My goal today was to take advantage of the 65-degree weather on this Dec. 27th, 2008, drive out into the country east of Cleveland and take some pictures of the countryside. But as often happens, my car takes some weird deviations and I end up taking pictures of things I hadn't planned. I also end up driving farther than I originally expected I would. That means more pictures, too....

 

Here's the first part, which just gets us into Pennsylvania. Part Two takes us through Pennsylvania and back to Cleveland. For Part Two, see:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,18060.0.html

 

And, to all you youngin's, don't try this at home -- taking pictures while driving. After more than a couple decades of experience of doing this, I've learned the trick is to not look through the camera's viewfinder while driving. I did that once today and almost got into a head-on collision!

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I didn't take the camera out until Geauga County. I was approaching Punderson Reservior on U.S. Route 422. I lived just south of here from 1978 to 1993....

 

 

 

 

Just east of Punderson, US422 narrows to a two-lane road. This broad valley is for the Cuyahoga River, which at its headwaters resembles more like wooded swamp land....

 

 

 

This is the tiny burg of Welshfield, at US422 and State Route 700....

 

 

 

 

Just east of Welshfield, US422 returns to a four-lane road all the way into Warren....

 

 

 

Another tiny town, Parkman....

 

 

 

This portion of US422 was completely rebuilt in the past year. It sure needed it....

 

 

 

 

Coming into Warren I start to notice that this city, never a ritzy setting, seems more impoverished each time I visit. Poverty seems to bring out some really interesting store names like the Ohio Cannabis Society Shop on old US422....

 

 

 

I love the old houses, however raggedy....

 

 

 

I cross the Erie Railroad bypass around what once booming industrial areas and congested railroad lines through Warren and Youngstown. The industries are mostly gone, the railroads are mostly gone and this bypass track at US422 hasn't seen a through train since I was at Kent State University in the 1980s....

 

 

 

I stand by what I said, that poverty yields interesting store names....

 

 

 

Kids playing with their toys next to US422 in the warm, post-Christmas weather. Perhaps the toys were gifts from Santa....

 

 

 

Heading south on Highland Avenue from downtown Warren, I cross the former Erie Railroad mainline. It ran next to the former Baltimore & Ohio RR (now CSX) which is still an active track. The Erie tracks were removed in the mid-1980s....

 

 

 

South of Warren on Highland, things go from bad to worse. Parts of Warren make me wonder if I'm still in America....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This isn't a prison, it's a public housing complex (OK same thing) on Highland...

 

 

 

My reason for driving south on Highland is to take a picture of the last (or one of the last) blast furnaces still operating in the Youngstown-Warren area. This was built by Republic Steel, which later was bought by Warren Consolidated Industries, then Mittal Steel and now by a Russian company called Severstal. The mill is still operating, too....

 

 

 

 

This is the coke plant, which I believe is still owned by Mittal....

 

 

 

 

Unwanted gases are flared, creating an awesome scene (especially at night in the fog)....

 

 

 

 

Heading back north toward Warren on Main (I'm going to drive around to the other side of the Mahoning River to take some pictures of the rest of the Severstal mill complex which is quite massive), I pass more poverty including this closed bar....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes the rest of the Severstal mill, viewed from Pine Street and River Road as I head back southeast again.....

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to get on Interstate 680 to drive through Youngstown, though New York City would sound appealing if it wasn't an eight-hour drive from this location....

 

 

 

We'll skip Youngstown this time, as I've taken lots of photos there (see my two threads on Youngstown steel from this Autumn) and head into Pennsylvania in Part 2.

Nice.  I love the High Class Junk store. 

Interesting stuff!

I was just in Warren this past week with family for the Holidays. On my way back to Cincy I decided to take a more scenic route and took SR 45 South from Warren through Lordstown and then took 422 West to SR5 West to I76....

 

Does anyone know what the large railyard off of SR45 in Lordstown no more than 4 miles from the GM complex is/was? You can see old Amtrak cars sitting there on the tracks. The sign says "Ohio Commerce Group" or something to that effect... I know this is off topic... feel free to split I suppose...

It's called the Space Center. "Space" as in an area where a small business can set up shop. It was built as a public sector project to provide a low-cost site to spur local entrepenuers, including road, sewer/water and rail service. One of the users of the Space Center is a small firm which seeks to renovate rail cars.

Thanks for an interesting set of photos. I think the term "poverty" in this instance may be more accurately called neglect or abandonment. Small, rural towns from the Atlantic to the Pacific are having a tough time creating enough job opportunities to keep the population numbers stable.  People have to go where they can earn a living and for small town residents that often means relocating to larger cities. The high energy prices of the past summer also reduced the number of travelers going through and stopping in smaller communities causing marginal businesses to fail. The current economic situation isn't doing much to help either.  I have to admire the entrepreneurship you found along the way. "High Class Junk" and perhaps even more daring, the "Ohio Cannabis Society Shop" portray creative ways to survive in today's economy. I also find it ironic that a Russian firm, from the homeland of Communism, can profitably operate a steel mill in the U.S., the home of Capitalism. At least it does provide local jobs.

To me, this is "rust belt" in it's purest form. Great shots KJP, thanks. :-D

I like visiting both, but I could live, work and thrive in Youngstown, not in New York. Youngstown has my kind of people.

8 hours?  Psht, maybe for you. ;)

 

Nice shots.

OK, probably seven hours (averaging just under 60 mph to allow for traffic in NYC)....

 

This photo was taken at the Salt Springs Road interchange, less than a mile east of where I took the photo above...

For the record, only about half of Warren looks like this-- the southern and western parts.  Most of the eastern half is nicer, reminiscent of Parma or Eastlake.  Parts of the north end are downright charming.  The whole town does, however, get worse every year.

True. And I love the area around Packard Hall.

 

But the northwest part of the city along old US422 is also getting rough around the edges. On the other hand, the DeForest area between Warren and Niles along SR169 makes me ashamed to be American. It looks like something out of Mogadishu.

Everything west of the river (including Parkman Rd/422) is getting pretty nasty.  It's full of abandoned strip plazas that I'm glad you didn't photograph.  As for 169, it is burned into my mind as the ultimate "bad road."  That DeForest area was in my school district. 

 

My parents' neighborhood, a couple miles north, is also deteriorating rapidly.  Several houses are now abandoned, some have been burglarized and the one next door had a stolen car driven through the front wall.  And this is a hi-end suburban area built in the 70s. 

Well, I've been considering a photo thread of the area along old Route 5 west of Warren to Leavittsburg, and then along SR169. But to get the full effect of both areas, the photos would need to be taken at the end of August or in early September when the weeds and grass are highest. But I never seem to be driving in those areas at that time of the year, or I forget to bring a camera....

Also, I used to work for a company that hauled coke out of that Mittal facility when it was LTV.  Every once in a while, I got to go in there and push a big red button that would set all this giant machinery in motion to pile up the coke.  That part was awesome.  Getting laid off when LTV liquidated was not awesome.

From what I recall of the coke plant near Portsmouth there is a strong rotten egg smell.  The countryside reminds me of Burchfield paintings.

From what I recall of the coke plant near Portsmouth there is a strong rotten egg smell. The countryside reminds me of Burchfield paintings.

 

Pretty accurate - Burchfield spent his formative years in Salem before he moved to Buffalo (graduated valedictorian from Salem High School), and most of the rural/semi-rural areas resemble the countryside photos in this thread. Great sets of pics, KJP - brings back lots of memories for me.

My brother and sister both work for what was WCI. I take umbrage @ the attitude that impoverished parts of America are somewhat less than American. Look around, there's more of that type of city scape than there is your Hyde Parks or Indian Hills. Admittedly, I am from Warren and it pains me to see its demise, but it's still home when I can get there and still holds a sense of wonder for me. I had to laugh @ the refs. to the Space Center--coming home this time I was distracted on 76 and passed up the route 5 exit and had to take Bailey Road to get to Warren. Then I went out in Boardman, and tried to come home via 680, again got lost and had to get off on--Bailey Road. LOL. Can someone tell me if there is an exit for 11 north off 680? All I see is Salt Springs.

^To get to 11 from 680, you'll want to take 711/Division St. Expressway (the somewhat new "Hubbard Connector"). You could also hop off the Salt Springs exit, follow it north to 80 which reconnects with 11 North.

The "New York City - 80 East" sign in Ohio was the worst when I lived on Long Island.. I knew I had a LONG way to go..

oh come on, it's not a bad drive from cle to nyc unless you get weather up in the penn. mountains. although it's about the max of driving i can do in a day anymore (my days of driving from beegee to homestead, florida in one *full* day are long over  :laugh: ).

Cool!

^To get to 11 from 680, you'll want to take 711/Division St. Expressway (the somewhat new "Hubbard Connector"). You could also hop off the Salt Springs exit, follow it north to 80 which reconnects with 11 North.

Lived in Warren 24 years, went to YSU and used to drink on the Southside of Youngstown, never found my way home w/out driving through some SKETCH @ 2am. LOL. I think 711 opened since I've been gone. Next time though, I got it.

Yuck, the west side is so ugly and nasty now. I almost never go over there! I live in NE Warren and as some other posters have said, the Northeast side is much much nicer. I've always said they might as well tear down most of the west side and let it go back to nature.

 

If you guys haven't seen it before i did a photo tour of the Mahoning Ave area of Warren on another forum. http://www.city-data.com/forum/ohio/313904-warren-photo-tour-warning-if-you.html

 

I also included Delphi Packard Electric and some history in the thread.

Thanks for taking the time to take these pictures, KJP. BTW, i used to own an old Victorian on 169 in Niles. Used to drive to Warren that way to go to work at Delphi. That part of the SE side is pretty yucky as well. My parents were always concerned that i was driving through there around 11pm, but i never had any problems. Some of my former co-workers lived over there and they were very nice people. I think as long as you mind your own business you won't have too many problems w/the thugs.

 

Also, isn't that LaDue Reservoir on 422????? http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/FishingSubhomePage/LakeMapLandingPage/LaDueReservoirFishingMap/tabid/19530/Default.aspx