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What would the population of cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, or Baltimore for example be today if their city population kept on increasing in the 1950's instead of decreasing? Also how different would the 2010 census look today if that had happened.
I have not seen estimates on the others, but I saw that Detroit would have been about 4M City and 10M metro. Chicago would have probably been about the same as Detroit
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Lol you guys do know there is a term for this region, right? It's called "Frostbelt" one of the benefits of saying "Frostbelt" is direct correlation to two large developmental regions (Frostbelt vs Sunbelt) and another is not having to say "Rustbelt & Northeast or "Midwest & Northeast" which actually kills time saying it.
I think Washington DC would have been 1.4 Million, Baltimore 1.1 Million, Chicago 4.5 Million, Detroit 4.2 Million, Boston 1.1 Million, Philadelphia 3.2 Million, Buffalo 750,000, & Pittsburgh 830,000.
In looking at taking basically a 50 year growth rate and applying to the next fifty years the Philly MSA would have been about 9.7 million today if the 50 years of high growth were continued, this is basically the same reason i think applying rates to the large fastest growing MSAs today are a little suspect that far into the future. The real world eventually catches up
On HTowns number for Philly proper, I honestly would not see where the people would fit, Philly was built out when it hit 2.3 Million - that is probably about the max it would ever be given the area covered
In looking at taking basically a 50 year growth rate and applying to the next fifty years the Philly MSA would have been about 9.7 million today if the 50 years of high growth were continued, this is basically the same reason i think applying rates to the large fastest growing MSAs today are a little suspect that far into the future. The real world eventually catches up
On HTowns number for Philly proper, I honestly would not see where the people would fit, Philly was built out when it hit 2.3 Million - that is probably about the max it would ever be given the area covered
There is no way Detroit could have grown to 4.2 million in the city alone. That would put it at 30,000+ people per square mile. That is....mind boggling.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dncr
There is no way Detroit could have have grown to 4.2 million in the city alone. That would put it at 30,000+ people per square mile. That is....mind boggling.
Nope, its not. In 1950, every visual I have seen of Detroit's area and boundaries, the city limits was surrounded by unincorporated land area, which if the trends and decline by flight to further spaces didn't pace up, would be apart of Detroit city limits today easily.
It cant be today, the suburbs grew to the point where they cant be annexed under any of those jurisdictions. They could have been then, when most of them were either non-existent or far to small to matter putting up a fight to remain a separate entity.
And the same thing for Chicago too. Don't know about Philadelphia, haven't seen a map of it from the 1950's to know how prominent and large its suburbs were to be annexed later on into the city or not.
Highly doubt it. Chicago (citywise) had taken a blow in the 30's and 40's before it reached the peak in 1950.
Detroit's Boom marched on through the depression up until the 50's.
I think Both cities would be around the 4M mark, but Chicago was already wobbling before the terrible 50's got there.
Same pattern happened with Philly and Cleveland. The brakes were applied long before 1950's.
Baltimore, Like Detroit, was not hit hard until the 50's
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