Home of Whirlpool (well, most of their offices are in Benton Harbor Twp, but they do have some presence)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...depressing. What is going on with the first building - demolition?

Whoa. Lowest per capita income in the state at $8965 and one of the poorest...

...depressing. What is going on with the first building - demolition?

 

It did not look to be undergoing active demolition--except by mother nature.

Depressing indeed.  Here is that building on Aug 13, 2007

 

Benton Harbor, MI by Zack Blackerby, on Flickr

 

Benton Harbor, MI by Zack Blackerby, on Flickr

Well, at least the town has a stoplight.

Is there a car or anything there?

gret structures but yikes cue chuck heston omega man!

Ironic that some of the nicest beaches in America are literally just down the street at St. Joes.

 

 

I had customers in the area.  As far back as the late '80s St. Joe was considered the nice area, and Benton Harbor a slum with some un-PC nicknames.

Ironic that some of the nicest beaches in America are literally just down the street at St. Joes.

 

 

 

Second that. Silver Beach is remarkable and also has the added bonus of warming up faster than the other beaches on Lake Michigan. Most Michigan beaches aren't really comfortable until the 4th (70 degree water), but June is not bad in St. Joseph. Temps are usually in the mid to upper 60's, which is cool, but refreshing on a hot day (and it does get really hot on the sand). The beach on the Benton Harbor side is great too, but you kind of expect that since Michigan's coast is second to none. Over the past three years, I've done about two dozen trips to Lake Michigan in the summer and fall. Each trip offered something new. The camping, hiking, swimming, etc. opportunities are endless.

 

And, like that gale picture shows above, even when the weather turns to hell, it's still worth visiting. Lake Michigan gets really violent in the late fall and early winter before ice builds on the fringes.

Looks like a drinking town.

Sinbad's home town looks like a cleaner, more preserved version of Gary, Indiana....

Those two cities--Benton Harbor and St. Joseph--taken together constitute one of the strangest places I've been to. Downtown Benton Harbor at first glance appears to be substantially abandoned, but, over the past several years, I've noticed that at least a few buildings, including one of the big ones, have been rehabbed, and last summer I noticed that Whirlpool is building a large complex west of downtown which it is calling its Downtown Benton Harbor Campus. It's not really in what I think most people would call downtown, though, and it is as close to being in St. Joseph as you can be while still being in Benton Harbor. Downtown St. Joseph, which is in hiking distance of downtown Benton Harbor, is enviably prosperous by comparison to not only Benton Harbor but to almost any other city of comparable size. The role of the Mary's City of David community (http://www.maryscityofdavid.org/) in the history of these peculiar twin cities adds to the mystery.