beyondtheforest

It looks like Wheeling and Pittsburgh had a baby..

I like New York in June...

You've made Lansing look pretty good in these pictures. It is in reality a very bland city, and I think the comparison to Topeka is right on.

Please sign my petition to save the historic Frank and Seder Building in downtown Pittsburgh. It was built circa 1917 and was originally the Frank and Seder department store. Now it is used as offices. The owners are considering demolishing the building for new construction. http://www.change.org/petitions/oxford-development-save-the-frank-and-seder-building-350-fifth-avenue

Any other cities who still have a strong untouched urban core like this? When you look at any small or midsized town in ohio, they are mostly been demolished for parking lots. Just some off the top of my head that are largely or completely historically intact (and did not suffer urban renewal blunders that I am aware of): Gettysburg, PA York, PA Staunton, VA Butte, Montana Savannah, GA St. Augustine, FL Cumberland, MD Steubenville, OH (may be wrong on this one)

My problem with WV has to do with their notorious eminent domain laws and practices. What's going on in East Wheeling right now is representative of that.

Excellent work. Charleston is one of my favorite small cities. However, as small-yet-urban state capital cities go, Harrisburg has the edge, in my opinion.

Here is the Youtube video of the photos I took over the weekend in the city of York, Pennsylvania. I wish I had time to upload them individually. My impression was that York was a very beautiful and well-preserved historic city. I have read some negative things about York, but my overall impression of the city was very positive. There were very few vacant or abandoned buildings, and most appeared to be well-maintained. York does not appear to have been affected by any bad 1960s urban renewal projects. The historic architecture and building density in York is intact. I walked around the whole city, and only one neighborhood seemed sketchy to me (south of downtown along Queen Street). When the downtown and at least three sides of the city look this stable, it's hard for me to swallow all of the negativity that people seem to have for York. Other cities should be so lucky!

Awesome set. You captured some great architecture.

I especially like the picture from your hotel room. Detroit still has a good amount of density, in spite of how much has been lost. I visited Detroit for the first time in November and was pleasantly surprised by downtown. Driving through the abandoned and desolate neighborhoods outside of downtown, I was both horrified and fascinated. It's a VERY interesting city!

That town is BUILT. I wasn't expecting to see such impressive, urban architecture in such a small town, but I suppose many of WV's towns have that in common.

So many of those historic buildings look abandoned. Not good!

Nice tour! The historical information was interesting. Packards were great cars. It would be great if part of the complex could be preserved as a museum for Packard automobiles. It would seem visitors to Detroit would enjoy seeing the auto industry history of the city.

You can see that Toledo had a good stock of antebellum architecture, most of which is long gone. Pittsburgh is the same way. Early architecture gave way to the building booms of the 1920s, and then the urban renewal disasters of the 1950s-1970s.

I figured you would like the old railroad depot, Robert! Yes, the imposing building next to the courthouse is the old jail (built in 1873). The courthouse was built in 1860.