Doesn't this seem like a fatal issue right there? Given that Americans are free to move anywhere in the US, I would expect a general trend towards places that are more comfortable to live. Population growth can cover up a lot emigration, but the era of large families is over. Cities can still draw people with cultural significance, but what is the draw of Galesburg IL? Even for people that like small towns, there are plenty of small towns farther south with better weather.
There are two liberal arts colleges in the Galesburg “metro” area that draw both students and faculty from elsewhere (ps - the big one has a special 5-year 2-campus 2-diploma engineering program gives you a BA from them as well as, for example, a CS degree from UIUC [1]). The student population and their locations support a “downtown” that no city of that size and location would otherwise be able to support and therefore likely draws a lot of the rural population for entertainment.
We pass through there a few times a year on the way to our favorite camping spot. I’d say their biggest problem and much of the cause of the sprawl-style development is that there is a bypass road on the north side of the city built nearly to interstate standards, complete with on-ramps and off-ramps. But it is flagged as both a US highway and a state highway so the chance that Galesburg has any control over it at all is pretty close to 0.
Doesn't this seem like a fatal issue right there? Given that Americans are free to move anywhere in the US, I would expect a general trend towards places that are more comfortable to live. Population growth can cover up a lot emigration, but the era of large families is over. Cities can still draw people with cultural significance, but what is the draw of Galesburg IL? Even for people that like small towns, there are plenty of small towns farther south with better weather.