Oelwein Is An Ideal Small Town

Oelwein, IA is a small town roughly about 4 miles. If you were to look at this town from the sky it would look as though it was separated into quadrants. All of the road runs vertical, with a small amount roads typically by the river, running off of them. This town isn’t exactly poor or well off. And from the outside looking in, it looks as though it could be an ideal small town. “Driving into town from the south, you first notice the softening profile of the maples and oaks that fill out the middle distance of an otherwise flat landscape.”(Reding P. 3) There were thirteen churches, and eleven bars located in Oelwein. Also many banks, jewelry stores, movies, grocery stores, and department stores. Farming and small business was what defined
Iowa Ham consisted of throwing hog hocks into roasters, and processing them into edible meat, was a very high paying job. In 1990 eighteen dollars an hour was a huge deal, considering many of the people that worked there were high school drop outs. Iowa Ham eventually was bought by Gillette. After this change the union fell apart, and wages went from eighteen dollars and hour, to 6.20. The hours went up, wages went down, and then the plant eventually closed. This was the start to the negative changes that began to happen in Oelwein. The loss of jobs began to make people look for other ways to make money, and drug dealers began to realize that rural towns was where they could safely distribute their product. Oelwein eventually became the meth capital of the
He created a two phase plan. Phase 1, 2003 was to crack down on meth dealers, and fixing the run down properties by making them look better. Phase 2, 2006 Industrial Park opened. With 70 % of children living in poverty, and median income was half of state’s average (Reding p.134). This phase seemed impossible, but they went through with it. They pulled up streets, build new sewers and gutters. Added foliage, streetlamps and sidewalks. By 2006 Christmas it was complete. New businesses were everywhere, and the town once again felt safe and secure. As well, there hadn’t been a bust of a meth lab in 6 months. Which was huge for