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I've never been to Dallas except to change planes, but I went to Little Rock and Memphis on the same trip years ago.
I thought Little Rock felt exactly like a little Memphis, but the surrounding area was lush and did feel somewhat similar to North Georgia.
The thing I was impressed with was that the skyline was much larger than I expected it to be, and the people were super friendly. I really didn't have any expectations, but was pleasantly surprised.
Memphis is so ugly and unattractive to me. I think it's one of my least favorite metros in all of the United States. I just didn't like the setup, topography, and even culturally, it just seemed a bit off.
Little Rock, to me, seemed kind of 'western' a bit...especially if you come into Little Rock from the northwest Arkansas with the hills and such...
Once I drove into northeast Arkansas, the state seemed to change drastically different into a way more Delta way....it felt very different than LIttle Rock to me.
Maybe more people come into LR from the Delta direction, and it feels more Delta to them, because of it? Whereas if you come into LR from NW AR, it has a very different feel.
The whole purpose of the question is to figure out if Little Rock belongs in the same neighborhood as cities like Dallas, Tulsa, and Springfield or cities that are more southern (or southeastern) like Atlanta, Birmingham, and Columbia.
Northeast Texas, yes, to some extent, because northeast Texas was agrarian, much like southwest Arkansas and northeast Louisiana. Cities in NE Texas, such as Tyler, Longview, Marshall, Texarkana, and the smaller towns surrounding those have always had strong cultural and economic ties to Shreveport, El Dorado, Magnolia, Nachitoches, and to cities a bit further flung like Monroe LA, Memphis TN,and Little Rock AR.
But Dallas has culturally and historically been much more "western" in nature and economically. Yes, it's a hub of commerce, like Little Rock, Shreveport, Oklahoma City, Jackson MS, and Atlanta, so of course there are economic ties with LR, just like there are economic ties to all the cities above.
The following article about railroad history in Arkansas is pretty interesting. It shows the economic ties that Little Rock had to other cities in the region. Reading the article, you can actually envision the active trade between Little Rock and other Arkansas cities, with St Louis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Texarkana, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and (mentioned over and over again - you guessed it) MEMPHIS. Though of course there were trains running to Dallas or Fort Worth via lines that went through Little Rock as well, the same could be said for Atlanta.
You can also see by reading various articles on the economic history of Arkansas that the strongest cultural and economic ties were with St Louis. In fact, Dallas is seldom mentioned - nor is Atlanta.
Just some interesting tidbits.
I definitely agree that Dallas Ft Worth has a more western vibe than Northeast Texas culturally...i also agree that Little Rock has very close ties with St. Louis..if Im not mistaken, it was actually discovered by a man from St Louis, Missouri...ironically DFW itself was settled primarily by Missourians and to a lesser degree from people from Tennessee as well.
In this instance I was speaking about the historical foundation of the DFW region itself as East and Northeast Texas had much closer historical ties to states from the deep south.. and i actually mean that NORTH Texas itself, has many more historical ties to the upper and the Mid South than it does anywhere else, really..
Specifically, the migration of Arkansasians, Mississippians and Louisiana to Texas along the Southwest Trail along the Red River indicates that the foundation of the North Texas region as a whole is much more closely connected with Arkansas and Tennessee than anywhere else.
i know this map is old and its not 1860 anymore...lol, but ive posted it before, and I still interpret it as summarizing the historical culture of North Texas, and the eastern part of Texas as a whole in terms of the initial white/black settlement patterns..
You've proven your point, that you have nothing to contribute to this thread. Thanks...
Speak for yourself - my rep comments for this thread say otherwise.
But please - carry on!
Here's the deal: Dallas is more like Atlanta than Little Rock. Atlanta is more like Dallas than Little Rock. Little Rock is the outlier in the question.
If I wasn't extremely familiar with all three cities, I might have a different (and less informed) opinion.
I definitely agree that Dallas Ft Worth has a more western vibe than Northeast Texas culturally...i also agree that Little Rock has very close ties with St. Louis..if Im not mistaken, it was actually discovered by a man from St Louis, Missouri...ironically DFW itself was settled primarily by Missourians and to a lesser degree from people from Tennessee as well.
In this instance I was speaking about the historical foundation of the DFW region itself as East and Northeast Texas had much closer historical ties to states from the deep south.. and i actually mean that NORTH Texas itself, has many more historical ties to the upper and the Mid South than it does anywhere else, really..
Specifically, the migration of Arkansasians, Mississippians and Louisiana to Texas along the Southwest Trail along the Red River indicates that the foundation of the North Texas region as a whole is much more closely connected with Arkansas and Tennessee than anywhere else.
i know this map is old and its not 1860 anymore...lol, but ive posted it before, and I still interpret it as summarizing the historical culture of North Texas, and the eastern part of Texas as a whole in terms of the initial white/black settlement patterns..
Good information and I agree. Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks a bunch Kathryn!...and by no means was that Map or the info in my post intended to be completely definitive regarding the subject...I can and do totally see why people would overwhelmingly think Little Rock has nothing at all in common with either place today...but I was just giving some context for what had informed my personal opinion on the matter...thats all..anyway thanks for the links about the early railways and how much of our economy has been shaped by them....it actually makes alot of sense to me.
This thread is so silly - I don't even know why I keep coming back to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncey
The only thing we seem to agree on is not knowing why you continue to come back here.
I agree with Poncey on this one.
4 months of occasionally opening up this thread from time to time, and seeing K.A. on nearly every page saying the EXACT same thing over and over. I can 100% guarantee that I will walk away from this thread, and the very next time I view it, there will be another K.A. post saying EXACTLY the same thing again.
We get your your opinion. If you change your mind and want to contribute something different or relevant, come on by again and share that instead. Just doing the broken record thing is a waste of everyone's time, I'm sure you have better things to do. Let's just focus only on the topic (by adding something new or interesting), or take a break from contributing if you have nothing new to contribute.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 04-02-2015 at 01:28 AM..
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