Vast numbers left the Rust Belt cities to relocate for better wages and more work. Many cities, including Utica, were left unstable and devastated. Economies turned and populations dropped drastically. While some residents stayed, many had no interest in denying the oncoming disintegration of their city. A site for neglect and decay — it transformed into a broken, spiritless mold of itself. We drove through towns, small, seemingly nameless towns — the kind of towns that you pass through without having to blink. There are so many that it’s hard to know their insides, it’s hard to know their guts. It was an ongoing narrative of these near indistinguishable spaces until we reached Utica, whose main street is almost directly off of the interstate. 38
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