Posted July 16, 200816 yr You may remember this interesting discussion: Ashtabula: A city that cries despair Ashtabula has two business districts: downtown and the harbor/Bridge Street district. Downtown is the lesser of the two... Abandoned municipal building Any town with a Carnegie can't be that bad! (granted, look what they did to it) Bridge Street at Ashtabula Harbor (http://www.ashtabulaharbor.org) (urbanforever to post more pics)
July 16, 200816 yr Wow, thanks! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
July 16, 200816 yr This little town cries out for some loving. Looks pretty forlorn, but not a total loss. The name is certainly one of the most unusual in the country, if nothing else. I always thought it strange that it isn't the county seat. Everytime I see a sign with "brats" I think of spoiled children being slowly roasted over open coals. One, with mustard, please!
July 16, 200816 yr Wow, interesting and sand. I wonder if the town could ever be reinvented as mid-brow summer destination?
July 16, 200816 yr nice pics of both ashtabula's. about the best you can say is "eh." kinda weird how lakefront property towns can get so abandoned. trivia: 'bula is name-checked on a song on bob dylan's best album: "I'll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco, Ashtabula..." http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/lonesome.html
July 17, 200816 yr it's a pretty good guess that the total tonnage of anything that went through there has fallen off the map along with the jobs and the people.
July 25, 200816 yr ^tonnage has gone down at all ports since the peak, but there has been some recovery. I'm not sure how much Ashtabula has recovered. It has only lost 20% of its population, which is not that much compared to other Ohio cities. Something must be keeping the rest of the people there. Ashtabula might not have lost the population that a lot of towns have, but the people left are definitely poorer. Having gone to HS in bula (St Johns) in the early/mid 90's, and I hate to say this, but the town has just gone further down the toilet. A lot of factory jobs have left; crime has just gotten unbelieveably bad. Those pictures of main Ave and Bridge St are sad to see, cause I remember when Carlisle's Dept Store was still on Main and most of the storefronts were full. The mall on the east side off Rt 11 really hammered Main Ave when it opened in the early 90's. Bridge St's businesses are geared mainly towards tourists and whatnot; a lot of eateries, antique, and nautical gifts, etc. The politicians who run Bula right now are not part of the solution. Ashtabula, for all it's problems, still possesses a great location. It's access to Lake Erie will be it's salvation, whenever that happens. As for the next 5-10 years, I like Conneaut's (10 mi east on Lake Erie) revitalization chances better. But that's another subject. Nice photo's. I don't get back to Bula much anymore.
July 26, 200816 yr You have an excellent eye for detail, ink. Example is in the flowers growing out of the sewer. Anyone know what that bridge is for in the photo of the river and lake?
July 26, 200816 yr You have an excellent eye for detail, ink. Example is in the flowers growing out of the sewer. Anyone know what that bridge is for in the photo of the river and lake? ^That bridge is a coal conveyor that moves coal from emptied railcars on the east bank to the coal dock on the west. My dad helped build the sprinkler system on it when it was being constructed in the 80's. I can't remember which RR owns it. NS or CSX? I believe it used to be Conrail's.
July 27, 200816 yr :clap: Thanks for getting Ashtabula on UO.com! My aunt was born there, as a matter of fact! Even though it is not a county seat, I have been there myself; I went through there just to see what the city looked like ten years ago when I was collecting Ohio's counties like you were recently doing. I took OH 531 along the Lake Erie coastline from Geneva over there, then I-90 back to my motel in Mentor. It took forever to find a postcard with Ashtabula on it, and I think I know why from the story you tell! I believe the one I found had a bunch of lighthouses on it, Ashtabula included.
July 27, 200816 yr Cycling enthusiasts may recognize the city's name from the Ashtabula Crank, invented there. It's the one-piece forged crank that preceded the three-piece assemblies of various types used on most modern bikes. The old heavyweights and later low-priced ten-speeds used it, and it still shows up on budget-priced "mountain bikes" and kids' bikes.
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