What American city has most greatly nose dived? (from colonial America onwards) (high crime, neighborhoods)

[dem3456]

I'm just going to look at the New England area.

I think that while it has maintained a certain position in our nation, Boston has declined in importance since the colonial period. Its still one of America's major cities, but during the colonial period it was, depending on how you look at it, the greatest or one of the top three or four greatest in the United States. It was a hotbed for the American Revolution and a center of commerce and wealth. While it still has its history and remains currently a center of wealth and finance, its activity is not at as great a level as it used to be. Its port is not really vital to the American economy anymore. I think most of its significance now comes from its history and intellectual institutions. Boston is no longer the "Hub of the Solar System" that it once was. However, I don't think it has experienced the "greatest nose-dive" by any means.

Additionally, as someone mentioned before, New Bedford and Lowell, both in Massachusetts, have fallen far. Lowell was a mill town where some of Americas first factories were (along with Pawtucket, RI and the Blackstone River Valley); its textile factories was probably the largest in the North. New Bedford was a port and the center of the whaling industry (see Moby Dick). Today, New Bedford, Lowell, and Pawtucket are not really even considered desirable areas to live.

And while it is still beautiful, Nantucket Island, like New Bedford, has fallen from its place of importance in the whaling industry.

Also, as someone mentioned before, Salem, MA, used to be another major American port, especially for trade with China. Yet today, I don't even know if the port is in use, except for recreation.

Newport, RI has declined as well. Like Nantucket, it is still beautiful, with the Gilded Age "cottages" of the Vanderbilts and other prominent families. But like Boston and Salem, its port has lost its vitality.

[bigdave01]

What about Virginia City, Nevada? In the late 1800s there were over 30,000 people in the c, anityd they were building 6-story buildings. I believe the first elevator west of the Mississippi was in Virginia City. It is now a town of about 3,000 I believe.

Here are some pictures:





This is an interesting site on Virginia City's history:

http://www.greatstreets.org/MainStre...tyHistory.html

[green_mariner]

Cairo,IL was a major river city. After racial strife and economic downturn, it has gone down hill and continuing.

[SlickRick1]

Many of these cities mentioned were centered on big giant manufacturers. When many factories closed in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, these cities took a big hit. Drugs played a major role as well. Drugs seemed to give the pick me up from the despair of jobless economies. In trade Addiction ruined generations to come. Detroit is a good example with the Auto industry as well as Flint. Importing played a major role as well. We were now allowed to go to other countries for products which killed many of our plants and high paying jobs. The infrastructure we created at a certain price. ex. homes, car payments, etc, were to hard to retain on half the wage. Unemployment increased, forclosures, debt as well as many socioeconomic problems. Many of which take generations to fix.
The problem then was that there were no programs created or money put away to deal with these types of problems. There were in essence, no sollutions. Many cities became barren wastelands for drugs. Many rust belt cities felt this the most since they were built on industrialization. When the factories went so did the cities. Thats why today many of the prosperous cities are outside of the rustbelt cities. Cities down south or out west like Phoenix. These cities remain less affected because they were not built the same way. The creation of suburbia, which was another extension of segregation did not help either.
Rust Belt cities that took the hit
Detroit
Buffalo
Cleveland
Gary
Camden
Philly
Rochester
Syracuse
Cincinnati
SpringField
Flint
and so many more. Many small cities were impacted as well, cities under 100,000.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by bigdave01

What about Virginia City, Nevada? In the late 1800s there were over 30,000 people in the c, anityd they were building 6-story buildings. I believe the first elevator west of the Mississippi was in Virginia City. It is now a town of about 3,000 I believe.

Here are some pictures:





This is an interesting site on Virginia City's history:

Virginia City History

Its nosedived in population, but based on streetview, It still looks like its in great shape!

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by SlickRick1

Many of these cities mentioned were centered on big giant manufacturers. When many factories closed in the sixties, seventies, and eighties, these cities took a big hit. Drugs played a major role as well. Drugs seemed to give the pick me up from the despair of jobless economies. In trade Addiction ruined generations to come. Detroit is a good example with the Auto industry as well as Flint. Importing played a major role as well. We were now allowed to go to other countries for products which killed many of our plants and high paying jobs. The infrastructure we created at a certain price. ex. homes, car payments, etc, were to hard to retain on half the wage. Unemployment increased, forclosures, debt as well as many socioeconomic problems. Many of which take generations to fix.
The problem then was that there were no programs created or money put away to deal with these types of problems. There were in essence, no sollutions. Many cities became barren wastelands for drugs. Many rust belt cities felt this the most since they were built on industrialization. When the factories went so did the cities. Thats why today many of the prosperous cities are outside of the rustbelt cities. Cities down south or out west like Phoenix. These cities remain less affected because they were not built the same way. The creation of suburbia, which was another extension of segregation did not help either.
Rust Belt cities that took the hit
Detroit
Buffalo
Cleveland
Gary
Camden
Philly
Rochester
Syracuse
Cincinnati
SpringField
Flint
and so many more. Many small cities were impacted as well, cities under 100,000.

Philly is not a rust belt city.Its Northeast Professional.

Its got about 300,000 downtown office workers,100,000 college students and 100,000 residents living downtown.

[MetroBTR]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

There is a big difference bewteen stunted growth cities (Cairo, New Orleans, Butte, Galena) and cities that declined (Detroit, Newark, Buffalo)

You are quite right. New Orleans is definitely alot less prominent than it was in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, but the difference between New Orleans and Detroit is that there are still people out there who are intersted in New Orleans. "What's New Orleans about?" and so forth. New Orleans is a very troubled place but usually outsiders associate it more with having a good time and new experiences. I'm sorry to say that this is not the case for Detroit. I personally think Detroit has a TON of potential, but I'm afraid that it will not be able to pull itself up any time soon.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

St. Louis has nosedived alot. Who would think that a city that host the 1904 Summer Olympics and the 1902 World Fair and home to Budweiser would turn into one of the murder capitals of America and lose more than half of its population and jobs since after WWII.

st. louis has always been a high murder city. st. louis, new orleans and cincinnati were taking turns at the top of the murder list from 1870-WWII among cities that are now major. some frontier cities were really bad like memphis, dallas and other southern posts, but among established northern cities, st. louis was among the very worst in crime and corruption even during its boom era.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by hillside

st. louis has always been a high murder city. st. louis, new orleans and cincinnati were taking turns at the top of the murder list from 1870-WWII among cities that are now major. some frontier cities were really bad like memphis, dallas and other southern posts, but among established northern cities, st. louis was among the very worst in crime and corruption even during its boom era.

Perhaps it was bad, but back in those days St. Louis was known for having alot. The World's Fair, Summer Olympics, it was a major trading post for furs in its early days. It lost alot of jobs in the recent history and for that the murders just make things look even worse.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

dutch10, I was with you till I got to Houston. Why Houston?

No kidding...Houston is just hitting its' stride.