Back in late ‘50s, early ‘60s, we used to stop by Benton Harbor, via the Red Arrow Highway, on our way to Paw-Paw, Michigan. Just turn left drive over the bridge from St. Joe.
I have a summer place up in Michigan City, bought it in 1984. I took a nostalgic ride down the Red Arrow that same week, crossed the bridge at St. Joe for old times sake, and when we got to the over side, I stopped and pulled out the map.
OMG, it was Benton Harbor! All the stores were boarded up, and just like a Twilight Zone program, there were honest-to-God tumbleweeds blowing down the main drag. To this day, it’s just as bad, and I don’t care how you spin it (discrimination, poor-housing, lack of education, etc...all the liberal excuses), when the town was white, it never even looked remotely like it does now. And to prove a point, cross the bridge again and go back to St. Joe.
It’s white and all right. Once upon time, so was Benton Harbor.
Benton Harbor is the Michigan standard for “urban blight”; not Detroit.
By the way, the same rules apply...A Democratic stronghold for decades.