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I've not been to St Louis to make a direct comparison but my guess would be, I wouldn't find it and KC to be "polar opposites" either. Off the rip though, both St Louisans and Kansas Citians have a little bit of a southern air to them...
Well, maybe not polar opposites, but there is this:
Both cities had stockyards, and both have heavy industry (most notably, both have car and/or truck assembly plants).
But Kansas City's character, image and heritage are those of a cowtown while St. Louis' are definitely more industrial. (Another example of the same difference: Both cities also have many places where one can get barbecue. But the city with the national rep for it is KC, not St. Louis.) It's sort of like the split between the "industrial" Midwest east of the Mississippi and the "agricultural" one west of it recapitulated in one state's borders. (And yes, the eastern Midwest has loads of farms while the western one doesn't lack for industry, either.)
The population is pretty different between these two, but they have the same otherwise unique geography and climate, and while the local cultures have some key differences they also have a lot of overlap. Overall, there are some interesting differences between the two but "opposites" feels like a stretch. I would say of the Texas Triangle Houston is the one most different than Austin, though still not really an opposite.
It's like how many Carolinians consider Raleigh a "white city", it also has similar demographics to Nashville but I think is slightly less white than Nashville. It's how the cities have marketed themselves for generations; both Nashville and Raleigh have long presented themselves, largely, to the express interests of white people, even though both cities have storied black history as well. It's just not something the branding committees of either city really spearheaded to the public eye...
I'm honestly unaware of any substantial marketing efforts undertaken by Raleigh historically. It just seems that they let RTP's presence and longstanding appearances on tons of "best of" lists over the years do the work for them.
To the extent that it has been considered a "white city," I think it's been in juxtaposition with neighboring Durham in a comparative sense.
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