What is America's most historic city? (state, better, places, Boston)

[lordwillin02]

Where is Richmond?

[ClemVegas]

i think you got to go Boston, NYC, or Philly.

[BJFTW]

It's a sad affair up in Boston. They keep tearing their history down for new luxury condos and other crap. They've kind of always done that. NIMBYism has kept real estate high too.

I love how Philadelphia retains and preserves their colonial history. It's such a big part of the city fabric there.

[WildWestDude]

Well, it depends on your definition of American history. There's evidence of habitation in El Paso going back 10000 years. The area was visited by the Spanish since the 1500's with some missions remaining to this day With such a long history it surely has to make an impact even though it not your usual anglocentric explanation of history.



From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso,_Texas#History
"History
Main articles: History of El Paso, Texas and Timeline of El Paso, Texas
The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, as evidenced by Folsom points from hunter-gatherers found at Hueco Tanks. The evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation.[15] The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers. When the Spanish arrived, the Manso, Suma, and Jumano tribes populated the area. These were subsequently incorporated into the Mestizo culture, along with immigrants from central Mexico, captives from Comanchería, and genízaros of various ethnic groups. The Mescalero Apache were also present.

Ysleta Mission, constructed in 1680 by the Spanish
Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate was born in 1550 in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico and was the first New Spain (Mexico) explorer known to have observed the Rio Grande near El Paso, in 1598,[16] celebrating a Thanksgiving Mass there on April 30, 1598 (decades before the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving). However, the four survivors of the Narváez expedition, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, and his enslaved Moor Estevanico, are thought to have passed through the area in the mid-1530s.[17] El Paso del Norte (the present day Juárez), was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande), in 1659 by Fray Garcia de San Francisco. In 1680, the small village of El Paso became the temporary base for Spanish governance of the territory of New Mexico as a result of the Pueblo Revolt, until 1692 when Santa Fe was reconquered and once again became the capital. El Paso remained the largest settlement in New Mexico until its cession to the US in 1848, when Texas took possession of it with the Compromise of 1850"


more from Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_El_Paso,_Texas

[The_General]

Originally Posted by BJFTW

It's a sad affair up in Boston. They keep tearing their history down for new luxury condos and other crap. They've kind of always done that. NIMBYism has kept real estate high too.

I love how Philadelphia retains and preserves their colonial history. It's such a big part of the city fabric there.

Can you provide some recent examples of historic buildings buildings being knocked down in Boston?

[lrfox]

^There are some. Dainty Dot, Littlest Bar, and The 1905 Filene's Bulding (the Burnham Building's facade is still there, but the 1905 is completely gone) are three that come to mind in the last decade. The Shreve, Crump and Low building on the corner of Boylston and Arlington is slated to be replaced with something as well (and has no historic protection). Boston's gotten better about preservation, but there are still mistakes and each one is gone forever. That being said, the days of the West End and Government Center-style slash/burn are long gone. Their scars still remain though.

BJFTW's post is contradictory, however. NIMBYism would be keeping real estate high if favored preservation as opposed to development. If Boston "keeps tearing down history for new luxury condos and other crap," then NIMBYism clearly isn't an issue. The reality is that Boston doesn't actually keep tearing down history, and that NIMBYs are a major obstacle for any development in this city- especially when it involves anything historic. New shadows on the Common- even for a few hours in the morning- spark wars with the NIMBYs.

[tmac9wr]

Originally Posted by lrfox

^There are some. Dainty Dot, Littlest Bar, and The 1905 Filene's Bulding (the Burnham Building's facade is still there, but the 1905 is completely gone) are three that come to mind in the last decade. The Shreve, Crump and Low building on the corner of Boylston and Arlington is slated to be replaced with something as well (and has no historic protection). Boston's gotten better about preservation, but there are still mistakes and each one is gone forever. That being said, the days of the West End and Government Center-style slash/burn are long gone. Their scars still remain though.

BJFTW's post is contradictory, however. NIMBYism would be keeping real estate high if favored preservation as opposed to development. If Boston "keeps tearing down history for new luxury condos and other crap," then NIMBYism clearly isn't an issue. The reality is that Boston doesn't actually keep tearing down history, and that NIMBYs are a major obstacle for any development in this city- especially when it involves anything historic. New shadows on the Common- even for a few hours in the morning- spark wars with the NIMBYs.

Yea, unfortunately the NIMBYs in Boston are vicious but they don't really seem to care about historical buildings and simply seem to fight anything that's tall. An example of this would be there being little to no resistance to the future destruction of the beautiful Shreve Crump & Low block, but they fought tooth & nail against towers which will destroy the Government Center parking garage and a parking lot next to the TD Garden. Fortunately both tower projects were approved, but it's still depressing to know that towers being built over a parking lot & a horrible parking garage in a prime location were considered more important than a beautiful block in the heart of the city.

The only good thing is as far as I can see, the flaming bag of **** that was set to replace the Shreve Crump & Low block hasn't been talked about since 2008.

[Kar54]

At first thought, Boston and Philadelphia always come to mind. I know there are a lot of other cities with substantial contributions to American history. Such as the mission cities of California, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, St. Augustine, San Antonio, New Orleans, Richmond, etc. Needless to say, many others as well.

[qworldorder]

I voted Philadelphia, with Boston, NYC and DC to follow. But a lot of the smaller Northeastern cities have tons of history, as well. Wilmington was founded by Peter Minuit, the same settler who orchestrated the purchase of Manhattan for dirt cheap. Dover was named and laid out by William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia, and was also the home of Caesar Rodney, a wartime leader of the American Revolution.

[Imbetterthanyou]

One could argue that as far as history being made DC has a very strong case.