# Worst Place in America Tournament **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012 "2007-04-06T18:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/161 "2007-04-11T22:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=fluiddruid] Bettendorf can definitely be knocked off. It’s not anywhere in the same league as Camden or East St. Louis (my personal votes). [/QUOTE] 160 posts in and East St. Louis, Camden, and probably Gary, IN are still way out in front. Who would have thought? I guess that is good because an America with lots of other contenders probably wouldn’t be that great. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/162 "2007-04-12T02:14:57Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] What is so horrible about Brockton? I always hear this from Massachusettians. I’ve never been there, but it was the location featured in the suspense film _Crush_, and it looked OK to me. Right on the river, old, pretty houses, some of them quite large. It seemed like a fairly upper middle class community, clean and well-kept. [/QUOTE] There are a couple sections of Brockton that border on upper middle class, but on the whole, it’s your typical run-down old mill city. I believe it has one of the higher crime rates in the region. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/163 "2007-04-12T02:19:18Z")
_tagging herself onto **Shagnasty** ’s nomination for Lawrence_ I also add as nominees: Springfield Holyoke Runners-up: Revere Chelsea Brockton ---
**Author:** ![The\_Spirit\_of\_Radio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19b73/32.png) [@The\_Spirit\_of\_Radio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Spirit_of_Radio)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/164 "2007-04-12T19:59:29Z")
How many towns have we taken off? ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/165 "2007-04-12T21:39:10Z")
[QUOTE=The Spirit of Radio] How many towns have we taken off? [/QUOTE] Appears to be a three-way between Gary, Camden, and East St Louis\*. There are some nominee controversy in states like Massachusetts or Rhode Island… but I don’t think any of those will “beat” the Big Three ™. \*As an aside, I love the [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St_Louis) picture for East St Louis! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/166 "2007-04-12T22:21:03Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] \*As an aside, I love the [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St_Louis) picture for East St Louis! [/QUOTE] Warning! Grass way too green. Photoshop! Just look carefully at the car in the background though. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/167 "2007-04-13T00:08:11Z")
[QUOTE=The Spirit of Radio] How many towns have we taken off? [/QUOTE] Take off Pueblo. As all but one poster noted, it’s not even the worst in Colorado. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/168 "2007-04-13T00:31:18Z")
This question won’t be settled unless you can agree on some criteria. How about per capita murders or armed robberies, unemployment or income, and some other environmental measurement. Is there some kind of EPA air quality number that can be compared, or maybe number of toxic waste dumps? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/169 "2007-04-13T01:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=tashabot] Dude, Winnemucca’s got nothing on Wells. There’s nothing in Wells except for a liquor store and cow shit. Oh, and a Motel 6. I was stranded there for two days. ~Tasha [/QUOTE] Don’t forget the fine selection of brothels and the two trucker gas stations. I’d nominate Wells also.. although Battle Mountain has already been awarded the “Armpit of America” prize. Personally.. Hawthorne and Tonopah are pretty sad too. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/170 "2007-04-13T02:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] The Southern states are indeed impoverished in places and very rich in others but they have long been that way and that is part of their character and the reason why states like Mississippi have a disproportionate influence world-wide on things like music and culture. My home state of Louisiana has plenty of poor, racially segregated towns but they tend to live in a quiet homeostatus unlike some of the poor, Northern industrialized cities and blend into interesting if not contrasting cultures. For Louisiana, I nominate [Lake Providence, Louisiana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Providence,_Louisiana). It is one of, if not the most, poorest towns in the country. The median household income is less than $17,000. Sitting right on the Mississippi River, it is one of the closet places you will find to mimic white overlordship over an extremely poor black population of the days gone by. [/QUOTE] I have lived in Louisiana for 25 years, and have never even heard of Lake Providence. But reading that it is the parish seat of East Carroll Parish means it is likely to be a strong contender. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/171 "2007-04-13T03:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] Take off Pueblo. As all but one poster noted, it’s not even the worst in Colorado. [/QUOTE] I agree. (I think I was one of the first to mention Pueblo, but have since been talked out of it, offering Aurora, Kit Carson, or Grant myself, besides what others have listed.) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/172 "2007-04-13T03:41:57Z")
In my personal experience, Souix City, Iowa has some real shits living in it. But it’s a fairly quaint and pleasant place otherwise. Just like everything else in life, _people_ ruin it. ---
**Author:** ![8675309](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ea5d25/32.png) [@8675309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/8675309)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012/173 "2007-04-15T00:20:48Z")
Illinois - East St. Louis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-place-in-america-tournament/399012.md?page=8)