A collection of photos from the Rust Belt via Daily Jive..The Rust Belt attracted a huge number of immigrants from 1890-1930. The Polish came in droves, especially to Pittsburgh and the Chicago-Milwaukee area. Italians immigrated also, explaining why eight of the 24 Mafia families in America were located in the region. Other immigrants were Irish, Greek, Slovak, Slovenian, Lituanian, and Hungarian, among others. African-Americans came from the south looking for opportunity as well. Echoes of this diversity in the Rust Belt today are heard in radio shows and various festivals.
The Rust Belt maintained its symbiotic relationship with the coalfields of Appalachia until unfortuante events befell the northern industrial states in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Factories and steel mills closed and industrial jobs by the thousands disappeared within a few years. By the early 21st Century the large steel companies were consolidating and had sold off their captive mines. Though the coal mines of the Appalachian mountains still ship coal to the Rust Belt, the glory days are over.
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