Ronald Reagan's Birthplace, and A Pair of Former Steel Towns: Sterling and Rock Falls, Illinois 4K.

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3 жыл бұрын

Sterling and Rock Falls are a pair of towns along the Rock River that have seen better economic times. Neither town is necessarily a horrible town today, but it's obvious while driving through that the town saw it's economic peak decades ago. Plus, I start the video in a tiny town called Tampico, Illinois which is south of both Sterling and Rock Falls, and is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the U.S.
Tampico (Ronald Reagan's Birthplace): 1:27 - 3:35
Rural Whiteside County: 3:35 - 6:05
Rock Falls: 6:05 - 12:45
Sterling: 12:45 - End
Sterling Steel Company: 12:45
Sterling High School: 16:37
Downtown Sterling: 20:34
Northland Mall: 32:30 - End
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@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

Illinois Playlist: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/etNoZNyfvNy5o4E.html USA Small Cities Playlist: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jpukbMSXx6ureZc.html ==================================================================== EVERYTHING THAT I USE IN THE FIELD: Main Camera: amzn.to/3iS4vvF Side Cameras: amzn.to/2WuCYIs Media Mod for Camera: amzn.to/3j7CMGF Lav Mic: amzn.to/3lsMkz9 Drone: amzn.to/3ITcKBV SD Cards: amzn.to/3C2co9O Camera Mounts: amzn.to/2UXVR6p Cables Required for Longer Recordings: amzn.to/3BYnr3Q Computer: amzn.to/3787b2j External Hard Drive: amzn.to/3lb23Tf WHAT I USE AT HOME: Computer: amzn.to/3rKIdiN Sound Mixer: amzn.to/3C15Ubx Microphone: amzn.to/2VaCjvo Microphone Accessories: amzn.to/3v7A35Z INTERACTIVE MAP that shows you all of the places that I've made videos on: (Doesn't always work on mobile devices. Will always work on PC.) www.google.com/maps/d/u/2/edit?hl=en&mid=1Lhzf04ocimPu-ROkg4cfXEYEvKMNnlI5&ll=43.06219876674538%2C-83.82163216337808&z=10 SOCIAL MEDIA & CONTACT INFO: Email: ChrisHardenYT@Gmail.com On Twitter: twitter.com/Chris_Harden55 On Instagram: instagram.com/c_harden7/?... On Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisHardenYT/ DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you. As an Amazon Associate I do earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. As always, thank you for supporting my channel!

@earlfisher1140 Жыл бұрын

@scooterrockets7815 Жыл бұрын

11:56 Angelo’s bakes their pizza in 100+ year-old bakery ovens that were old when they bought them. We used to drive from 7th Ave and 13th Street in Sterling all the way to this location in the late 1960’s (before they had other locations) just to get pizzas and their Italian bread.

@markjohnston3502 2 жыл бұрын

Good video. Brings back memories. Not sure if you know this, but Sterling is home to Wahl Clipper Corp. I'm sure the place has expanded a few times, but its always been one of those major employers.

@matthewatilano9118 8 ай бұрын

Great Video....That area is a shell of what I remember as a kid. When the Steel Mill was thriving that little metropolis was bustling. From the downtowns to the mall. It was alive. Sad to see what has become of Sterling/Rock Falls. I Moved to Southern California in the late 90's but will always think of Rock Falls as home.

@kathybarrett719 2 жыл бұрын

What about Sterling Newman High School? Remember when the mall was hopping .1980's

@scooterrockets7815 Жыл бұрын

17:07 used to be able to drive through that arch in the high school on 4th Ave to LeFevre

@JDale56 3 жыл бұрын

There are a couple of the old steam locomotives you mentioned still nearby. One in the backyard of a mansion-turned museum and another old rusty one parked on the siding behind a grain elevator in nearby Galt. Also some abandoned stately old homes near 3rd/2nd street in Sterling.

@susycue3 8 ай бұрын

Yep he totally missed the Dillon home.

@byrondean3974 3 жыл бұрын

Best American food in sterling “ Candlelight Inn” ChickensGeorge plate chicken is amazing live in California no one has this style chicken can’t wait to go back travel and try it one day after COVID 👍🏻

@TurboPancake 2 жыл бұрын

i found feces particles in my onion rings... and someone ordered spaghetti from their... at a chicken place...

@hunterpyron2535 2 жыл бұрын

@@TurboPancake uh? It was probably dirt

@TurboPancake 2 жыл бұрын

@@hunterpyron2535 it was feces...

@scooterrockets7815 Жыл бұрын

Back in the day, best chicken was at Clucky’s out on Rt 2 and Freeport Rd.

@Hiei2k7 2 жыл бұрын

The biggest hurts in Whiteside County were part of the reason I left Illinois. Northwestern Steel went under in 2001 after being limped along by the State of Illinois for 6 years beforehand in tax breaks. The replacement for it only uses about 1/2 the original footprint of the site. When you drove into Sterling, you split between the two buildings of the former National Tool site. I don't know if any of it is still used today, but it's now owned by Stanley Black and Decker, and most of it is made overseas. Their more modern factory was outside of Rock Falls on 30 going East. It's gone. General Electric used to have a large switch and gear plant in Morrison, also in Whiteside Co but west of you. It downsized through the 90s and finally closed for good in 2010.

@masterproductions5129 Жыл бұрын

Great video man, thanks for telling everything about our town.

@blendtecbrah5761 Жыл бұрын

One (sad) thing this video failed to capture is the absolute infestation of video slots/video poker that's taken over this beautiful small town. I took a road trip out there to get a sandwich and meet up with my sister and asked when it happened, apparently within the last few years and then just spread like wildfire. For anyone willing to travel for a great sandwich, go to Arthurs Garden Deli and get a "Work of Art," you won't regret it. The Sterling location is the best IMO.

@susycue3 8 ай бұрын

Its absolutely disgusting the amt of slot places here. Unreal for this area actually. And just keep poppin more up. Revenue...........

@bradleyroberts6637 3 жыл бұрын

I lived and went to high school in Tampico. I spent a lot of time in Sterling and Rockfalls 1973 to 1980. Thanks for trip down memory lane.

@JohnQPublic345 2 жыл бұрын

where are you now?

@petegarcia8567 2 жыл бұрын

Great video and narration. Trip down memory lane

@ninaverenac7266 3 жыл бұрын

Great drive through NT, informative and interesting as always. Thank you so much for your work and enjoyable videos. Much love and stay safe.

@johnrobinson4445 2 жыл бұрын

At 25:30 on the right side are the 'Patterson Row' apartments (original name), built in 1877. Enlarged with a kitchen, indoor bathroom, and extra bedroom ca 1890. Still occupied up through the 1990's, I believe. Full basement, coal room, 2 stories, then full attic with spiral stairway leading to it. Very interesting vintage buildings, now decrepit, sadly.

@johnniezimmerman7540 3 жыл бұрын

I really enjoyed this video, thank you for the upload. It's been many years now since I've been to Sterling/Rock Falls good to see the place again even if it is by video. You put these videos together so well it's the next best thing to being there. I see a lot of things are still there. I plan on being out there this summer. I've always like it there and I always though for the size of the town Temple Sholom was a big plus for the community. I lived many years in Freeport and I use to think now and then of moving to Sterling/Rock Falls. I may move back to Illinois if I can get over the thought of the taxes. These videos are a big help in looking into these towns. Thank you for what you do.

@Bladeoceanic 3 жыл бұрын

Hey i used to live in Freeport too but had to move since it got so bad as an adult but i was born in Sterling & spent some of my childhood in Rockfalls. Because of this video, i went traveled back to Sterling/Rockfalls today & found it to be much nicer than Freeport.

@johnsmallberries3476 3 жыл бұрын

AWESOME video! I LOVE this part of Illinois

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

One thing that could be mentioned is that Sterling is the home of Wahl, the company that makes electric barber clippers.

@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

I think I did mention that towards the end if I remember correctly

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

@@ChrisHarden Thank you. I'll have to look at the video again. I may have missed it.

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

@@ChrisHarden I was either on too many drugs or not enough when I watched this the first time because I don’t remember a lot of the stuff you mentioned in this video. I saw that you did mention the Wahl Company. A few years ago the actor that played Al Boreland on Home Improvement with Tim Allen did a series of tv ads for the Wahl Company. I’ll have to stop watching this stuff when I’m tired or something because I feel like I never watched this video before. 😵‍💫

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

If you continue on Illinois route 40 you will wind up in Mount Carroll Illinois, my childhood home . Route 40 ends south of Mount Carroll.

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

At the end of the video you wind up in front of the former Bergners Department Store. Bergners also had a store at Cherryvale In Rockford. The whole company went bankrupt a few years ago and all their stores closed.

@tombork2281 3 жыл бұрын

I enjoy watching these videos, it gives the viewer a great tour of what the particular city looks like, and whether it might be a nice place to live.😀

@hiiiii5510 3 жыл бұрын

It's really boring here for me but some people would love it

@evanclem1093 2 жыл бұрын

i grew up in rockfalls

@johnferris4630 5 ай бұрын

Great video of a once great place in which to grow-up. Nice to see you drove past my old homestead on Locust St. Thanks for the video.

@johnferris4630 5 ай бұрын

Nice to see you also drove past the home my father grew up in in the 1920s and the building that housed his dental practice from 1950s-1980's and even later in the video passed my brother's current dental practice. With the outsourcing of manufacturing to Asia that occurred in the 1980s, this once "hardware capital of the world" has become a shadow of what it was in the 1960s-early 1980s, like so many small towns across America and especially in the "industrial midwest."

@Sctronic209 3 жыл бұрын

I worked at Northwestern steel and wire.

@cherylbailey6872 2 жыл бұрын

Live there back in the 90s when my children were young this brings back so many memories

@Bladeoceanic 3 жыл бұрын

My birthplace at 18:35 pretty cool to think i was born in the same county as Reagan.

@maryrussell3412 3 жыл бұрын

Would love for you to do a video on Princeton, IL... love your videos!

@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

Haven't been there yet, but I'll get there one day! Can't make promises on when that will be however :/

@debracelletti5301 Жыл бұрын

Sterling my home town. You missed a lot of places you could have talked about and what the town still has such as the great food, lounges, cafes. You missed the whole east end of town. Vid was ok

@byrondean3974 3 жыл бұрын

@nostalgia tours if you ever go back to sterling and you like Mexican food dude I’m telling you bro go to “la laguna” it’s a store but in the back it’s a taco spot they sell the best carne Asada tacos n quesadillas Also if you want Chinese food don’t hesitate to stop at “DYNASTY” there chicken Lo Mein 🤤 dude it’s life changing I left sterling and went back to California and I think about those to spot every weeknd when I’m hungry and wanna go out to eat. Try it out trust me won’t regret it

@jeremyslater3218 2 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed this video, I was born and raised in sterling before moving too Tennessee in 94.

@anthonyhunt701 2 жыл бұрын

Cool fact about the steam trains in the steel factory!

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

As a kid I remember visiting my aunt and uncle who lived in Sterling. On of my memories was the ghastly orange color in the air because of the steel mill. The residents of Sterling very early adapted to the automatic clothes washer and dryer because they couldn’t hang their laundry out to dry! I was in the navy stationed in Morocco in the 60s and in the summer there were these sand storms on the Sahara Desert that would blow across the Atlas Mountains and the air would take on the same orange hew and it was very hot, so hot that many of the electronics on the base had to be shutdown for a while each day.

@harrycarrey5124 2 жыл бұрын

Your comment is hilarious. None of it is really true as I grew up there but a childs imagination is a wild place.

@ALRULZ1965 Жыл бұрын

You should have went north to the Wahl corporation, across the street is the Candlelight inn, you missed out on some Chicken George.

@blackcatrichie Жыл бұрын

Good Job

@Riner79 2 жыл бұрын

I lived in Sterling in the early ‘90s. You drove past the house I lived in!

@davidg.dykstra6894 3 жыл бұрын

Another comment Timkins’ Drives Plant is in Fulton, not Sterling

@MillyRue 3 жыл бұрын

Fishing is GREAT in rockfalls/sterling.. como.

@serenablane71 5 ай бұрын

sterling is my birthplace and moved to western Kentucky when I was 12, but I still go up to visit family,

@jerviasjohnson700 3 жыл бұрын

I went to high school here and graduated back in 2017 go Golden Warriors!

@mikekeeler6362 Жыл бұрын

How many people have moved out of Chicago

@sashizakura9124 Жыл бұрын

This town reminds me of what northwest suburban Chicago looked like when I grew up there in the 80s. Totally overgrown and unappealing now. I’d love to retire to a town like this.

@someoneyoumightknow2805 Жыл бұрын

Shit suck here

@TomMcBoston 3 жыл бұрын

I really like these tours but those filmed in the past COVID year the streets and sidewalks are mostly deserted, like everywhere. While some of these towns are not very vibrant at any time it would be interesting to see some street life once the world gets back in order after the pandemic.

@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

Yes it would.

@MillyRue 3 жыл бұрын

EVERYONES leaving illinois.. Taxes are WAYY TO HIGH... AND RISING...

@bcstechnologylimited896 3 жыл бұрын

Taxes aren't the only reason for the exodus from Illinois.

@JohnQPublic345 2 жыл бұрын

2.03% last time I checked...pretty high

@hiiiii5510 3 жыл бұрын

I live in Rock Falls :)

@honeyplug 3 жыл бұрын

The music is way overpowering in the beginning of this video.

@deathwing5656 3 жыл бұрын

Would love to see more indiana videos

@dawnboren594 Жыл бұрын

My brother and sister in law lived in Rock Falls right after graduation from Iowa State.

@davidg.dykstra6894 3 жыл бұрын

I live in Fulton, ILL and it’s also the burial town of Ronald Reagan’s Grandparents

@freedomfighter2417 3 жыл бұрын

Do MT Carmel Illinois

@MillyRue 3 жыл бұрын

Metform isn't in Whiteside county.. it's in carroll county!! 3 plants in Savanna and 1 in Mt carroll

@glennso47 3 жыл бұрын

Speaking of Savanna and Mount Carroll, could you please video them? Thanks. Don’t forget Thomson which has a federal prison. And the “greater metropolitan Argo Fay area “ But watch out for the trolley cars and rush hour traffic is murder! 😏😂

@JohnQPublic345 2 жыл бұрын

seems like a great town. I think as cities become too dangerous, more people will be moving to towns like this, especially since many can work from home now

@ChrisHarden 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe. I feel like the suburbs of the bigger cities will continue to be the nicest places to live.

@byrongilbert3720 Жыл бұрын

nup. drug and gang problems. plus we've had multiple shootings here. and the mass murder nick sheely started his killing spree in rock falls

@uwsupergirl Жыл бұрын

That's how I found this video. I'm living in Northern Wisconsin, but my kids are grown, my husband died, and I grew up in Illinois and my elderly Mom is still there, three sisters, nieces, nephews- but in the NW suburbs of Chicago where i couldn't dream to afford to live. But I like the idea of coming back to IL- my sister is out by Dekalb, and it's not too far from there. I don't need much, the schools aren't an issue for me, and I'm self-employed. I just need to buy a house for about 100k and have a little plot to put my garden in. That's it! So, I started looking for videos of these quieter affordable towns and they look good to me! I don't know about other people, but I just like simple. I don't need nightlife. It's nice if there's some culture like a playhouse, a library, a coffee shop and my favorite- thrifting and antiquing! I found lots of affordable towns now looking at videos like this! Very helpful!

@JohnQPublic345 Жыл бұрын

@@uwsupergirl good prices for houses: sterling, rock falls, Dixon

@uwsupergirl Жыл бұрын

@@JohnQPublic345 yes! I'd have enough after selling my house here to buy one outright and afford a replacement vehicle and pay off any debt I had. I'd be better off. I'm hoping I can swing it. Moving is a lot of work!

@wenonadaily295 3 жыл бұрын

Number 2 up in here

@Sctronic209 3 жыл бұрын

I lived on Freeport Road.

@user-pq8uw4fw7z 9 ай бұрын

I was born in Streling and i lived there until I was about 9 in 1988 lol i still have family that live there

@bigtimegenewilder4676 3 жыл бұрын

You gotta do a Rockford video

@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

Hmm maybe I’m in Rockford filming right now 😉

@Bladeoceanic 3 жыл бұрын

@@ChrisHarden Might as well do Freeport too since you're up there lol

@ChrisHarden 3 жыл бұрын

@@Bladeoceanic Already went to Freeport actually on the August trip and that footage turned out well. I went to Rockford on the same August trip but I didn't capture near enough of the city as I could've. I spent an entire day in Rockford this past weekend as compared to maybe 3 hours at most before, so I'm happy with how the 2nd Rockford trip turned out.

@JohnQPublic345 2 жыл бұрын

bring a gun

@haidenlavelle8516 2 жыл бұрын

Great mixture between hard working people and drug addicts in sterling and rockfalls!

@ChrisHarden 2 жыл бұрын

Seems like most midwestern towns these days.

@notolerance9796 Жыл бұрын

And thieves and pedophiles and much more !

@user-nk8ww9ce9k 4 ай бұрын

Both places are economic pitfalls. Par for the illinois course.

@tytiesman2330 3 жыл бұрын

His birthplace is Tampico not sterling !!!

@theoriginalswan 3 жыл бұрын

That's why the video starts in Tampico.

@Mytowerisaneiffel Жыл бұрын

Are you from Fulton by chance?

@evanclem1093 2 жыл бұрын

rock falls is my hometown

@ChrisHarden 2 жыл бұрын

Cool

@patrickd4699 3 жыл бұрын

Illinois, the land of corrupt politicians, high taxes, high crime rates, and vanishing employment opportunities. It's really too bad because it is such a beautiful state.

@Sctronic209 3 жыл бұрын

My birth place. Sterling that is.

@marm842 2 жыл бұрын

just to set things straight .ronald raegan was born in tampico ill. my friend grew up in his old house. i grew up in sterling when north westren steel and wire was the biggest countinuse steel rolling manufact in the states. p w dillon built it. when he passed on his son got it. drove it into the ground. how getting scrap steel not paying for it. his son is a total fool.

@tobyflendersonjfs4839 7 ай бұрын

am from rock falls and you just skipped the whole actual far south side where the poorest people live. you focused on the nicer parts. weird . edit: aslo ignored the west end of sterling too.

@ChrisHarden 7 ай бұрын

Hmm. How weird.

@martinsanders4087 6 ай бұрын

He went through woodburn Avenue, that's the heart of the west end...