If Metro Atlanta didn't Exist, what 2nd Tier would be the Power House of the State if any? (Columbus: lofts, houses)

[cwkimbro]

Making the assumption that Georgia didn't end up with the South's largest industrial/transportation hub, Georgia would still retain some of the population in other parts (ie. the capitol and its jobs and economic influence will still go somewhere)

South Carolina's population density is 155 ppsm. Mississippi is 62ppsm and Alabama is 93ppsm.

I suspect Georgia would be closer to being a larger version of South Carolina in this regard.

Things really go get more sparsely populated going away from the coast

[cdw1084]

Personally, I think Augusta would be the powerhouse. However, I'm only going off the largest GDP and metro population after Atlanta.

[therealpattman]

Originally Posted by cdw1084

Personally, I think Augusta would be the powerhouse. However, I'm only going off the largest GDP and metro population after Atlanta.

I'm a huge Augusta homer but I don't see it, not with Columbia being so close. I'd guess Savannah or Macon/Central Georgia would be the largest. It would depend on where the capital would be located and if the same series of events happened in other cities that happened in Atlanta, i.e. (Atlanta being burned down by Sherman, becoming the cross-roads of several major rail companies, the development of Hartsfield-Jackson, the free the freeway initiative, the Olympics and so forth). If those things never happened we could have easily swapped places with Alabama.

[AUGnative]

Augusta like the other fall line cities would probably not be much different than it is today. Perhaps Macon might be bigger because of its central location and it might be a good candidate for state capital but I would see it being like Montgomery. Athens might be larger without the presence of Atlanta but I think the real beneficiary would be Birmingham Alabama. Up till the 1950s Birmingham and Atlanta were about the same size but Atlanta won out because it got the hub airport for the southeast. So I imagine Birmingham might be a much larger city today if there was no Atlanta. I also think Georgia overall would look more like Alabama is today. I think Savannah would be the major metro area because of its port.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

If Atlanta does not exist as we know it today, Georgia is probably a state that is similar to Alabama or South Carolina.

Alabama will have a leg up due to its beautiful Gulf coast beaches! Not to mention the Crimson Tide.

[Jandrew5]

If Atlanta didn't exist, I think Georgia would be smaller than South Carolina, Augusta would be bigger, and Birmingham would be basically what Atlanta is today.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Jandrew5

If Atlanta didn't exist, I think Georgia would be smaller than South Carolina, Augusta would be bigger, and Birmingham would be basically what Atlanta is today.

Birmingham would probably be bigger, but I doubt that it would be what Atlanta is today. Aside from the airport, one major reason why Atlanta boomed was that it was more progressive on racial issues during the 20th century than most other Southern cities while Birmingham was more regressive. I could never see Birmingham producing one of the largest Black middle class populations in the country given the racial climate there for most of the 20th century.

[cdw1084]

Columbus has 8 votes....Can anyone elaborate why they think it would be the premier city?

[DWColumbus]

Originally Posted by cdw1084

Columbus has 8 votes....Can anyone elaborate why they think it would be the premier city?

I think one thing Columbus would have to gain would be from a more decentralized interstate. Most interstates in Georgia route through Atlanta, in the absence of that we would see a much more decentralized Interstate system focused more on the other major cities in Georgia with Columbus gaining full interstate access, with it currently only having an interstate spur I think they have the most to gain from that scenario.

I think Columbus would also attract some of the corporate businesses that were located in Atlanta, although I think a majority of them would locate to larger cities in other states (Birmingham, Charlotte, etc.)

[luke2401]

Without Atlanta (let's assume the Western and Atlantic RR was never built, or at least very little development sprang up around it), I would expect that the state would have been more like South Carolina, in that each second-tier city was more or less equal to each other. Savannah may or may not have an edge, although it definitely has an advantage with the port. Had an inland port been built, Augusta may have more power. It's possible the state capital could have been moved to Macon, based on its centrality, which would definitely give it an advantage. Columbus is where I'm not too sure about. Perhaps something like the proposed I-14 could've been built, which would also give Columbus some greater leverage. Athens would probably be larger because it could be more of a metro rather than an edge city (yes, I know Athens is the center of its own metro area, but its still a small feature of the ATL CSA). What would be interesting is what would happen with all the kids at Georgia Tech and Georgia State and all the colleges in Metro ATL. Perhaps colleges like Augusta U, Columbus State, and Armstrong (We'll assume it won't merge with Ga Southern) could have student populations around 15k. Or maybe UGA and Georgia Southern have 40k each. Or maybe UGA is similar to Ohio State and has around 60k on campus. If that's the case, then could Athens be the inland focal point of the state? Their are so many possibilities here. It would be cool if there was a computer program that could run these scenarios