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It would be extremely difficult to determine a clear winner between Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cleveland in terms of cultural legacy and pound for pound amenities.
It would be extremely difficult to determine a clear winner between Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cleveland in terms of cultural legacy and pound for pound amenities.
I can see a case for that. In terms of urban streetlife and vibrancy, Baltimore is a little behind Bos/Philly/DC. Pittsburgh is a little ahead of the interior Northern legacy cities. They sort of converge as the bridge between the two classes of cities.
Baltimore is roughly 3-4 cities ahead of Pittsburgh in urban and metro population.
Bigger? Yes.
"Good deal" bigger? Clearly no.
Baltimore is 6 cities ahead by metro and 7 by urban area (it jumped St. Louis in both back in ‘18).
It’s metro is ~500k larger, it’s GDP is 25% bigger and it’s a substantially more built up. Even taking into account Pittsburgh having an arguably better downtown, there is a noticeable size jump between the two.
Baltimores closest peer is Denver which sits one rank above it in almost all metrics
This is largely due to Pittsburgh prominence and wealth in the industrial age. It was considered to be one of the most robust cities of that era with a population pushing 700,000. And the wealth of the Carneigie's, Mellon's etc. were all invested back in the city and why Pittsburgh has so many great institutions that rival even a city like Atlanta/Seattle/Dallas...It truly is the definition of a legacy city.
Cleveland is the bigger, more important "legacy city." Carnegie was rich, Mellon was rich but no one beats John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. Where was Rockefeller's mansion? On Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. In the old days, smoky, filthy Pittsburgh was known as "Hell with the lid off." Cleveland was the one with the handsome civic square, the millionaire's row, the great parks, orchestra, the art museum, the incomparable suburban developments complete with their own streetcar service.
Pittsburgh has the greater African American legacy in its Hill district with once famous jazz clubs and the August Wilson cycle of plays. As compared to the Hough, known mainly for the 1966 riot. And Pittsburgh is the one that has retained middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods within its municipal boundaries.
Those same city limits used to house 700,000. (Not judging, just saying. Late 20 century population crashes are a common feature of Rust belt cities, e.g., Buffalo, Cleveland, South Bend, Rochester, Detroit, Johnstown, etc.)
The main reason for this was actually natural decrease in average household size, which is much smaller now than in 1950 or 1960. Some cities kept annexing more and more suburbs and edge cities, but Pittsburgh didn't so the population was sure to go down quite a bit.
Cleveland is the bigger, more important "legacy city." Carnegie was rich, Mellon was rich but no one beats John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. Where was Rockefeller's mansion? On Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. In the old days, smoky, filthy Pittsburgh was known as "Hell with the lid off." Cleveland was the one with the handsome civic square, the millionaire's row, the great parks, orchestra, the art museum, the incomparable suburban developments complete with their own streetcar service.
Pittsburgh has the greater African American legacy in its Hill district with once famous jazz clubs and the August Wilson cycle of plays. As compared to the Hough, known mainly for the 1966 riot. And Pittsburgh is the one that has retained middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods within its municipal boundaries.
For simply educational purposes the quote from James Parton, "Hell with the lid taken off," is a shortened version of the quote and the original was meant as something said in awe, not in deriding way in which people think. The full quote is:
"There is one evening scene in Pittsburg which no visitor should miss. Owing to the abruptness of the hill behind the town, there is a street along the edge of the bluff, from which you can look directly down upon
the part of the city which lies low, near the level of the rivers. On the evening of this dark day, we were conducted to the edge of the abyss, and looked over the iron railing upon the most striking spectacle we
ever beheld ... It is an unprofitable business, view-hunting; but if any one would enjoy a spectacle as striking as Niagara, he may do so by simply walking up a long hill to Cliff Street in Pittsburg, and looking
over into -- hell with the lid taken off."
That is pretty different. It's certainly not a statement about the city overall.
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