MISSOURI: Bleak, Crime Infested Towns In The Bootheel - What I Actually Saw

all right everybody I am in rural Missouri you're looking at the Mississippi River by the way that's Tennessee over there on the other side uh the river this past fall I guess had gotten really low but not now getting a lot of rain you can tell that uh the river is swollen because that sign is usually not partially underwater it's a bit of a dreary day here it's going to be an interesting video though Guys these towns wow big modern grain elevator here I am in the town of Caruthersville Missouri founded 1857. so I will get in the Bronco here in just a second or how about right now and uh let's go take a look at this town got a flood wall here downtown is right over there going ahead in that direction shortly I'm just hanging out here a little bit I love the Mississippi River so I always spend a little time when I'm on its banks it's kind of a I think I said it earlier crummy day here it's uh 46 degrees that's what seven eight degrees Celsius for those of you in Europe and Australia and in South America as I was gently reminded in one of the comment sections a little bit windy you can probably hear a little wind shear it is a Wednesday early March the first Wednesday of the month whatever the day that is I just can't keep track anymore but uh anyway yeah all right I'm in the Bronco there's the Mississippi River right there grain elevator let's take a look at a map real quick give you an idea exactly where I'm at uh you can see me the blue dot there uh with the arrow I'm in what they call the Boot Hill area of Missouri and of course right on the border with Tennessee There's Nashville to the east St Louis up to the north and Memphis to the South I'm going to head into downtown cruisersville I'm going to tell you a little bit about it I'll start with the population uh 1960 Peak population year a little over 8 600 people today there's a little over 5500 people so it's lost quite a bit of population over the years let's see the median age is 36 years old um let's see gender breakdown 56 percent female 44 male now you can see I'm driving through this um flood uh flood wall I'll get that spit out anyway let's see heading into downtown now looks pretty quaint doesn't it so far let's see per capita income twenty thousand eight hundred it's about 400 a week median household income 33 900 about 650 a week that's a pretty low median household I think when I looked at the stats I saw that quite a few people here live alone which would explain that poverty is pretty high 25 percent [Music] that's a little over twice higher than the national average um children 17 under it's even higher 32 percent let's see what's the race breakdown 55 White 41 black three percent Hispanic ah the rest is other now um let's see another statistic that kind of stuck out 35 of the town is married that's pretty low U.S average is 52. so I'm gonna drive around a little bit but uh the thing I have to talk about in this town is the crime rate because it's really high but I'll get to that in a second because uh look at this beautiful building here it's gorgeous isn't it this is the Pima Scott County Courthouse built in 1924 that is a beautiful building wow check out this old water tower should uh I get out and get a closer look yeah I think so this is the Caruthersville Water Tower also known as the lighthouse you don't see them built like this anymore this was built in 1903 as you can guess it's on a national register the base is made of brick you can see it underneath here and it supports a water tower that would hold 40 000 gallons of water really interesting I love these old things um you know you come to the other side of it and it's landscaped real nice here but on the other side of it all right uh trash [Music] and this is people's backyards look at all that [Music] wow I wanted to show you this post office they have here in town that is a beautiful building pretty incredible um okay so we should talk about the crime this town's crime rate it's really high it's almost as high as St Louis which has the highest crime rate in the United States it's higher than that of Kansas City the overhaul overall crime rate in this town is 66 per 1000. per 1 000 people 66 St Louis is 70. Kansas City is 57 so the overall crime rate here is higher than in Kansas City and Kansas City ranks in the top 20 in the country violent crime in this town is 24 per 1000 people U.S average is 3.9 that is six times higher than the national average it's kind of shocking um let's see property crime is not as bad 36 per 1000 people U.S average is 20. so it's not it's less than twice higher than the uh us average so that's kind of a odd aspect to the statistics right usually property crimes just as high um without all being said I'm going to look around a bit expect to see some uh you know infrastructure that has been abandoned we'll have to see because of the high population loss I am going to shoot this casino real quick Sentry Casino because it's one of the economic drivers of the town as you can well imagine anyway uh yeah I'm just going to get out and look around see some of the sights here there is a famous person that was born here Cedric the Entertainer and he's not A-list or anything but he's pretty fair fairly well known ah look at this here yeah here's some of that uh or what I was looking for or expected to see let's put it that way abandoned homes this kind of population loss or the kind of population loss that this town has had you're going to have it that caught on fire though well let's see I'm back in downtown just going to cut a left here and head into residential look at that coiled building sitting there empty the town has lost a lot of population so uh kind of interested to see what we're going to find here a beautiful house there we've got another beautiful house here amazing architecture it looks like it might be getting worked on that is a lot of bicycles I wonder what the story is there now that's a type of architectural style you don't see every day uh the median home value in this town is 98 400 by the way I don't think I told you guys that number yet it's down here on the other side of town now that is abandoned I don't think that one is though you guys need a mattress looks like a kind of a flea market doesn't it used stuff again uh the houses could use some a little bit of care but really interesting architecture I really like it the big rock house there uh loose dogs all over town it's kind of a trip now I'm going to reference back to the crime rate here I saw a list published by uh University here in the state if I remember right that listed the most dangerous towns in the state of Missouri and this City ranked second and I think if you include the big cities like Kansas City and St Louis it ranked third this is a beautiful street though isn't it with these trees that's that's kind of shocking the highest crime city in the state is a little town called or small city called Potosi south of St Louis I'm going to do a tour of towns in that area eventually but um yeah small towns this is the second most dangerous city in the state of Missouri checking out a local Watering Hole Woody's Lounge this kind of place uh my dad would go to when I was a kid let's see for those of you who like to know gas prices there you go 299 299 for a gallon of unleaded here in Southeast Missouri Walmart I mean let's check this out let me get up close here but um yeah this is a former Walmart wow you know it's pretty bad when uh Walmart's run out of town goodness gracious I know it happens but I think this is the first time I've ever seen it up Australian series barking at me get back on track yeah store closed Walmart That You Don't See very often hmm all right everyone I have arrived at the town of Haiti I think the name is derived from the country pretty sure I read that I don't think anybody knows for sure but anyway I'm in downtown or just arrived in downtown we'll start with the population in 1980 there were just shy of 4 000 people here today there are 2200 so this town has lost almost half as popular almost half its population it's quite a lot median age is 43. see gender breakdown 50 50 female male but 21 of the females here have been widowed eleven percent of the males that's a lot for both of them poverty rate here is 41 percent uh that is extremely high I don't have to tell you for children 17 and under 68 percent it's one of the highest I've ever seen 65 and older it's 19 percent all right just kind of driving through here I'll do the race break down real quick um 65 White 32 percent black one percent Hispanic and two percent other let's see I'm going to uh take a drive through this downtown one more time and head out to residential real quick but we'll talk about the crime real quick again really high violent crime is 15.3 per 1000 people that is let's see the U.S average is 3.9 so what's that make it uh four times higher than the national average really high property crime 35 per 1000 U.S average is 20. so uh that's not as bad not quite twice higher that list I told you about that ranked the towns of Missouri high crime towns this town ranks 12. so not quite as high as peruthersville but still pretty high I'm gonna head into residential we'll take a look at a street or two let's see Top Hat Club there was probably a time when that was a happening place what do you guys think uh not now though I wonder why all this Furniture's out here looks like people hang out here doesn't it I wonder what goes on here well yeah let's look around some that's a small house but uh really good shape I like it these look all pretty much new here Unfortunately they all look just alike even the same color I mean look at them all over here that is the answer to the question when people ask me why don't you go to the new neighborhoods because this is what you see houses all look just alike so I'll see if I can find some more interesting looking old homes this would be a prime spot for a cat but I don't see one see a dog uh no cat might be too creamy a day for cats yeah you can see uh population loss here in terms of the uh abandoned homes wow look at this one here yeah that's in bad shape this one's burned down it looks like these all look abandoned here empty homes yeah let's see what I say the poverty level was here 41 percent yeah you can really see it because I'm pretty sure people live in these a lot of stuff there yeah there's another dog no cat hey fella hey guys I think I see a cat yeah there he is finally we'll sneak up on him so he doesn't run off can you see him by that car there there he is just hanging out hey there fella cat siding acquired it's always good because I know how you guys get when I don't find a cat it's not pretty yeah this guy here he's having a good time looks like had some headphones on appeared that he was listening to some music I know you always wonder about shopping so uh I think they have the trifecta here 's the Dollar Tree and the Family Dollar right there and then not to be outdone right up the street Dollar General there we are they got all three here well okay I've seen enough here I'm going to head to the next town well everybody I'm driving into Kennett Kennett Missouri it's a pretty big town ten thousand five hundred people here Pig population was in 2000 when there were 11 260 so it's lost a little population but uh not that much I am in downtown as you can see as soon as a County Courthouse right here that's a side view though we're gonna have to see it from the front am I right what do you guys think meanwhile let's see some of the numbers median age is 34. uh see gender breakdown 53 female 47 male median uh household income fifty thousand one hundred almost a thousand a week so incomes in this town are a little bit higher than the past two let's see the race breakdown 74 percent White 17 percent black four percent Hispanic five percent other let's check out this Courthouse huh as we drive downtown Courthouse that is a beauty let's see I know they have an old theater here the Palace Theater built in 1916. I don't think it's in operation right now which is a damn shame because I saw pictures of it it looks beautiful and there it is and it is beautiful hopefully uh they'll get something done with that let's see shopping well there's a Family Dollar already right down here take a look and let's see daily Duncan Democrat looks boarded up gone the way of many newspapers this day or these days I'm gonna drive through downtown to the other side now we got to talk about crime because like in the other two cities it is high here but statistically different now their overall crime rate is 40 per 1000 which makes it 10th highest in the state their violent crime here is 7.7 per 1000 U.S average is 3.9 so it's actually not quite twice higher than the US average property crime that's what's high here property time property crime is 61 per 1000. U.S average is 20 per 1000. so property crime here is Three Times Higher than the national average all right so let's check out some residential uh let's see I did tell you median household in or median home value yet 88 000. a little bit higher than the other two towns and you can see it some nicer houses here really interesting look at this beauty here and right next door to it another one yeah they have some beautiful homes here I see I didn't give you a poverty rate yet 19 percent so that is better than the other towns as well another beautiful home right here oh here's another one and they got some gorgeous houses here am I right really beautiful this town as I was saying is home to someone or is the birthplace of someone very famous uh Sheryl Crow nine-time Grammy winner sold 50 million albums this is where she was born right here in Kennett Kenneth Missouri let's see I'm coming up on there a cemetery a real small house there that's really small isn't it I wonder what a house like that would sell for what do you guys think you see the low home values here 88 000 in this town and you wonder how it's possible but then you see these really small houses I guess it kind of makes sense I'm curious yeah I'm curious what that house would sell for anybody got an idea post it in the comments this one looks empty it is empty let's not get ourselves it's boarded up but I mean what do you think that would sell for I mean do you think what under 50 000 for a house like that right there it's so fascinating you know I read in the news this morning that millennials are unable to afford homes not just because of interest rates but because they're so expensive ah not in these towns though I mean what does that one go for it would have to be cleaned up obviously [Music] you think that show Crow's house she probably doesn't live here does she um anyway yeah beautiful homes along here um yeah go ahead to the next town I'm not going to check stores because they have a Walmart here yeah town of ten eleven thousand people it's going to be big enough for a Walmart so uh let's go and head to the next town the numbers on this town are really interesting so that's coming up next let's see if I drove by this looks like a mobile home graveyard because there's no way that people live here in these there's just this big long line of them and you can tell that they said empty all the doors are open wow I don't think I've ever seen anything like this I guess this was a park where people lived at one time a mobile home park but uh no more I mean that one is just completely falling apart mattress is here on the ground wow people generally don't like it when I say this but I'm getting a Deliverance Vibe totally from here I'm gonna turn around and get out of here looks like a few people live at this end of it all right everyone I am in Cardwell let me show you on the map because give you an idea what's going on here so you started up here in carothersville and that's the Mississippi and Tennessee and this is the boot so basically went all the way here to the other side of the Missouri Boot Hill uh that's where I am and this is Arkansas this um well well what can I say driving into town it's bleak this town has got some oh I don't know how you say it pretty rough numbers we'll start with population 1920 there were over a thousand people here today there's just over 500 uh during the year between 2019 and 2020 according to the census this town lost 37 percent of its population in one year um I'm trying to understand how that could have happened but here's some of the other numbers we'll see the median age is 24. let's do that first gender breakdown um female 54 males 46 percent 15 percent of these uh of these females are widowed here's the race breakdown 89 white six percent Hispanic five percent other median household income is 38 300 see I'm not sure what this is oh this is is this a church it's got cars in front of it even though I don't think they run okay uh here's poverty though uh 49 percent really high that means pretty much half the people who live in this town live at or below the poverty level children 17 and under it's 43 that's actually a little better than overall I'm a little surprised at that yeah that's very really illegal doesn't look like he cares though okay well anyway the unemployment rate in this town is 14.6 percent 14.6 that's super high 59 of the people who live here have graduated high school U.S averages 85.5 that really sticks out and let's see median age is 24. it's Young it's a young town um crime is high violent crime 8.6 per 1000 U.S average 3.9 so it's over twice higher than the national average violent crime property crime 40 per 1000 U.S average 20. so uh property crime is twice higher than the US average and here's the kicker median home value and let me turn the camera over here as I do tell you this number thirty eight thousand I mean that's can't even get a car for that anymore maybe a used one astonishing they got a Dollar General and there is a gas station here too I can't tell how much gas is but it looks yeah it looks like a modern fairly new place doesn't it all right well I'm gonna head back into the town then foreign yeah the town has lost over half its population you can kind of see it quite a few abandoned homes there's one right here another one right here this one is just disintegrating [Music] just rotting into the ground like there's a mattress in there well I asked the question in the last video and I'm going to ask it again here see what you guys think knowing that the median home value here is thirty eight thousand dollars what do you think that house right there with the dog that house right there what do you think that's worth or even that one there what do you guys think it's crazy let's see they do have fire and police though there is a fire department and right across the way here downtown the police department so they've got those Services here but other than that there's nothing happening here in downtown except for this uh post office there's a Post Office right here yeah so there's all that Cardwell Missouri post office all right everyone that's going to be the end of this video we are going to head up into Kentucky next and do a world Town video there so that's coming up next be looking

Channel: Joe & Nic's Road Trip

Views: 387,643

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Id: MZpJKOdtHGY

Length: 38min 22sec (2302 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2023