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I am always surprised with how many people are not familiar with El Paso's history:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hdelu
'EL PASO DEL NORTE. As they approached the Rio Grande from the south, Spanish explorers in the colonial period viewed two mountain ranges rising out of the desert with a deep chasm between. This site they named El Paso del Norte (the Pass of the North), and it became the location of two future border cities, Ciudad Juárez on the south or right bank of the Rio Grande and El Paso, Texas, on the opposite side of the river. The arrival of the first Spanish expedition at the Pass of the North in 1581 marked the beginning of more than 400 years of history in the El Paso area. It was followed in 1598 by the colonizing expedition under Juan de Oñate. On April 30, 1598, in a ceremony at a site near present San Elizario, Oñate took formal possession of the entire territory drained by the Rio Grande and brought Spanish civilization to the Pass of the North''
El Paso should be on that poll and again so many people are not familiar with El Paso's history because they think of the eastern shore and often overlook the Spaniards.
I voted Philly and Boston, but DC is up there for sure even though it came in late and I think NYC should be on the list as well.
Ditto.
Philly and Boston are the first two cities that came to my mind when I read the thread title before even seeing the options. I think there's a clear consensus on them being the top 2. Both of them had a big part in the formation of the country.
But I agree that NYC should've been included, especially since DC was on this list, which didn't even exist until a good amount of time later. I still probably would've voted Philly and Boston since we're only picking 2, but I do think that there are some cases that can be made for NYC.
NYC has also been around as long as Philly and Boston have. All 3 cities have existed as major cities from the very beginning. I think the main difference is that NYC didn't play as big of a role in the revolution since the British captured it early on in the war and kept control of it until the end, so when people think back to the very beginning of the USA, Philly and Boston are the main players.
It's a shame that Boston does that. Philadelphia preserves their history more.
Kinda pissed about Jeweler's Row though. I hope Philadelphia doesn't sell out it's history like Boston did.
I was joking most of the high rises in Boston are in the financial district. The are was completely destroyed by a fire in the 1870's so hard to destroy Colonial buildings there. The buildings near the Pru were mostly built on a freight yard.
Boston did however destroy the Westend in the name of Urban Renewal in the 1960s.
Today the three biggest proposals in the city are to knock down parking garages. (Govt Center garage, Aquarium garage, Winthrop sq garage. The Seaport district's handful of 20 story buildings that were just built were built on parking lots. There's plenty of anti building groups, NIMBY's, and regulations to save almost anything of historic value now.
The largest new construction in Cambridge right now is also on an old train yard called Northpoint.
It seems like this list has left off quite a few historical cities of our country.
St. Augustine, Florida. Founded by the Spanish in 1565 St. Augustine is the oldest European-founded city in the United States (continuously inhabited)
Santa Fe, New Mexico. It took a few tries to get this city permanently established in 1608 by the Spaniards but the good location was no secret to the Pueblo Indians who had occupied the area from 1050 to 1150
New Orleans, Louisiana. Surprisingly most of the famous historic architecture you seen in this unique city is of Spanish pedigree despite its more common association with the French. New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company but was ceded to Spain in 1763
I am always surprised with how many people are not familiar with El Paso's history:
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hdelu
'EL PASO DEL NORTE. As they approached the Rio Grande from the south, Spanish explorers in the colonial period viewed two mountain ranges rising out of the desert with a deep chasm between. This site they named El Paso del Norte (the Pass of the North), and it became the location of two future border cities, Ciudad Juárez on the south or right bank of the Rio Grande and El Paso, Texas, on the opposite side of the river. The arrival of the first Spanish expedition at the Pass of the North in 1581 marked the beginning of more than 400 years of history in the El Paso area. It was followed in 1598 by the colonizing expedition under Juan de Oñate. On April 30, 1598, in a ceremony at a site near present San Elizario, Oñate took formal possession of the entire territory drained by the Rio Grande and brought Spanish civilization to the Pass of the North''
El Paso should be on that poll and again so many people are not familiar with El Paso's history because they think of the eastern shore and often overlook the Spaniards.
]A list of America's most historic cities that includes Staunton, Lexington, and Roanoke (?) but does not include Richmond? Really? [/b]
Richmond, capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in whose capitol (designed by Thomas Jefferson in 1788) resides America's longest ongoing legislature;
..............................!
Yeah, the list is kind of strange and arbitrary. All of these cities have history but some are weaker than others and there are actually some better candidates not on the list.
Regarding Lexington, I bet a lot of posters thought the OP was talking about Lexington, Massachusetts instead of Lexington, Virginia! Even so, neither Lexington belongs on this list when not only Richmond, but New York City, Norfolk, St. Augustine, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Nashville, Santa Fe, etc. are not on the list.
It seems like this list has left off quite a few historical cities of our country.
St. Augustine, Florida. Founded by the Spanish in 1565 St. Augustine is the oldest European-founded city in the United States (continuously inhabited)
Santa Fe, New Mexico. It took a few tries to get this city permanently established in 1608 by the Spaniards but the good location was no secret to the Pueblo Indians who had occupied the area from 1050 to 1150
New Orleans, Louisiana. Surprisingly most of the famous historic architecture you seen in this unique city is of Spanish pedigree despite its more common association with the French. New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company but was ceded to Spain in 1763
And you yourself lol, left out New York City, which I believe is not only older than ALL of the cities on the poll (except for "other" LOL) but blows pretty much all of them of the out of the water after 1800, except probably for Washington DC. Indeed NYC has more national historical landmarks then the others and even more then most states.
Another place left out is the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area which has a lot of history from the Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War history. Not to mention being the home port of the US Atlantic Fleet and several naval museums including the battleship USS Wisconsin.
I think the OP was thinking of Revolutionary War history but also some Civil War history, which is why some of the smaller cities in Virginia are listed. But even within Virginia for Civil War history, why Staunton, Charlottesville, Lexington and Roanoke are on the poll but Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg and Fredericksburg are not is just plain odd. Also missing is Arlington and Alexandria but maybe the OP considers them to be part of the Washington DC area.
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