relation. Great video man from UK
@@Terry9624 ah I see, is it or was it some sort of getaway/vacation area for people in missouri, thats how my grandad described it around the late 1950s early 60s
I remember traveling around those towns when my daughter got her first job out of law school. The Boothell court houses kept her busy. She had to live near Jonesboro, Arkansas because that was the closest place where she could find a nice apartment to rent.
Yes I have family in the area and it is pronounced Car ruh thersville. Also, Hay tie instead of Haytee. However, an out-of-stater wouldn't know that. 🙂
A convienence store clerk told me it was pronounced the same as the country. In hindsight, perhaps the clerk didn't know how to pronounce "Haiti" right. :(
Yep it's a Ghetto town when even Walmart closes down. Kmart yes Walmart no. I would imagine that they probably got Robbed so many times that they decided to get the hell out. Thank you for another great video.
Yea closing stores around Portland Oregon main reason because of theif. Just makes it hard on commities but just more dollar general stores I guess you look were majority of these stores are nothing wrong shopping DG just making a point
The poor areas in the rural areas are known as a ghetto rather than a hood. By tradition, the word “hood” referred to the areas where the majority of the population was African American.
Crime is going to get worse with banks starting to shut down and some banks not being able to pay their depositors with the bank glitch going on , and job losses.
I always think about these rural towns not having any healthcare like doctors and hospitals. Also maybe no fire department and an old infrastructure like old water lines that may have lead in them.
Sir, most of us here in Kennett are not proud of Sheryl crow. She doesn’t help Kennett. We said no on a pool. she built one and dumped it on the city anyway. Now the city has to pay for the upkeep and people poop in it weekly
There you go, your videos are wonderful, very good, I feel like I'm out there. And then, in Missouri, I've heard a lot about the town of Skidimore and people used to talk about a chubby brave man
I used to teach elementary music in Kennett, MO and had one Sheryl’s nephews in my kindergarten class many years ago. Also, the “u” in Caruthersville is a short vowel sound not an “oo” sound. It’s not Caroothersville. Not sure if anyone told you to pronounce it that way but we Missourians pronounce it Caruthersville just like it is spelled. Just a little tip. 🙂
They are an example of creating a more intelligent structure but couldn't get past traditional thinking of the general public of what a building should look like. If I were to build a new house it would be a geodesic home, especially if I lived in tornado alley or where hurricanes hit landfall.
I'm from this small town and, if memory serves, this home was built in the early to mid 80s by a local high school teacher. There are actually two of them there within a couple of blocks of each other.
@@tyler-qw6xg My college music professor had one built in Huntsville TX. The HOA made him build it way in the back in a wooded area so no one could see it. Haha. He always was rather eccentric.
Hey bro curious I should say I'm curious but your old man named you Lord??? At least that way you know your name's not real common,,,,,but definitely , the Mississippi River is up again thanks for another great video. Showing us the real America. Also that little house you showed by the cemetery, I wouldn't live in that thing for a million bucks, I'll bet you that's a busy place on Halloween??? But I don't think I'd go around there anytime after dark anytime of the year???
I visited the Bootheel part of Missouri in 1990 and stayed 2 nights in Kennet in a fairy new motel. I came to see Dunklin County, which is named after my Great-Great Grandfather (my Grandfather’s Grandfather) Daniel Dunklin, who was (I believe) the 5th or 6th governor of Missouri. I stopped in Herculeum, Missouri which is where Governor Dan is buried on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River with various members of the Dunklin family.
I thought Kennett was a nice little rural midwestern town. From the parts of the town I saw it was clean and tidy. My wife and I did some shopping in downtown Kennett and the people who waited on us were very friendly and helpful. They could tell we were not locals (we live in Southern California) and were fascinated by that and had all sorts of questions about what it was like to live there. The one most vivid memory I had was when we went into a local restaurant for breakfast one day and everyone in the restaurant stared at us as we were being escorted to our table. The only thing I could think of was we dressed differently than they were used to seeing and maybe also our mannerisms were not typical of someone who lives in a small midwestern town. Overall, I enjoyed our visit and liked seeing what life is like in a town that is very different from where I live and have lived all my life.
looking at the age of the trailers in the empty mobile home park, you can just about bet they are full of mold making them very unsafe to live in and would not be surprised if the same was true about some of the run down homes people were living in.
When I was high school, my dad interim pastored a church in the hills of Potosi. We never moved there. Just drove from Granite City Illinois to Potosi every weekend.
…they keep voting for a party that looks out only for the wealthiest, though. They claim there is a “trickle-down” effect but towns like Caruthersville proves they need more than a trickle from the rich overlords.
I’m surprised you are investigating this part of SE Missouri. I live just north of the bootheel. Here we say “Caruthersville “ with a soft u and Hayti is just like it looks Hay-ti with a long I sound.
I live in Southern Illinois. I enjoy these videos such as the Cairo video but I always get a kick out of it when you misprounce the town's names :) No worries though, I would do the same in areas I'm not familiar with. Also, what drone do you fly?
I was in 1999 or 2000....my school from Kansas City took a field trip down to Caruthersville, Missouri...I was in absolutely shock to even think we would find other blacks down there....we stayed in a hotel next to a casino right on the river.....FYI the other town is pronounced HayTie
At 14:10 the Walmart near my job near downtown Atlanta shut down a few weeks ago. Mostly due to theft and a few incidents of arson. If they re-open it it'll be a "neighborhood" Walmart, which are much smaller than the former Super Walmart.
The city of St louis is it's own county, separated from the surrounding area encompassing ST. LOUIS COUNTY. As a result it's crime statistics are comparable to ANY inner city stats, but the metropolitan area isn't nearly as dangerous as reported.
I live in a small town in Northwest Kansas. The town is always trying to bring new people in to buy houses. Then the city finds anything they can to tax the new person till they end up leaving. Or the people in the church torment their family. Most unfairly town I’ve ever experienced in my life. The chemical farming gets worse as it wipes, people off their land like me. 30 years growing food for kids. But GMO corn that no one wants is more important than American citizens Elderly children, suffering for weeks stuck in their home, waiting for the chemicals to die down. Dicamba is killing all our trees. And the farmers complain. It won’t rain while it takes trees.
Interesting seeing a geodesic dome house in Missouri. I think they are more common out west, the first one I saw was in CO and there are quite a few here in Oregon. Designed by Buckminster Fuller in case you didnt know about them as you just mentioned that it was architecture that you don't see often.
There are a scattering of them in that area(bootheel and northeast Arkansas) they're all SIP panels and prefab construction, probably from a single company.
First video I saw I wondered where the horses were then I realised it was your turn indicator😂. Those fades to black between towns are a bit abrupt, softer fades would be nice🙏
If Reeves Boomland and Lambert's Cafe ever go out of business, there won't be anything left in the Bootheel. But it's still worth driving 120 miles to go there. Plus Missouri is a constitutional carry state, so I don't have to worry about whether my CCW will be accepted.
Every video leaves a bitter sweet residue. We come back each time secretly hoping for good news and knowing we won't get much! Our hay day may be past but our spirit is unbroken ( mostly!) Let's work our way back!!!
I like watching your videos, I find them interesting, but it's unbelievable that there is so much poverty in the USA and so much crime.. greetings from Greece
One theory on why there is so much poverty-----The government pays people when they don't work, so why would they? They can live a minimal lifestyle without much effort. I'm sure there is a complex set of other reasons though.
The Bootheel of Missouri has long been understood as an anomalous extension of Mississsippi. It is geographically and culturally close, down to racism.
You have a good format. Just enough time in each town. There is an egalitarian quality about these towns. Nice houses a block or two from run-down and sometimes abandoned homes. Tocqueville wrote about America and said this was the redeeming quality--rich man and a poor man living a stone's throw from each other. I think it was Thoreau that observed farmers collect all kinds of stuff that anchored them to the spot. Then the depression generation of the 30's. They had nothing. The joke was they saved string too short to use and made a ball of it. Jesus said the poor will always be with us. Thank you for this journey into America!
I think dilapidated homes next to nice homes is more a result of Democrats social policies than people actually wanting this. The same goes for mansions in the city of St Louis and Memphis
Multiple generations of my family were from kennett/Dunklin county. There isn’t much there. It’s crazy to think they picked cotton by hand. I can see why they ended up moving away. Depressing areas
I live in Dyersburg, TN. About ~20 miles from the Missouri bootheel. That area is honestly not that bad IMO. It's economically depressed by national standards (what rural area isn't these days?), but it's nothing compared to areas you see in the Mississippi Delta and Southern Appalachia. Having explored most of West TN and the MO bootheel, I feel I have seen far worse in the remote areas of East TN and Southeast Kentucky.
Love the videos! But as someone who lives across the Arkansas border, I’ve gotta say that they’re pronounced Hay-tie and Carutthersville (not sure how to type it lol)
Concerning the closed WalMart in Caruthersville, the city I work for had their WalMart close because a new one was built, also in town. The old one sat vacant for a few years, and looked terrible on the main drag through town, but was finally torn down and replaced with a new shopping area. So.....maybe Caruthersville got a new WalMart and that was the old one? Anyway, thanks for the vids! You always do a fantastic job. One thing I am curious about....as far as the crime stats go, is there any way to break down the areas of a town or city to demonstrate what areas have the highest crime rates? I mean, like is most of the crime near a casino or some such thing? Or in the south part of town, for example? Take care, brother.
@@renchjeep Nah these are really small towns. That Walmart went out 5 or 10 years ago. The closest Walmarts would be in Dyersburg, TN just across the Mississippi River, south down I 55 to Blythesville , Arkansas or Kennett Missouri
There was a time when Caruthersville was the capital of vice in the Missouri Bootheel, times when bootlegging, prostitution and illegal-gambling interests controlled Pemiscot County. It was often referred to as Little Chicago. The Bootheel was created primarily by John Hardeman Walker “Czar of the Valley”:money and politics. If you are not from there you will pronounce the town names improperly and your accent will be recognized. Be thankful it was a bad day and no one was out. It is never a good idea to drive around with a camera. I transferred down there in 1976 and watched its downturn. A lot of big businesses left and advanced equipment design eliminated most farm labor
Yep, and you can pick your climate and your population both in numbers and the make of it. Head for the hills...the west side of the state especially NORTH very small towns and low crime. Just shun KCMO and St. Joe. Ditto for the south. Give big cities a wide berth. The Bootheel is a pocket of poverty, probably due to flooding.
There is so much beauty in the older style victorian homes, which I seen in this video. Sedalia is a town full of these type of homes. Most of them are approx 100 years old, but in good condition as they've been kept up with. There is a beauty standard they used during that time frame that you just don't see a lot of today.... It reminds me of how different the women dressed, wearing those fancy old-style dresses. These people had so much class that I wonder what they would think if they would see how things have changed. Not just in the styles, but how people speak.
Went to University of Missouri Rolla 40 years ago. Back then St Louis crime was not too bad. I watched the world series in Busch Stadium when they beat the Brewers but cardinals football sucked. Infuriating that St Louis today has the highest crime rate in the country.
Just a wild guess. The nicer homes, maybe $120k. The smaller newish houses, $60k The unoccupied decaying houses, maybe $10-$15k for lot value only. In most cases, the asking price will not be accepted, and the houses will not sell.
Wouldn't it be nice if you talk to people in the towns if you meet some? That would gain a lot of information why it looks how it looks there. I sometimes wonder how it looks in "rich" America 2023 but it's the same problem with rural areas here in Germany.
Herr W: I am sorry to hear that. But let me ask you: the comparably poor, rural areas in Germany, do they also suffer from the high violent crime rate? -- I suspect not. There is a difference between being poor and being a predator. There are many poor Americans of all different heritages, but the demographics of violent crime in the USA cluster around one particular ethnic group....
You drive through all these little almost deserted towns, and they are like a thousand others you have driven through before, and a thousand others you will drive through in the future. The only difference is the name on the signpost coming into town. Very few of these small towns has a vibrant downtown anymore, which I think is a great loss for America.
Can hardly believe there are towns in US which lose population. In UK, our towns just keep adding population due to influx of immigrants. We now have a housing crisis and our services and systems are under tremendous pressure. (UK a small island) Hard to understand a country so big that towns are becoming empty. UK seems to have the whole of Africa, Asia and Middle East moving in. Thousands are now flocking to The Netherlands and Belgium, all hoping to get across to UK in dinghies.
I'm sure you've heard of the border crossings here in the US lately. They are shipping them to the large cities such as New York which are now getting overwhelmed. I left England with my parents and siblings back in 1967 and I miss it every day. I now live in the state of Illinois which is not far from the size of England! This channel has been an eye-opener for me. I didn't realize the condition this country is in.
Sheryl has homes in Nashville and L.A. Her parents live in Kennett still. Her Father Mr. Wendell has a Law practice in Kennett still Her grandparents were from Caruthersville
Joey, it would be an interesting to relocate young people from crowded high cost areas to these small towns. They can work on the internet and open business to serve the new residents and hopefully revitalize these old lovely towns.
There’s a huge exodus from areas like St. Louis out into small towns or onto acreage with a home, or put a modular home on it. People are willing to drive an hour or more each way to their job to get out of the urban environment.
It's a nice thought, but what is there to do. I live in rural America and city people who visit always ask the same question. What is there to do around here? They find the rural life boring.
@@SK-tr9ii In what was once run down neighbors in NYC young professionals started buying and renting old houses and apartments and fixing them up. Values went up, restaurants, and many other stores opened and the neighborhood was revitalized. This could happen in these small towns. They just need a financial base to get started.
@@arniegreenberg2719 Yes, I understand your concept, but that's NYC where there is much going on to keep them busy and keep them entertained. Rural America isn't like that. In order to make money, whatever the enterprise is, it must be economically feasible. The towns die because what once worked is no longer economically feasible. If a Way-Mart cannot survive, then a small operator without buying power cannot either. And if the customer cannot find what they want, they go elsewhere.
Thanks for the tour. Haven't been that way, but never understood why the bootheel not part of Arkansas. Wonder if the abandoned trailers were from a FEMA camp and why the sudden decline in Cardwell.
@@MrDEWaters His name was John H. Walker and he also planned out the town of Caruthersville in the 1850s. Walker Avenue in Caruthersville is named after him.
Since you mentioned Potosi MO, don't forget a large reason for the crime. A large maximum security prison right outside of town. When it got put in, drugs became rampant. And don't forget about monkey mountain.
I hope that someday you will be able to do a tour of NewCastle,Co and Silt,Co. And Rifle,Co. And GrandJunction,Co .....wonder how those towns are doing nowadays..... I wish those towns well and miss them a bunch
Define VIOLENT crime. Fist fights over a girl or bar argument gone bad is very different than rape and stabbings during a mugging or car jacking that's found in places like St.Louis.
Is it possible you don't know that your neighbor up north has been metric for over 50 years? Maybe I'm the only Canadian who watches, and look forward to your new videos every week.
Be assured that you are not (although I'm not one of them). I view Lord Spoda's videos consistently and I recall no reason why you would suppose that he does not know that Canadians measure metrically.
