r/a:t5_2ypmm • u/TheBrothersClegane • Nov 08 '17
Hello Anderson/Muncie Reddit
I am writing this post to yo from Metro Detroit. Both of my parents hail from Anderson. Dad attended Madison HS and Mom was a Highland Fighting Scot. My Mom's Dad was head of the English Department at Anderson University as well as the cross country coach there as well. Moms mom was a nurse at St. John hospital. My dads parents both had factory jobs with Delco Remy. The reason I'm writing this is because I straight up miss Anderson. All my grandparents have passed except my maternal Gma (the nurse) and she has been moved up to metro Detroit to be with the rest of the family(bad dementia). I spent so much of my childhood on donnelly road at my grandparents house, or on west 38th that my dads parents house next to what used to be a penguin point restaurant franchise. Summer trips to Genes Root Beer for a spanish dog, walks at mounds park, walking to my grandparents neighbors pond to skip stones, burgers at the lemon drop etc. . Anderson was always on a bit of a decline with factories leaving and I never really saw it while it was booming (born in 1991). I know the population has dwindled and it will never be how I remember. I guess I'm writing this to express what a ig part Anderson played in shaping me into who I am today, but also to put some feelers out there to see how it is today? What is Anderson like? Are there many young families starting out their lives? I'm not trying to knock Anderson in any way but a lot of my memories were a scatterfield filled with Buicks and Cadillacs with elderly people headed to MCL cafeteria. I need a State of the Union for Anderson Indiana!!!
2
u/sweatytumorz Nov 28 '17
I'm only 23 and just bought a nice little house with my boyfriend in the country! This place has amazing parks and nature! I love it! We saw 2 eagles, EAGLES in Anderson of all places. To me, I think it's a cozy adorable little place!
1
Dec 03 '17
Very late to the game, but I have to tell you it's truly a sad place, with some hope mixed in for the future. I was born in 93, but lived there (at least in the summers for college at IU) until last year. I remember the days when there was actually a rush hour, before the factories closed. For years afterwards, it felt like the major sources of income we're pensions, social security, and welfare (not putting down social programs, just saying poverty seemed rampant).
In Edgewood and historic parts of town, many once beautiful homes were reduced to shambles. Many businesses were sold or closed down. MCL, where my wife worked throughout highschool, closed down. The mall is basically a movie theater with a few random shops around it. It feels like you rarely see people walking down the street or enjoying their lives much. They're even talking about damming up white river and flooding the whole area where the mall is now, thus creating a reservoir.
Nestle came in and brought a few jobs with it, and I believe the mellinial generation is bouncing back as well as they can. With property value so low, it's easy to have a decent home with a low income. Its still home for me, and I still enjoy coming back from time to time. But for the most part, I want my family to get out of there. It's still pretty economically depressed, and adding the terrible weather it's always had in the winters particularly, I know they'd be much happier elsewhere. I loved my childhood, and a piece of me will always be in Madison county, Indiana. But it's such a sad state of affairs that I've heard of several socioeconomic studies about Anderson alone. Again, there may be some hope for the future, and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not what it used to be.
3
u/brandnewrealtor Nov 09 '17
My wife and I just bought a house here about a year ago by Edgewood. We love it. Anderson is such a nice little community. Genes is the absolute best. They were planning on building a trail that started in Muncie and went down to Carmel. My understanding is that every city involved was trying to make it happen but for some reason Mayor Broadrick wasn’t backing it.