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Detroit at its peak was like the equivalent of an Atlanta or Seattle today. Maybe even bigger/more important than both.
Cleveland was more of a Charlotte or Austin.
It’s not just the population difference (Cleveland dropped off the top 10 list in 1980, Detroit not until 2010). The powerhouse that Detroit was in terms of not only American industry (automotive, manufacturing, logistics) but also the cultural impact with Motown, labor unions and so forth cannot be overstated.
Cleveland is a city that, unlike most, I actually love. It just wasn’t nearly at the same level as Detroit at the top.
Detroit at its peak was like the equivalent of an Atlanta or Seattle today. Maybe even bigger/more important than both.
Cleveland was more of a Charlotte or Austin.
It’s not just the population difference (Cleveland dropped off the top 10 list in 1980, Detroit not until 2010). The powerhouse that Detroit was in terms of not only American industry (automotive, manufacturing, logistics) but also the cultural impact with Motown, labor unions and so forth cannot be overstated.
Cleveland is a city that, unlike most, I actually love. It just wasn’t nearly at the same level as Detroit at the top.
Detroit at its peak would have been the equivalent of todays SF or DC. In 1920 only NYC, Philly & Chicago we’re larger and the next closest cities were ~1/2 it’s size.
By the 1950’s LA caught Detroit and it slid to 5th.
Cleveland peaked later and was in dead heat with St. Louis and Baltimore in the 1940-1950’s and they along with Cinnci & Pittsburgh would have economically been equivalent to todays Seattle, Philly, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, etc..
Detroit at its peak was like the equivalent of an Atlanta or Seattle today. Maybe even bigger/more important than both.
Cleveland was more of a Charlotte or Austin.
It’s not just the population difference (Cleveland dropped off the top 10 list in 1980, Detroit not until 2010). The powerhouse that Detroit was in terms of not only American industry (automotive, manufacturing, logistics) but also the cultural impact with Motown, labor unions, and so forth cannot be overstated.
Cleveland is a city that, unlike most, I actually love. It just wasn’t nearly at the same level as Detroit at the top.
I guess the OP means peak power or prestige (it's not well-defined). In that case, you've got to go with Detroit. Detroit peaked at over 2M, (Cleveland's top counted population was 914K) not to mention the international prestige of being associated with the automobile, which changed personal movement forever (even though the auto was conceived and perfected elsewhere, Detroit gets the credit, in part, because of Henry Ford's creation of the moving assembly line). And yes, Motown is also a larger cultural icon than anything associated with Cleveland. I wouldn't say labor unions so much. Yes, Detroit has somewhat the edge because of UAW, but Cleveland has a history as a strong union town (which is why Sylvester Stalone's movie F.I.S.T., a fictionalization of actual labor unrest in the 1930s, was set in Cleveland). One of Cleveland's "problems" culturally, is its greater diversification commercially and culturally, while Detroit has been more mono-focused on the auto industry and its spinoffs, including labor unions. Even Motown is kind of an auto industry spinoff, as famed creator Barry Gordy was a musician who worked on the Ford assembly line and, in fact, transferred Ford's Quality Control approach to his fledgling music/record business which was a large factor in Motown's great success.
Your comparison of Austin or Charlotte doesn't make sense to me and misses the mark. Those cities, which are at their peaks, are more comparable to Cleveland now, but when Cleveland was at its peak, it was the 6th largest city in the country -- in the 1920s through the 50s. Neither Charlotte nor Austin is anywhere near that ranking today, size-wise. Also, while Detroit does beat out Cleveland for the Big 3 auto industry, Cleveland was a central city to the Industrial Age, as Standard Oil, Sherwin-Williams, Peerless Motorcars, Republic Steel, Eaton, Warner and Swasey, TRW and Kirby vacuum cleaners, among others, were founded in Cleveland. Cleveland was, and still is, well known in industrial circles for the manufacture of gears and other machine parts -- but that can't hold a candle to cars.
And now, of course, we have the massive, internationally famous Cleveland Clinic. But none of those really stand out in the public psyche except, maybe, Standard Oil, whose HQ was merged out of Cleveland (into BP and then Standard of Indiana in Chicago) in the 1980s. Most people don't realize Sherwin-Williams was founded in the CLE and still resides there (and is currently building a new office tower/complex in the center of town).
Neither Austin nor Charlotte has reached that level of national importance even though both are now slightly larger than the Cleveland metro-area-wise.
Detroit at its peak was like the equivalent of an Atlanta or Seattle today. Maybe even bigger/more important than both.
Cleveland was more of a Charlotte or Austin.
It’s not just the population difference (Cleveland dropped off the top 10 list in 1980, Detroit not until 2010). The powerhouse that Detroit was in terms of not only American industry (automotive, manufacturing, logistics) but also the cultural impact with Motown, labor unions and so forth cannot be overstated.
Cleveland is a city that, unlike most, I actually love. It just wasn’t nearly at the same level as Detroit at the top.
In 1950 Detroit wouid have easily been the 5th largest metro area in the nation, and probably very near the top in some measures of wealth.
In terms of national significance, I'd put 1950 Cleveland somewhere above the Seattle and below the Atlanta of today.
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