ELAIA
Abstract
The City of Kankakee was an industrialized city that prospered economically for decades. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, economic trends shifted for Kankakee and the surrounding communities. The major factories, such as Roper Corporation and A.O. Smith, migrated their source of production from Kankakee to other regions of the United States and abroad during the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the declining industrial economic activity led to changing community perceptions. Kankakee is an example of the “Rust Belt” region, a region in the Midwestern and Northeastern States of the United States where declining industrial activity occurred throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The paper uses an Oral History Approach to investigate the changing economic landscape and community and individual perceptions of Kankakee during the Deindustrialization period.
Recommended Citation
Shepard, Rachel H.
(2024)
"Kankakee in Deindustrialization: An Oral History Approach,"
ELAIA: Vol. 5, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/elaia/vol5/iss1/7
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