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The other replies should make it clear, but that's not what the OP is talking about. They mean cities or towns which were formerly independently governed and then swallowed up by a core city through (often involuntary) annexation.
Annexation of independent cities was very common in the 19th century, but pretty much ground to a halt by 1930 or so. This is why city limits stopped expanding in the Northeast and much of the Midwest, but continued to grow outward (into unincorporated land) in the South and West.
The OP wasn't specific about annexation, and it really doesn't matter much anyway.
If an older township has lost it's culture and identity due to surrounding suburbs, then being incorporated with their own city government doesn't make all that much difference.
The OP wasn't specific about annexation, and it really doesn't matter much anyway.
If an older township has lost it's culture and identity due to surrounding suburbs, then being incorporated with their own city government doesn't make all that much difference.
I'm not sure how this happens. Independent municipalities retain local zoning control, so no one can tell them to turn from bucolic rural areas into small-lot subdivisions if the voters are opposed. Hell, there's plenty of examples throughout the Northeast of this dynamic - where in order to preserve the "rural character" the voters instituted ridiculously high minimum lot sizes (sometimes up to an acre), which meant the area transitioned from empty woodlands and farms to mostly empty woodlands with scattered mansions.
On another tack, in an area like the Philadelphia suburbs, the old incorporated boroughs were quaint, walkable mini-cities originally surrounded by undeveloped rural townships. The rural townships eventually became suburban sprawl, but the character of the 18th/19th century boroughs didn't change substantially.
Had no ideal all those neighborhoods were part of Jamaica....
Yup, some borders have been changed but basically the Queen communities that have zip codes beginning with 114 were part of the Town of Jamaica. The zip codes are a living reminder of the lost town. Jamaica stretched between Brooklyn and what is now Nassau County east and west.
When New York annexed parts of Queens in 1898, Long Island City and the Towns of Flushing, Jamaica and Newtown joined the City. The other 3 towns, Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay remained independent and a year later separated from Queens and formed the independent County of Nassau in 1899.
The other replies should make it clear, but that's not what the OP is talking about. They mean cities or towns which were formerly independently governed and then swallowed up by a core city through (often involuntary) annexation.
Annexation of independent cities was very common in the 19th century, but pretty much ground to a halt by 1930 or so. This is why city limits stopped expanding in the Northeast and much of the Midwest, but continued to grow outward (into unincorporated land) in the South and West.
In the Northeast the 3 big cities at the time were time were done annexing about 1910 (Boston). Being annexed to a city seemed like a good thing in the 1800s, maybe better roads, sidewalks, schools etc. But by the turn of the century, suburbs did not want to be annexed anymore. Plus these days suburban towns and cities can basically handle any service the big cities provide.
In other parts of the country, there is alot of unincorporated land so it might be easier for cities to keep annexing even today.
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