These five cities have a lot in common I'm from Baltimore so I will go off of what I know.
1. All 5 cities have amazing history and architecture like New York city Baltimore was the second leading port of entry for immigrants coming into the U.S.
2. Baltimore has the first Washington Monument like DC.
3. Baltimore has a fine collection of colonial 19th century row homes like all 5 cities.
4. Waterfront like Boston
5. And has some kind of lengendary national significance. DC capital, Philly birthplace of US, Baltimore national anthem, New York statue of liberty, Boston historic tea party and role in revolutionary war.
6. Urban/Dense
7. Tourism industry
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3. is Baltimore's power in the region far diminished compared to the other 4?
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I think why Baltimore is ranked last of the 5 cities is because its somewhat different in its recent history. Since the time of Baltimore's founding it has historicly always been an industrial port city until the 1980s. It is still recovering from the nationwide lost of manufacturing jobs in the US.
In 1950, Baltimore was the sixth-largest city in the country, home to 950,000 people and a thriving manufacturing and shipping industry. All 5 cities made the top 10 for most populous cities in the 1950 census but only New York and Philly exceeded Baltimore. As the economic base of Maryland, Baltimore provided 75% of all jobs to workers in the region. Many were manufacturing jobs in textiles and automobile production. The region’s economic powerhouse, however, was the steel industry and Baltimore Bethlehem Steel (the largest steel mill in the country/ world at that time) literally built America(Empire State Building/Golden Gate Bridge/WWII ships).
Baltimore lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs between 1950 and 1995, 75% of its industrial employment.
Currently, only 6% of all jobs in the City are in manufacturing
The collapse of industry led to a number of changes in the demographic makeup of the City and the surrounding region, contributing to a crisis in urban poverty that lingers today.As factories bled manufacturing jobs, Baltimore bled residents: nearly one-third of its population left between 1950 and 2000. Businesses fled the City, followed by workers, and Baltimore began to lose its stature as the economic hub of central Maryland.
The City’s share of the region’s manufacturing employment had dropped from 75% in 1954 to 30% in 1995, while its share of the region’s retail sales fell from 50% to 18% in 1992.10
As the City’s population shrank to 657,000 by 1997, Baltimore’s suburbs grew from 387,656 residents in 1950 to over 1.8 million in 1997. Once the population center of central Maryland, by the end of the century, Baltimore contained only a quarter of the region’s total population. Following 60 years of population loss Baltimore's population has recently seen a population increase in 2012. The harbor and gentrification helped the city a lot along with johns hopkins.
With the decline of high wage low skill manufacturing, the low wage service sector came to be the dominant base of employment for Baltimore City residents
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I know you have this strange hatred of DC but at least try something better to throw at The Nation's Capital.....Why should DC apologize for not looking like the typical American city?
