What city was cheated out of greatness?

[TheseGoTo11]

The history of citrus in California

California citrus industry started in what is now downtown LA. One reason why there are those large oranges today in Pershing Square. San Diego never matched it in citrus production, even before the trains came.

[manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

So many of the cities on the list were major players in their day, so it's a false presumption that they never achieved greatness.

I interpret candidates for this list to be "shoulda-woulda-coulda" cities that had the potential to take it to the next level, but by and large were shut out by a nearby city that better played the game.

If no Boston, Providence
If no New York City, Philadelphia
If no DC, Baltimore
If no Chicago, Minneapolis
If no Seattle, Tacoma
If no San Francisco, Oakland
If no Los Angeles, Santa Barbara
If no Phoenix, Albuquerque
If no Dallas, Fort Worth
If no Houston, Galveston
If no New Orleans, Mobile
If no Atlanta, Birmingham
If no Tampa, St. Petersburg
If no Miami, Fort Lauderdale
If no Orlando, Kissimmee

Santa Barbara? Santa Barbara can barely grow bigger because of nearby mountains. No way it could have ever hoped to rival LA.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

So many of the cities on the list were major players in their day, so it's a false presumption that they never achieved greatness.

I interpret candidates for this list to be "shoulda-woulda-coulda" cities that had the potential to take it to the next level, but by and large were shut out by a nearby city that better played the game.

If no Boston, Providence
If no New York City, Philadelphia
If no DC, Baltimore
If no Chicago, Minneapolis
If no Seattle, Tacoma
If no San Francisco, Oakland
If no Los Angeles, Santa Barbara
If no Phoenix, Albuquerque
If no Dallas, Fort Worth
If no Houston, Galveston
If no New Orleans, Mobile
If no Atlanta, Birmingham
If no Tampa, St. Petersburg
If no Miami, Fort Lauderdale
If no Orlando, Kissimmee

I would sub Milwaukee for Minneapolis and San Diego for Los Angeles in that list above.

But good comparisons overall.

I would say only two of those cities, though, might actually merit description as "cheated from greatness".

One is Baltimore - and for most of the existence of Baltimore and Washington, Baltimore was the more significant city. DC exists only because the drafters of the Constitution decided the capital should not be in one of the existing large cities (including the one where it was located at the time, Philadelphia - perhaps we can call that decision a "cheat"?) but in one (closer to the geographic center of the 13 colonies | not located in an area where slavery was on the way out). And up until about 1900, Baltimore remained larger than Washington, and it remains a larger industrial center to this day - only the growth of the Federal government in size and influence has caused Washington to skyrocket in prominence since then.

The other is Galveston, which was "cheated from greatness" by Mother Nature. It was Texas' preeminent port city up until a hurricane came in from the Gulf of Mexico and leveled it in 1900. That led to two developments: one, the construction of the huge seawall that defends the city from the Gulf to this day but also pretty much kills it as a port; two, the construction of the Houston Ship Channel, which made it possible to create a port for oceangoing ships inland from the Gulf coast (and thus better protected from hurricanes). Both of these developments took place around the same time, IIRC.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I would sub Milwaukee for Minneapolis and San Diego for Los Angeles in that list above.

But good comparisons overall.

I would say only two of those cities, though, might actually merit description as "cheated from greatness".

One is Baltimore - and for most of the existence of Baltimore and Washington, Baltimore was the more significant city. DC exists only because the drafters of the Constitution decided the capital should not be in one of the existing large cities (including the one where it was located at the time, Philadelphia - perhaps we can call that decision a "cheat"?) but in one (closer to the geographic center of the 13 colonies | not located in an area where slavery was on the way out). And up until about 1900, Baltimore remained larger than Washington, and it remains a larger industrial center to this day - only the growth of the Federal government in size and influence has caused Washington to skyrocket in prominence since then.

Also the Southern, slave holding planters lobbied strong for a nation's capitol to be in their region (da-n, why does the South seem to win everything? -- they lost the battle but have won the war on so many political, social and cultural aspects of this country it isn't funny, much to our national detriment).