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Boston's manufacturing was based upon textiles (and shoemaking) which collapsed decades earlier than heavy industry, because the movement of that sort of light industry to the U.S. South began in the early 20th century.
I landed in Cambridge, Mass., in 1976 to attend college.
I'd say that by then, Boston had already fully recovered from the deindustrialization of the first decades of the 20th century. The computing revolution that made the beltway around the city, State Route 128, a buzzword akin to "Silicon Valley" now began in the 1950s, and there were a few other notable companies that developed new technologies that launched in Cambridge around the same time (remember Polaroid, the inventor of instant photography?).
The tourist-attraction show "Where's Boston?", developed for the Bicentennial, certainly took a celebratory tone towards the contemporary city.
Since then, IMO, what's been happening in Boston amounts to gilding the lily.
Chicago is so recovered that there is question if it is even rustbelt, so I rank it first. There are still old warehouses for miles and miles. Whatever influence the city has on the rest of the world, it still has the rustbelt feel all over the place
Speaking of influence, I gotta acknowledge Detroit for the success of its Shinola watch company. Its headquarters or whatever downtown is an excellent looking building. It really helps Detroit’s reputation to have a store in Chicago’s Gold Coast next to a store from London. You see “Detroit” and “London” in the same glance and that is huge. Abandoned homes and unreliable cars are not always the first thing one associates with Detroit anymore
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Originally Posted by Ben Around
Disagree. Boston's economy never supported much manufacturing.
Both Chicago and Boston are rust-belt according to the following map: https://beltmag.com/wp-content/uploa...-belt-map1.jpg. Boston is displayed as recovered rust-belt. Regardless of how much a city has recovered, it is still rust-belt if it used to have its roots in manufacturing.
Not that there is anything wrong with being rust-belt, it is my favorite part of the US with the best atmosphere and architecture. Pictures like this one are pure art to me: https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/up...09/Buffalo.jpg.
Both Chicago and Boston are rust-belt according to the following map: https://beltmag.com/wp-content/uploa...-belt-map1.jpg. Boston is displayed as recovered rust-belt. Regardless of how much a city has recovered, it is still rust-belt if it used to have its roots in manufacturing.
Not that there is anything wrong with being rust-belt, it is my favorite part of the US with the best atmosphere and architecture. Pictures like this one are pure art to me: https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/up...09/Buffalo.jpg.
I think that part of the confusion stems from the fact that the term "Rust Belt" didn't enter the language until the cities of the Great Lakes conurbation and surrounding areas (extending to St. Louis) deindustrialized in the 1970s. By then, New England's deindustrialization had long since run its course, Boston had already reinvented itself, and several other New England cities were either on the mend or on their way off the national radar.
Both Chicago and Boston are rust-belt according to the following map: https://beltmag.com/wp-content/uploa...-belt-map1.jpg. Boston is displayed as recovered rust-belt. Regardless of how much a city has recovered, it is still rust-belt if it used to have its roots in manufacturing.
Not that there is anything wrong with being rust-belt, it is my favorite part of the US with the best atmosphere and architecture. Pictures like this one are pure art to me: https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/up...09/Buffalo.jpg.
For more knowlege on the American term now used even in Europe for regions there. A bit of history as how it came to be and why it is not sealed in stone or once one always one.
Both Chicago and Boston are rust-belt according to the following map: https://beltmag.com/wp-content/uploa...-belt-map1.jpg. Boston is displayed as recovered rust-belt. Regardless of how much a city has recovered, it is still rust-belt if it used to have its roots in manufacturing.
Not that there is anything wrong with being rust-belt, it is my favorite part of the US with the best atmosphere and architecture. Pictures like this one are pure art to me: https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/up...09/Buffalo.jpg.
I don't see how there could be any question that Chicago is rust belt, given its location and the fact that it lost nearly 1 million residents at the same time Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Detroit lost the majority of their residents.
Defenders will say, "well the people just migrated to the suburbs and the city just right-sized." I don't think that quite cuts it, as cities are usually pretty sensitive to any population loss, let alone massive ones.
The very non-glamorous manner in which Chicago's economy picked up steam is just one more notch on the rust belt board. A "full recovery" would be an excess of 3.6 million residents in the city, similar to NYC's recovery from the 1970's.
Yes. More of Rochester feels much livelier than more of Buffalo. The rot in ROC is much more contained and concentrated, and the boom in Buffalo likewise. ROC was a creators' town in terms of business development, and still factors into its culture.
I don't know that I agree with this. I don't think either city feels particularly lively anywhere. Were you including the suburbs in your mental calculations here?
I don't know that I agree with this. I don't think either city feels particularly lively anywhere. Were you including the suburbs in your mental calculations here?
For Rochester, the East End/SE Quadrant is more lively.
As for Buffalo, no love for Allentown, Elmwood Village, Hertel Ave., etc.?
For Rochester, the East End/SE Quadrant is more lively.
As for Buffalo, no love for Allentown, Elmwood Village, Hertel Ave., etc.?
I'm sitting in an Elmwood Village coffee shop as I type this. It's Friday night and the area is dead.
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