Coleco laid off more than 1300 employees as it left the area for “economic” reasons. Coleco left the buildings it once owned to become abandoned and accelerate the Amsterdam ghost town.

"It's not like the big companies moved and then you have sudden shock; it's a slow transition into real depression," Amsterdam Mayor Thane says.

At this time, the small city's population has more than halved from its peak of about 35,000. Downtown is a shadow of its glory days more than a half-century ago, when manufacturing workers filled the bars, restaurants and shops overlooking the Erie Canalway. Prosperity has been replace with "persistent" violent crime, extremely high taxes and fees and extremely hostile locals who have resorted to attacking new comers in a variety of ways.