Reviews & Comments
Port Huron, MI
Economy Stuck on Pause, Ready for Urban Renewal -
11/13/2019I lived there in the 60's and 70's as a kid. Moved away to find better employment opportunities and never moved back, although I returned with my family frequently to visit the folks, relatives and friends over the past 4 decades. You can probably take this story and multiply it significantly as at least half my graduating class did the same, and that pattern did not and has not subsided all that much since that time. We can all see the damage that global competition wreaked on Michigan, Detroit being the poster city for that. Port Huron was hit as well. However if you can't stomach the city there are always the communities to the north, like Fort Gratiot, that are in better shape or locate yourself to Clyde Township or other nearby Townships for less crime, better living and save Port Huron for your shopping and entertainment needs.
Port Huron, MI
re: Think twice on P.H.
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11/13/2019I too was born in Port Huron, raised in the 60's, educated by the school system to be a blue collar worker either directly for the big three auto makers or working for one of their numerous suppliers.
True, the middle class has shrunk there as it has across the country, and probably more due the area's high job multiplier related to the Automotive Industry. However, the so-called "rich" love any place where they can find a bargain, same as anyone with disposable income would, and I can't think of any place where the extremely poor enjoy their lot.
All socioeconomic class disparity comments aside, I generally agree that Port Huron has suffered economic malaise since the 70's as it's business and civic leaders were not able to quickly adapt to technology advances and simultaneously avoid the downward pressure from the hit that Detroit took from the global competition. Port Huron was damaged in much the same way as Flint and many other nearby suburbs built on supplying parts to the Big Three were. A couple of specific examples of this was the demise of Mueller Brass in Port Huron; another was the double hit that Grand Trunk Railroad took - one from the US government takeover of it's passenger service by Amtrak and then the freight line being absorbed back into Canadian National.
It seems a significant majority of the residential areas are rife for urban renewal as homes have deteriorated while owners cannot afford, or decide it isn't worth the money to invest in maintaining property. It is truly sad to see, and especially if it happens to a home one was raised in. (You have my sympathy)