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What cities could have been much larger or influential but never lived up to their potential?
Consider development paths, geography, immigration, technology, etc.
Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Detroit have truly been hobbled by crime and Democrat corruption and mismanagement. I think Chicago was once a great city that's in decline in the past decade (ironically about the time when Obama began his community organizing there). If the chaos isn't brought under control, Chicago risks developing a Third World reputation. 45 shot in one weekend is something you expect in Juarez not in an American city. In particular Baltimore and Philly have a good location in between DC and New York but both are impoverished, crime ridden cities.
Baltimore is the largest US city without a single Fortune 500 company headquartered there.
Seattle is also being restrained by its liberal politics particularly its business-unfriendly laws....it had a lot going for it but things like the $15 minimum wage, the city council's obsession with raising taxes on businesses, the politically correcteness, I believe is hurting Seattle and will continue to hurt it.
Its debatable whether Juneau, Alaska would see more growth/expansion if it was given road access to the rest of North America. Its probably the largest city in the U.S. outside of Hawaii that's only reached by air and sea.
Lastly its a shame that the New Orleans area hasn't seen the kind of Sunbelt growth prevalent in other Southern metros. Hurricane Katrina obviously devastated the area but even before then NO wasn't as booming as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, etc. Because of the bayous outside the city most of the new growth is all the way across Lake Pontchartrain on the Northshore.
Staying in the same state, I was thinking of the Gulf cities of Biloxi and Gulfport(along with a few others). Nice location and history, but perhaps that is due to the state they are in.
I think Biloxi-Gulfport HAS reached its potential. It was never going to compete with New Orleans or Houston as major Gulf coast ports. They've taken advantage of the beaches and legalized casino gambling and made it a major tourist destination.
Yep. With the right leadership, Birmingham could have been Atlanta.
The reason that Birmingham didn't get Delta is arguable. Some say it was due to the Aviation Tax, others blame its location in the Central Time Zone.
I don't see how the Central Time would hurt I mean United, Southwest, and American are all headquartered in the Central Time Zone. Birmingham was hurt by unfair trade agreements that devastated the steel industry, a trend similar to northern cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The racial issues that occurred in the 60s were seen in most cities and I'd say race relations in Birmingham today are probably better than many East Coast and California cities.
I don't see how the Central Time would hurt I mean United, Southwest, and American are all headquartered in the Central Time Zone. Birmingham was hurt by unfair trade agreements that devastated the steel industry, a trend similar to northern cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The racial issues that occurred in the 60s were seen in most cities and I'd say race relations in Birmingham today are probably better than many East Coast and California cities.
Birmingham was hurt by overreliance on the steel industry, and steel industry magnates were all too happy for the city to continue getting negative press for its racial issues because it highly discouraged outsized investment which would have threatened steel's monopoly on the city's economy.
Its position near the intersection of two major rivers should have been the foundation for at least a Paducah or Cape Girardeau sized community. Unfortunately, over-reliance on river trade and racial tensions were too much for the town to bare.
The opening of Interstate 57 in the late 70s was the final nail in the coffin for Cairo, since it bypassed the city, which was already languishing. The city had already been bypassed by bridges in the 1920s and 30s, plus the issues with racial tension that plagued the city dating back to the early 20th century and earlier.
I also agree with Saint Louis, but there were a lot of factors that led to the city being what it is today (deindustrialization, consolidation of companies, over reliance on river transportation while Chicago switched its focus to railroads, etc.)
Jackson, MS - It should be at least Little Rock, Greensboro, or Greenville-Spartanburg. It has an ideal location at the intersection of two major interstates, between two major southern metro areas (Atlanta and Dallas/Ft. Worth) plus between two mid-size metros of Memphis and New Orleans. But a lot of factors have led that city to be what it is today, a lot of it rooted in poverty, low educational attainment, hostility to outside business interests, lack of good leadership to attract businesses and never really having a manufacturing base due to the strong focus on agriculture throughout Mississippi.
Memphis - It should be way more than what it is, but a lot of the issues that have affected Jackson have also affected Memphis too, but is a major distribution center due to its good location, however, it has never had the educated community or affluence that helped Nashville boom into what it is today.
Birmingham, definitely.
Albuquerque
Mobile should be the Gulf Coast's answer to Savannah to New Orleans' Charleston, if that makes any sense. But the decimation of its historic fabric led to what it is now.
I've always been fascinated by how Winston-Salem and Greensboro were such prominent cities back in the day, but were ultimately overshadowed by Raleigh-Durham since the 1980s due to the rise of the Tech and Pharma industries and the growth of the RTP plus the decline of the Tobacco industry in Winston as well. Greensboro was the second largest city in NC for a long time, as well as Winston. Even Piedmont Triad international airport was once a hub for Continental Airlines and Piedmont Airlines had its HQ in Winston, but its major hub was down in Charlotte, and Winston had several HQs for banks, but it seems as if Charlotte took their ball on that after the rise of NationsBank (which eventually bought and renamed itself Bank of America) plus First Union merging with Winston-based Wachovia and moving its HQ to Charlotte back in the early 2000s.
Last edited by biscuit_head; 08-06-2018 at 06:38 AM..
...plus First Union merging with Winston-based Wachovia and moving its HQ to Charlotte back in the early 2000s.
More specifically, First Union actually acquired Wachovia but used Wachovia's name/brand going forward because it had a much better reputation among consumers than First Union.
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