Chapter 4 (partial): "Holes Torn in the Social Fabric"

To the outside eye, Plattsburgh didn't look different after the base closed. Under the stately gaze of City Hall, downtown retained its patchwork of small shops, restaurants, offices, and homes. The campus of Plattsburgh State, tucked between Broad Street and the Saranac River, was untouched. Lake Champlain was still hard to spot. So was the former base itself, protected by fences and gatehouses.

But under the surface, insiders saw and felt the losses. Air Force personnel and their families had been vital contributors to the community's religious and civic organizations. "It wasn't dollars and cents. It was people," says former newspaper editor Jim Dynko, speaking as a citizen and long-time volunteer firefighter. "We had church congregations that were halved. We had volunteer fire departments that were halved. We had the Big Brother/Big Sister program disappear."

Plattsburgh also mourned the related loss of diversity. The college population made up for some of it, but not all. "Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics — we worked with them and volunteered with them; our kids went to school with their kids," Dynko adds. "All of a sudden Plattsburgh was a little white community again. When we lost that diversity, we lost a whole lot." While the closure's full effect on economic activity was yet to be calculated, the social effect was immediate.