When people quit caring, a town died.

I recently visited a town from my childhood which lies along the Mighty Mississippi River. I remember the fireworks on the 4th of July, and the many shops along main street, the large antebellum homes with beautiful lawns with flowers. It seemed that almost on every corner there was a big and beautiful church with just about every denomination having a place to worship.
This all started to change in the sixties when welfare became available and people just quit caring. Why work when the government would take care of you. The stores moved and there were no jobs, but nobody wanted to work anyway. The empty buildings on Main Street were destroyed by vandals because no body cared and it was something to do. Most of the beautiful homes and churches have been destroyed. The churches became places to do drugs and drink alcohol, for fun you could write your gang name on the walls and break the stained glass windows.
There are some new buildings in town like the State of Illinois Welfare office, the Medical Clinic, and the high-rise public housing, but the town as I knew it is dead...and nobody cares.