| By Bob Weaver 2024
Calhoun County population has been shrinking since 1940 with 12,000 residents at the end of the agricultural era, current day estimates less than 6,000.
About half of the current residents are transplants, who joyfully proclaim their backwoods living as a great experience. We would add that Calhoun's original people of place are disappearing.
The decline of rural America is a well known fact, fading to only 14% of the population.
With at least 15 WV county seats mostly boarded-up, West Virginia residents have near the worst poverty stricken incomes for years.
Historically, the business and political movements of merging, centralizing, consolidating and globalization, launched a further decline in rural America.
Most politicians seem to ignore that WV makes the USAs most worst lists, the most recent is the most stressed state in the country, the lowest happiness score and the highest depression rate.
In my lifetime the state government has been controlled by governors from both political parties who more than adequately represented King Coal and extractive industries. Several governors went to prison.
Grantsville's population has dropped in half, from 1,000 in 1940 to 482. With about 3,000 households in the county to purchase goods and services, 1,500 southern Calhoun residents have used Spencer for years, leaving only 1,500 northern residents using Grantsville.
Dozens of Grantsville businesses have failed, no market dollars to be spent.
The Grantsville exodus continues. While giving credit to the refurbishment of Main Street by the 1982 Foundation and major recreational projects, the town looks great with promises that a rejuvenation is coming soon.
Shrinking Main Street, not much left. More recent bailouts, Dollar General Store, Jen's Reused Store and Grinders. Walgreens, located on Main Street, is facing closure, announcing several thousand closures nationwide.
Retail is shifting to Arnoldsburg, including Dollar General and Family Dollar.
With Calhoun having one of the lowest tax bases in America, we continue to proclaim it is a most wonderful place to live, likely to be appreciated even more as the nation falters on wobbly legs, approaching collapse while repeating a "blame game."
West Virginia historically has one of the worst election turnouts in the nation.
While we entertain ourselves to death and conspicuously consume, will we go down in chaos?
Maybe we will look about us at God's creation and wonder how we could have screwed it up.
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