BELLEVILLE (KPR) — Like many rural communities in Kansas, Belleville keeps getting smaller. Since 1990, the Republic County town’s population has fallen from more than 2,500 to 2,000, a 20% drop. In the same time, the county as a whole has seen its population fall from about 6,500 to 4,600, a nearly 30% decline. Part of the problem: Young people going away to college and never coming back.
Many newly-minted graduates move to metropolitan areas like Kansas City or Wichita to find work. “Unfortunately, the kids growing up in the area usually can’t wait to leave,” says…
