Small Town Spirit: Monessen, Pennsylvania
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- Опубліковано 30 січ 2021
- Once hailed as an "Aladdin-like town of the times," today Monessen, Pennsylvania is a microcosm of the rustbelt struggle.
Despite heavy population loss, and a historic downtown in decay, a young mayor is determined to turn things around in this city on a hill in the Monongahela Valley.
SMALL TOWN SPIRIT is an original series of documentary shorts, shot on location in communities across America. Each episode profiles a different town, uncovering local characters and stories of resilience, innovation, and courage.
One story at a time, one town at a time, Small Town Spirit chronicles the fight to preserve and revitalize small town America.
Directed by John Paget
Produced by First+Main Films
First+Main Films is the creative studio focused on stories for cities, towns and neighborhoods through films that foster civic pride, build community and spark imagination.
Allied Member of Main Street America.
I visited Monessen for the first time in January 1994 for a three week vacation. I know,there are much more nicer places in the US than Monessen to spend a vacation,especially after a blizzard..lol But, because i live in Essen,Germany,the City wich Monessen is named after.I choosed Monessen for my firts trip to the USA.I made good friends in Monessen and its surrounding towns.So i returned in August 1994 for a three months stay.And how the story goes,i returned to visit Monessen five more times after 1994. At my first visit in 94,downtown Monessen had the impression of a ghost town already. And from visit to visit i've seen more houses being demolished ,buisnesses shut down which were open a visit before,and a lot of decay in general going on in my beloved second home town. It broke my heart,and still does when i hear from my friends about the dying of that town.I really hope that i will make it back someday to visit my beloved Essen with the Mon again.I miss my friends and the good times i`ve had there...especially at the B`n `S and at the Slovak Home...loool Best regards from Essen,Germany
I just moved here and this video is amazing. I want to be a part of whatever you need people to be apart of. Thank you for making this. What is Monessen? Hopefully home.
I just watched this at a film festival. Great job.
I just bought a home in 15062 and I’d love it if you could show me around? Oh wow I was trying to buy the gymnastics center! I live up the hill next to the church! I really look forward to making it a better and cleaner area to be proud to live in!
I grew up in Monessen as a child my family has a lot of history there my grandfather helped build Monessen back and its heyday with my father and all my uncles we was a well-known family and that little small City I still have a few relatives left there but most of us is gone it's always been my prayer that Monessen get rebuilt all it takes is someone with some great vision you have that beautiful River there maybe if someone would build a resort or something that would spark interest and bring Monessen back alive
Beautiful architecture, beautiful town!
Love the story I was just looking into properties there but it seems like a ghost town I wanna start fresh but I must do more research
Thanks! Here's to the many proud places clinging to life in our commonwealth and to the folks who give a care about their towns. I'm from Watsontown and proud of it but wish for better days for Main Street.
What a Gem..
This gives me hope that SW PA can be revitalized to something to be proud of again.
1:07 that Old pharmacy on the corner right there my grandmother worked there when she was younger decades ago!
I love Monesson. I'm a Frezzell Northington from Marguerite St. I'm also connected to the Ree and Minnie family
So sad to see the streets we walked down in the 80s completely in disrepair and beautiful historical buildings crumbling down. I remember all the cute stores that were there. One of my favorite places was Italian Hall. We go weekly to have dinner there. It is hard situation. They need some kind of industry to bring some life back.
Visité Monessen por primera vez en enero de 1994 durante unas vacaciones de tres semanas. Lo sé, hay lugares mucho más agradables en los EE. UU. que Monessen para pasar unas vacaciones, especialmente después de una ventisca... jajaja Pero, como vivo en Essen, Alemania, la ciudad que da nombre a Monessen. Elegí Monessen para mis primeros viaje a los EE. UU. Hice buenos amigos en Monessen y los pueblos de los alrededores. Así que regresé en agosto de 1994 para una estadía de tres meses. 94, el centro de Monessen ya tenía la impresión de ser un pueblo fantasma. Y de visita en visita he visto más casas siendo demolidas, negocios cerrados que estaban abiertos una visita antes, y mucha decadencia en general en mi amada segunda ciudad natal. Me rompió el corazón, y todavía lo hace cuando escucho de mis amigos sobre la muerte de esa ciudad. Realmente espero poder regresar algún día para visitar a mi amado Essen con el Mon nuevamente. Extraño a mis amigos y los buenos momentos que pasé. He tenido allí... especialmente en el B`n `S y en el Slovak Home... loool Saludos cordiales desde Essen, Alemania
I like your town.😊
There tearing it all down and l agree with you! People must come together or else you will have an empty city!
Hello, I am Venezuelan, I am currently on my way to the US by land. by chance there is work on something in that city or nearby my wife and I are in love with the city I would not like to know if there is any temporary shelter for even a week while I work and gather to be able to remodel a house I am from the countryside of my country no I really like big cities that city is beautiful. What sources of employment are nearby? this is my youtube channel and i am going to document my trip i would like to get to the usa and get to your city any information is appreciated.
A very moving film. Thank you. In its heyday, Monessen clearly teemed with activity and commerce. The now dilapidated buildings must have mesmerised and seduced the people of the town years ago when they stood proud. Monessen, tragically, is not exceptional. There are hundreds of impoverished towns and cities in the US--even though the country is one of the richest in the world. I am at a loss to understand how such deprivation could have been allowed to take hold. Watching from the Netherlands, I applaud those citizens who are working tirelessly and conscientiously to revive their town.
Imagine tearing down a historic city center. You'd go from an abandoned town with charming buildings to an abandoned field with no buildings.
The state should step in and restore these buildings
Yes - historic preservation is a solid economic development strategy - proven time and again. Monessen actually has the "bones" to become a wonderful small town downtown.
If the state steps in you’ll lose control and they will do what they want and attract many more people with much more money driving housing prices up so high the locals who make it a charming place to be will no longer be able to afford it. It will become a bedroom community for the people of Pittsburgh and other cities. It’s a very delicate balance.
I bought into a town in NJ that had fallen into disrepair and was coming back organically from people buying and fixing things up. Then developers came in building 2-3 story condos. Now there are high rises along the beach front, prices skyrocketed and every street has paid parking. 24/7.
They started advertising it as “the new Brooklyn “ and wealthy New Yorkers flooded the place. The small town is gone. The charm and locals are gone, replaced by the hip and groovy crowd. I left 8 years ago. Most of the Jersey shore is unrecognizable from when I was a kid. And back then (60’s-70’s) houses were $20-40k. The wealthy from NYC and Philly have bought up most of it.
Could you do one over Winamac, IN? It's a town stuck in the 1950s that has some interesting history and drama including one of the most historical buildings (court house) in the state endangered of being torn down
we're looking to do a story on a small town in each state. Send us more info about Winamac, or send links to where we can research it. thanks!
I really and honestly want to make a change!!!!
I want to get help to improve our area!!!!!!!!
Monessen will never be the same as when we were kids. The entire city has fallen into disrepair amd ruin. The Mon Valley as a whole has, sadly, gone to total shit. 😑 Great video!! Though "Small Town Trap" would've probably been more apt. I must admit that you've perfectly captured the waning spirit of our hometown. However, finally escaping that godforsaken place was the best impulsive decision I've ever made. I get crazy anxiety just coming back home to visit family every couple of years.
Update: In watching this for the second time, I would almost swear that it's a shameless justification for why Code Enforcement is seemingly citing everybody in town for trivial violations. I mean, you said it yourself... "$80,000" he brought in for the city, was it? Where is that money going, really?
Takes a position of power and then doesn’t go to meetings but fires those who do and actually work for the people
Una vez aclamada como una "ciudad de la época parecida a Aladino", hoy Monessen, Pensilvania, es un microcosmos de la lucha del cinturón industrial.
A pesar de la fuerte pérdida de población y un centro histórico en decadencia, un joven alcalde está decidido a cambiar las cosas en esta ciudad en una colina en el valle de Monongahela.
SMALL TOWN SPIRIT es una serie original de cortometrajes documentales, filmados en locaciones de comunidades de todo Estados Unidos. Cada episodio describe un pueblo diferente, descubriendo personajes locales e historias de resiliencia, innovación y coraje.
Una historia a la vez, un pueblo a la vez, Small Town Spirit narra la lucha para preservar y revitalizar los pequeños pueblos de Estados Unidos.
Hola Seria interesante reconstruir esta ciudad , buscar alternativas de inversión encontrar actividades que hagan que la gente lo visite y genere inversión como ciudad turistica y de entretenimiento
Its a challenge in fixing things up…. When it starts happening developers become interested. But they build it up like every other place rather than restoring what it was. Then people start moving in, over paying, driving prices up to where the locals can’t afford to be there anymore.
Be careful what you wish for and what you accept or you may find yourself trying to find your next unspoiled old time place to live, holding on til they come to destroy, I mean “develop” that area too…
The people of Monessen city to get priorities together and actually focus on some of these old buildings that can be saved before it’s too late to save them and bring some business back to this town!
Problem is bad democrat politics that are a cat fight between 3 factions and none of them can get along. It will fall forever because they are all too stubborn to work together.
If you showed up to counsel meetings maybe things could change. The first order of business is to get rid of the you (so called Mayer) and get a responsible person who will help turn things around.
The Mayor's words in this video hold no weight. Being absent for years from your position with your head in the sand.
Monessen at least looked presentable under his service
Hey I see my house at the end of video
Also how do I fix my taxes? They absolutely have to be wrong!!! 5k a year is insane!
Megutaria ver la casa para llo mudarme para alla
I’d love to meet you! All
Also please let me know what f you know anyone that can help me fix my house please I’ve paid two guys and they didn’t finish the job and took my belongings as well I was so disappointed
In this area you have to know who you can associate with to get the real work done.there is real ppl that can get it done.i wont mention the reasons why they dont or steal on youtube.
Sometimes life changes and you should change and move on and leave the headaches to the Public servants who knows what their doing to make that city rise because it continue to dwindle!
A different approach would be stop selling things so high that's not worth the fee and people would immediately buy and fix it up and it would draw people there, it's a simple logic, if your not going to sell it cheap then you minds well knock those buildings down. If you sell me something cheap I would bring in my workers and put a Barbershop in downtown there and I dont even live there. Matter fact if your interested in selling lots of th Rose buildings cheap I have some funds to spend.
You speak sweet words, eloquently spoken, like the poetry of an idealist, but you were elected to fight against poverty and crime, to save your town from neglect, If your neighbors want poetry, they go to a library... We had a guy like you here in Miami, practically a poet. Did you know Chairman Mao was a published poet, and hitler painted master pieces using oil on canvas (I actually have one in my cave du vin)... But do you want to make this part of America look like a Norman Rockwell painting again? (and I mean by this: your City of Monessen in all it's former splendor and beauty), and make it glorious again? and great again? patriotic again? Do you want to revive its middle class and its working class? Do you want to revive your tax basis again?
CLEAN MONESSEN UP!!!
If you Google the word Monessen it will come up with press statements such as "A man killed" "Police found a dead man...""Homicide on Chestnut Street" "Drug use and drug crime related numbers keep going up in Monessen, Pa" "Monessen is almost a ghost town" "Local politicians are fighting for bread crumbs that fall off Monessen's almost empty plate""Mayor of Monessen has been absent from his duties x amount of years" ...
I am not blind, I have my eyes on your town for a long time, I would invest in it in a heartbeat, not in steel but in other products such as roof tiles, bricks, glass and pre-fabricated housing and industrial structures because that is the way of the future, down here we are building skyscrapers with glass and carbon fiber rebars, which is lighter than steel, and it doesn't require painting nor maintenance... Land in Monessen is cheap, I can get coal from W. Virginia at rock bottom prices (if you-know-who re-opens the W. Virginian mines), and with your river there I can haul it over to Monessen for next-to-nothing. I'm in Miami, and my friends and I would gladly invest there, but the drugs have to go. Eventually China will collapse if we stop buying their crap (they have no oil, we do), the south border will close again along with the Mexican cartels, it's only a matter of time, and the steel industry in Pittsburgh will return again, but it will be graphene type, why do you think China is importing to USA all the ingredients to manufacture fentanyl and the man who occupies the white house (our house!!!) is not imposing a strong import tax to China?
Again, I am a rich man with my eye on Monessen, I want to invest there, I don't screw up people, it's not good for business, and I want to bring industry and employment there, I would gladly pay my taxes, I can do this, I am a capitalist, and I tell you: Your lefties, your globalists, your local yokels will not move a finger untill their pockets get filled, and they will sweet-talk you untill they get inside your heart, don't let it happen, we had a guy like that here (Congressman Carlos Curbelo) who raised the social security age to qualify for benefits, News flash: I will not give away my hard earned money to the Frank Lukas, the Nicky Barnes and the Ray "Bumpy" Johnson wannabes of Harlem governed by the new left who pack our cities with dope, nor to the three millions Puerto Rican single mothers who would have completely drained the New York economy if it wasn't for Guliani's intervention (he fixed the welfare system there). Keep the criminal element in jail for many, many years, and do not give your money to those who don't want to work. Take this to the bank: Novartis (the pharmaco giant wants to relocate their plant in Humacao PR to Monessen, the Governor Mr Rosello made a deal in 1995 with Novartis: 10 years of tax-free operation, why isn't it Novartis in Monessen yet? Vas (Vasant Narasimhan) the President and CEO of Novartis is from Pittsburgh, and he is not a Democrat,
Why no one is talking to him? You figure it out... In 2016 you were visited by a US president that was going to help Monessen, but what happened? He got ripped off, so I heard. Do not look for help from the State (not because your boss is a Jew, because he is a Democrat)... My advise: If you ever clean up Monessen, give up politics and write poetry.
Monessen reminds me of the lower east side of Manhattan, they were selling abandoned buildings for a dollar untill the mayor of NYC did away with the rent control laws, now the Lower East Side is like gold
In light of the plethora of charming buildings, why not create a small tourist destination with an European theme?
Were you the mayor that never showed up for work and basically treated your job and responsibility as a joke? Or am I thinking of someone else 🤔
Cities can't survive on history and charm. They survive on diverse, growing industries that create economic opportunity. Everyone being connected to the mill was the problem-stop romanticizing it. Stop romanticizing how many generations of your ancestors lived there and instead of focusing on attracting new people -that's who buys houses and uses goods and services locally. You need a low crime rate, attractive tax benefits for businesses, and good schools to attract people who can work remotely. If the cost of renovating old existing buildings isn't comparable to new builds, you'll have to grit your teeth, demolish them, and sell the land for new ones. No one can afford to pour more money into a building than it's worth in the end. Change your zoning laws for low cost tiny homes and put in public transportation to the nearest city and maybe you'll get people that way. Many younger generations can't afford renos and larger homes, so meet that demand by creating tiny home friendly communities and policies.
Get a new mayor.
Lived in monessen most of my life and moved far away a few years ago. Best decision I’ve ever made. Monessen is a shit hole and will always be a shit hole. There are far better places to live!!!
Hate living in this shit hole.
Watch the other monessen story this one is all bs he did nothing at all
This kid didn't show up to work for 20 weeks. He's a joke.