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It's interesting to note that Tacoma almost overtook Spokane in 1990, Tacoma was only 532 behind, but then Spokane has pulled away again and the difference is now 5,324. I thought that Tacoma would easily become #2 again, but it seems that the two will battle it out for another decade or so, but Tacoma is growing about twice as fast as Spokane so it's still possible that Tacoma will take #2 by 2020.
So what about #2 and #3? Where Tucson and Mesa always #2 and #3 respectively, did they ever battle it out for #2 like Spokane and Tacoma? Or perhaps it was Tucson and Phoenix?
Seems like Denver and Colorado Springs cemented their positions early on and most likely will remain for the foreseeable future, however it seems that third spot has swapped around quite often, but Aurora has cemented its self into third and I doubt anyone else will catch up.
So what about #2 and #3? Where Tucson and Mesa always #2 and #3 respectively, did they ever battle it out for #2 like Spokane and Tacoma? Or perhaps it was Tucson and Phoenix?
That looks interesting, it seems that Tulsa almost became #1 between 1960 and 1980, do you know what was happening during that time period? why was Tulsa growing so fast, and why did it slow down?
North Carolina is a very interesting state to do this with. The mantle of #1 traded off a number of times before Charlotte separated itself from the pack in the 1930s, and the #2 spot continued to trade off until quite recently. NC was majority rural until 2000 and still has the 2nd highest rural population of any state (after Texas).
1800 - New Bern (2,467), Wilmington (1,689), Fayetteville (1,536), Raleigh (669)
1820 - New Bern (3,663), Fayetteville (3,532), Raleigh (2,674), Wilmington (2,633)
1830 - New Bern (3,796), Wilmington (3,791), Fayetteville (2,868), Raleigh (1,700)
1840 - Wilmington (5,335), Fayetteville (4,285), New Bern (3,690), Raleigh (2,244)
1850 - Wilmington (7,264), New Bern (4,681), Fayetteville (4,646), Raleigh (4,518), Charlotte (1,065)
1860 - Wilmington (9,552), New Bern (5,432), Fayetteville (4,790), Raleigh (4,780), Charlotte (2,265)
1870 - Wilmington (13,446), Raleigh (7,790), New Bern (5,849), Fayetteville (4,660), Charlotte (4,473)
1880 - Wilmington (17,350), Raleigh (9,265), Charlotte (7,094), New Bern (6,443), Winston-Salem (4,194)
1890 - Wilmington (20,056), Raleigh (12,678), Charlotte (11,557), Winston-Salem (10,729), New Bern (7,843)
1900 - Wilmington (20,976), Charlotte (18,091), Winston-Salem (13,650), Raleigh (13,643), Greensboro (10,035)
1910 - Charlotte (34,014), Wilmington (25,748), Winston-Salem (22,700), Raleigh (19,218), Durham (18,241)
1920 - Winston-Salem (48,395), Charlotte (46,338), Wilmington (33,372), Raleigh (24,418), Durham (21,719)
1930 - Charlotte (82,675), Winston-Salem (75,274), Greensboro (53,569), Durham (52,037), Raleigh (37,379)
1940 - Charlotte (100,899), Winston-Salem (79,815), Durham (60,195), Greensboro (59,319), Raleigh (46,879)
1950 - Charlotte (134,042), Winston-Salem (87,881), Durham (71,311), Greensboro (74,389), Raleigh (65,679)
1960 - Charlotte (201,564), Greensboro (119,574), Winston-Salem (111,135), Raleigh (93,931), Durham (78,302)
1970 - Charlotte (241,420), Greensboro (144,076), Winston-Salem (133,683), Raleigh (122,830), Durham (95,438)
1980 - Charlotte (315,474), Greensboro (155,642), Raleigh (150,255), Winston-Salem (131,885), Durham (101,149)
1990 - Charlotte (395,934), Raleigh (212,092), Greensboro (183,894), Winston-Salem (143,485), Durham (136,611)
2000 - Charlotte (540,828), Raleigh (276,093), Greensboro (223,891), Durham (187,035), Winston-Salem (185,776)
2010 - Charlotte (731,424), Raleigh (403,892), Greensboro (269,666), Winston-Salem (229,617), Durham (228,330)
2015 - Charlotte (827,097), Raleigh (451,066), Greensboro (285,342), Durham (257,636), Winston-Salem (241,218)
I made a couple charts, but I had to separate it into two because the scale for the 20th century obfuscates the interesting stuff that happened in the 19th.
-New Bern was the original state capital, hence its size early on.
-Fayetteville was strongly considered to be the new capital for a while before Raleigh was chosen.
-Wilmington had the state's best natural harbor and was an economic powerhouse in the 19th century, and spent a long time as NC's largest city. It was the first city to reach 10,000.
-Winston-Salem had a brief explosion in the 1920s thanks to the tobacco industry.
-Railroads made shipping less important so after the industrial revolution, NC's railroad hubs Charlotte and Greensboro became prominent.
-WWI and WWII played a large role in Charlotte's growth, due to its military population at the time. After each war, many soldiers stayed in town, causing it to overtake many of its old piedmont rivals. Charlotte became the first city to pass 100,000 in 1940.
-RTP was founded in the 1950s, causing the Triangle cities to overtake the Triad in the latter half of the 20th century.
Last edited by Vatnos; 05-23-2017 at 11:08 AM..
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