company towns

Road Trip: Orrville, more than a company town (Part 5)

Dan Bobkoff — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:26:39 +0000

Our Changing Gears team has been on the road this week traveling to some of our company towns in the Midwest.

Changing Gears is a Michigan Radio project looking at the economic transformation of the industrial Midwest.

Our final stop is Orrville, Ohio: A place that seems like a company town, but there’s long been a whole lot more going on in Orrville.

Road Trip: Norwalk saves its company (Part 4)

Dan Bobkoff — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:16:30 +0000

When a company bears the name of its hometown, it can be hard to separate the two. Such is the case with Norwalk Furniture and the town of Norwalk in Northern Ohio. Sue Lesch is the town’s mayor.

“It really is our flagship company,” said Sue Lesch, Norwalk’s mayor. “It’s the company we’re proud of. We’re known for furniture all over the country.”

Ishpeming: Where iron ore built a city (Part 3 - with photos)

Kate Davidson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:00:39 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-979540.mp3

Our Changing Gears project is on the road, bringing you stories of towns where one company still affects everybody’s lives. Today we head north, to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That’s where North America’s biggest supplier of iron ore has been blasting the earth, and creating jobs, for more than 160 years.

Road Trip: Decatur, The Heart of Illinois Agribusiness (Part 2)

Niala Boodhoo — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:40:54 +0000

Our Changing Gears road trip continues. Yesterday, I was in Kohler, Wisconsin. Today, I went down state in Illinois to Decatur.

Driving south from Chicago, it only takes about 25 miles to hit the corn fields. For the next 150 miles to Decatur, it’s a sea of yellow corn tassels, a head tall.

What company towns look like today: Kohler, Wisconsin (Part 1)

Niala Boodhoo — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:38:51 +0000

From Pullman in Chicago to Firestone in Akron, these employers loomed large in everyone's daily lives.

But what does a "company town" look like today?

The Changing Gears team hit the road to find out.

All this week, we’re looking at how these places are coping with economic change.

For our first story, I visited the village of Kohler, Wisconsin.