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This. Boston's economy is far more robust than Philly's even if the total GDP is lower. GDP per capita is higher in Boston, plus Boston is a star in Bio-Tech which is booming at the moment. Philly's job growth is lackluster or average. Boston is a white collar economy, similar to SF, while Philly is a blue collar economy.
Boston is more important than Philadelphia and straddles on the line as being the country's 6th world class city after NYC, SF, DC, Chicago, and LA(no particular order).
I am not sure how the subject changed to larger economy but if we are going to that route then Boston and Philadelphia have a sister city in between them that wants to raise her hand! New York has had a larger population since the first census 1790. By 1830, she had a larger population then both her sisters combined.
If people create history, and I believe they do, then New York has ALOT of history. Especially when you realize that New York is older then most American cites, including the two cities in the poll and has just as much colonial history. Its just that New York does not emphasize her history for tourism reasons.
No. Should we start talking about 19th century history? Pennsylvania Railroad anyone? Civil War? I wouldn't expect someone in London to understand the importance of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to the United States. We can reopen another thread if we really want to compare Boston vs. Philly.
No. Should we start talking about 19th century history? Pennsylvania Railroad anyone? Civil War? I wouldn't expect someone in London to understand the importance of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to the United States. We can reopen another thread if we really want to compare Boston vs. Philly.
Emerson, Thoreau, Hemmingway , and others from the Boston area defined American literature and culture as finally independent from Europe's
Extremely Influential Leaders from Adams (John and John Quincy), Webster, Coolidge, Lodge (Jr + Sr), Kennedy (John, Ted, Bobby) came from Massachusetts.
No. Should we start talking about 19th century history? Pennsylvania Railroad anyone? Civil War? I wouldn't expect someone in London to understand the importance of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to the United States. We can reopen another thread if we really want to compare Boston vs. Philly.
These "which city is more" threads are ****ing stupid. However let's recognize that in all of your examples...Boston has a claim to being more important than Philly. Boston was an immensely successful trading port, more so than Philadelphia (New England doesn't have a productive hinterland so maritime trade was developed earlier and with greater enthusiasm) in the 19th Century, it was the first center of large scale industrialization in the US, New England and Boston in particular was the driving force in abolitionism and anti-slavery agitation - New York, PA, might have been morally against slavery - but they certainly weren't willing to go to war over it, at least until attacked at Ft. Sumter. The Pennsylvania rr is pretty cool, but Boston was the railroads initial home in the US, the US' largest railroad terminal was originally South Station (bigger than Grand Central - though more than 1/2 was destroyed in the 1950s), in 1915 SS was the busiest passenger terminal in the world and from 1899 to the second world war it was the busiest American terminal. The second biggest for most of that period: Union Station, which is the old name of North Station in Boston.
But, you can find many of these facts for Philly too, so really it doesn't ****ing matter. Boston is historical significant as the center of the New England "civilization", Philly is the historically significant center of the Middle Atlantic "civilization" that's about it.
These "which city is more" threads are ****ing stupid. However let's recognize that in all of your examples...Boston has a claim to being more important than Philly. Boston was an immensely successful trading port, more so than Philadelphia (New England doesn't have a productive hinterland so maritime trade was developed earlier and with greater enthusiasm) in the 19th Century, it was the first center of large scale industrialization in the US, New England and Boston in particular was the driving force in abolitionism and anti-slavery agitation - New York, PA, might have been morally against slavery - but they certainly weren't willing to go to war over it, at least until attacked at Ft. Sumter. The Pennsylvania rr is pretty cool, but Boston was the railroads initial home in the US, the US' largest railroad terminal was originally South Station (bigger than Grand Central - though more than 1/2 was destroyed in the 1950s), in 1915 SS was the busiest passenger terminal in the world and from 1899 to the second world war it was the busiest American terminal. The second biggest for most of that period: Union Station, which is the old name of North Station in Boston.
But, you can find many of these facts for Philly too, so really it doesn't ****ing matter. Boston is historical significant as the center of the New England "civilization", Philly is the historically significant center of the Middle Atlantic "civilization" that's about it.
good points. Sort of a shame so many of the original stations are gone. One thing to remember about Pennsy is it dwarfed every other rail system. At its peak, it was the largest publically traded corporation in the world. Bethlehem Steel, second largest steel factory ever in the US and largest ship building factory, produced more cannon balls than anywhere else during the civil war. Things like the Golden Gate Bridge and much of Chicago came from these factories. The decline of The Pennsy and Bethlehem Steel are two of the biggest examples ever of our Country forever changed during the 20th century from a nation of builders to a nation of servers.
You are wrong about Philadelphia and slavery though, and you shouldn't lump PA/NY (Rural Folk were very openly racist) with the city of Philadelphia. The Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers, hated slavery. They attempted to sway opinions when the Declaration and Constitution were being written to have the slave trade abolished before the creation of the new nation. Southern plantation colonies had too many votes, and they aligned themselves with the New Englanders who were making immense profit off of the new industries. Technically Pennsylvania was the first state in 1780 to abolish slavery and was followed 3 years later by Mass and NH. However, as Pennsylvania's rural population ballooned in the early 19th century with the rise of the coal industry, so did the power of other parties outside of the city. In 1837, in an incredibly awful move, PA removed the voting rights of Blacks, who prior to had been able to vote since William Penn deemed it his land. Pennsylvanians have probably been at war with each other more so than nearly any other state.
Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
Emerson, Thoreau, Hemmingway , and others from the Boston area defined American literature and culture as finally independent from Europe's
Extremely Influential Leaders from Adams (John and John Quincy), Webster, Coolidge, Lodge (Jr + Sr), Kennedy (John, Ted, Bobby) came from Massachusetts.
Philadelphia has definitely housed a good number of influential writers as well. Mark Twain begin his career here, Walt Whitman, John O'Hara(who is technically from Pottsville, but that's about as Philadelphia as Yuengling and was just as popular as Hemingway in his day), Issac Asimov (came up with Foundation when he was a newly wed in West Philly, Moved to Boston and taught, then NYC. Actually sort of interesting how so many influential writers lived throughout the NE corridor), the Boston born Edgar Allen Poe (who wrote a couple of his most famous works here and for some reason tried to enter the political world here). More so then the importance of the people who wrote here, is the importance of the publishing houses of Philadelphia. One Philadelphian publisher sold 120,000 copies of Common Sense in 3 months leading up to the Revolution. That was an absolutely massive number in the 18th century and helped spread the world of the coming age to all corners of the new world.
Sorry for the run on sentences I was just writing out some of my thoughts.
T that rodhis. Boston's economy is far more robust than Philly's even if the total GDP is lower. GDP per capita is higher in Boston, plus Boston is a star in Bio-Tech which is booming at the moment. Philly's job growth is lackluster or average. Boston is a white collar economy, similar to SF, while Philly is a blue collar economy.
Patently false--although I know that old stereotypes die hard. Boston is certainly benefiting very highly from a robust tech economy at the moment, but the Philly metro has clearly advanced into very diverse white collar knowledge economy in modern years. On a white collar jobs percentage basis, it even surpasses other cities often heavily associated with the knowledge economy, such as New York, Atlanta, and Denver.
Not that this is super relevant to the thread topic, but the Philly economy, particularly in the city, is showing more promising signs now than it has in decades.
Boston has been extremely successful in its deindustrialization, but Philly arguably just had a later start. With the traction the region has been gaining in terms of the life sciences and tech fields, you'd be very remiss to count out its output potential.
Last edited by Duderino; 04-05-2015 at 07:23 PM..
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