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Las Vegas. The city was founded by the Mob, for Pete's sake.
A little piece of old west history:
Actually the first major settlement in Las Vegas was founded by Mormons in 1855, and they are the the 2nd largest religious denomination in Vegas after the Catholic church.
For those historians out there..Denver's early history wasn't exactly positive: ie power and influence gained through deceit,threats, killing. Multiple instances of mass Native American genocide and bigotry..Often public opinion and no court hearings decided ones fate..public hangings,shootings. Brothels,booze,cowboys,miners, trappers, and some of the most famous outlaws called Denver home or passed threw routinely when you hear the term the Wild West.. they are most certainly refering to early Denver.
Basically, the city was bankrupt at the beginning because the mayor wanted to raise the sidewalks high enough to escape flooding of toxic sewage when the Mississippi river flooded and upstream toxic waste would swamp the city.
One of the early mayors was shot in broad daylight.
Later on, it sounds like the railroad strikes and racial rioting were rampant. The KKK was popular there.
Eventually, by 1958, the city had peaked, but like a lot of industrial cities, it is nearly deserted now. Corn and soybean fields go right up to the city "downtown" areas. There are vast areas of old neighborhoods where buildings used to be but are now overgrown with vegetation. The city population is less than 1/2 the peak in 1958, is perpetually in bankruptcy, and is considered a worse off mini-Detroit.
Is there any truth to the story of staff meeting between school teachers and administrators which ended with guns being drawn? I've Googled it without success...
I'd lean toward Chicago or NYC. Both have a history of corrupt politicians, gangs, and horrible living and working conditions for poorer citizens. For me, that's part of what makes both cities so interesting.
For those historians out there..Denver's early history wasn't exactly positive: ie power and influence gained through deceit,threats, killing. Multiple instances of mass Native American genocide and bigotry..Often public opinion and no court hearings decided ones fate..public hangings,shootings. Brothels,booze,cowboys,miners, trappers, and some of the most famous outlaws called Denver home or passed threw routinely when you hear the term the Wild West.. they are most certainly refering to early Denver.
Sounds like Fort Worth, Panther city or Hell's Half Acre
@Gateway Region.
"NY and Boston - Really upsets me sometimes how the Irish and Italians fought over territory as 1st generation Americans. I am irish and Italian and they are my two favorite countries in the world ourside of the U.S."
Firstly, Irish and Italian are ethnicities, not countries. Italy and Ireland are countries.
Secondly, the Irish in New England, New York and Virginia were primarily an enslaved people. Although benign terms like "indentured servitude" are used, most Irish came over to the Americas as slaves long before Africans were shackled and shipped to the New World. Google "Irish Slaves" for more information on this lost history. Often, Irish female slaves were interbred with Black African slaves and lived and worked alongside each other (thus the newly minted Black Irish in America) because it was more profitable for the English to produce their own more appealing brown-skinned workforce, that was still easily identifiable as slaves over white slaves, than to purchase slaves from the money-grubbing, slave trading Puritans. You will find as many African-Americans bearing Irish last names as Italian men married to Irish women, precisely because of their lower stature in society. Italians and Irish fought for territory because by the time the Irish gained their freedom, they were in direct competition with the Italians who had already firmly established their place in society. Not only were the Irish fighting the Italians, but were fighting the Blacks for the same lowly jobs. Hence the term "fighting Irish". Anyhow, it seems the Irish and Italians have made peace because the combination is quite prevalent, especially in the Northeast with Italian men mainly marrying Irish women.
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