After Autos, a Long and Rocky Road

Anderson, Ind., Still Hasn't Rebounded From GM's Flight

ANDERSON, Ind. Every morning during the heyday, an army of 25,000 workers converged on factories here to make headlights, batteries and other parts for General Motors cars. Girded by steady GM paychecks, they bought homes and filled grocery stores, churches and bars. The city built a Beaux-Arts library, the bank thrived, and Anderson prospered.

Then the plants began to close. As the U.S. auto industry entered a long slump more than 30 years ago, the Anderson factories fell one by one, until the last of the 20 went dark two years ago.

It's come to this: A bumper sticker asks, "Will the last one to leave Anderson please turn off the lights?"

As dozens of U.S. communities confront the loss of auto plants during this industry crisis, Anderson residents know the difficulties of such an exodus. The Obama administration has pledged to help restore these local economies, but as the history of this small city shows, such efforts are fraught with uncertainty and can take years to show results.

Anderson's population has shrunk nearly 20 percent from its peak, and each year about 100 homes are demolished. People have left to find work, and those who remain tend to be older and poorer. Where the plants once stood are vast lots, with tall grass and even trees growing through the cracks.

"We put all our eggs in one basket. Then the basket broke," said Max Hunt, 77, a retired tool and die maker who worked the plants for 37 years. "It was devastating."

More than 50 U.S. towns and cities have had a major auto plant closure in the past five years, according to figures from the Center for Automotive Research, and in few places are the dislocations caused by the global economic churn more stark. Auto manufacturing typically requires large buildings and large workforces. When the plants leave, the void can be overwhelming.

Bust Towns

Nationally, more than 600,000 jobs at auto manufacturers and their suppliers have been cut since 2000.

In Kokomo, Ind., the ranks of autoworkers at Chrysler and Delphi plants have dropped over time to 6,200 from 21,000.

In Janesville, Wis., GM's oldest assembly plant, which once employed 7,100, closed in April.

In Spring Hill, Tenn., a rural town that had fewer than 1,000 residents but boomed to seven times that number after the opening of the first Saturn plant in 1990, residents are fearful of what the planned closure this fall will bring.

President Obama last month signed an executive order creating a White House council on "automotive communities and workers," which is co-chaired by National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers and Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis.