The downtown area of cities used to be the fastest-growing places. Not so much anymore. That's definitely true of 3 Illinois downtown areas that were just ranked among the fastest shrinking places in America.
Before America declared its independence, there was already a city in Missouri. As a matter of fact, the first settlement in Missouri predates the founding of this country by almost five decades.
How ugly can ugly get? Can a town really be considered ugly? If you believe this recent study, you'll see why this town in Illinois is considered one of the ugliest in America.
With Illinois leading the Midwest in outbound migration (people leaving), and being one of the top 3 states overall in losing population, it's understandable that you might not think any Illinois city is growing.
The other day, as I was watching my wife carry in a metric ton or two of Halloween candy from the garage, I happened upon an article that was talking about the hard line being drawn on Halloween trick-or-treaters by the city of Roanoke, Virginia.