10 Most Populous Cities (1920-2000)

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by SonySegaTendo617

I never knew Laurel used to have a much higher ranking, when it came to the more populated cities and towns in Mississippi. For whatever reason, I certainly wouldn't have guessed it and Hattiesburg were once almost close to equal in population, in the 1920s. I guess Hattiesburg took off in population, once they gained USM and the army base?

As for Greenville and Natchez(probably also Vicksburg too), I guess the decline was due to industry starting to move away from all those cities? It's sad to think about the decline of those cities, particularly Greenville. I'd suspect not being near an interstate expressway(though it does have a 4 lane road connecting it to I-55), probably hurts Greenville as well. And that more and more goods are transported via expressways today.

That "4-lane" leading to Greenville, is mostly an ILLUSION. Clueless (and corrupt) planning, allowed every single town, hamlet, and bump-in-the-road, to build-out along that highway, necessitating all sorts of stops, redlights, and reduced speed zones, to accommodate cross-traffic. And so, driving from Winona to Greenville, one has to stop, one has to change speed...ENDLESSLY. Inching through Greenwood, alone, seems to take FOREVER. It's a disaster, from the viewpoint of a trucking company. Every stop, and every downshift, costs money. If it costs truckers more, it costs truckers' customers more. And so, Greenville, completely lacking access via a legitimate expressway, remains isolated and unable to compete. Agriculture and industry in the Delta, are both highly dependent upon trucking.

Oh, and did I mention all the ROCKS, pulled in from all the gravel driveways and pull-offs lining that "4-lane"? I've never seen anything like it. The paved shoulders are strewn with huge gravel pebbles, brought in by the treads of big pickup trucks, and thrown into oncoming traffic. Considering what headlights and windshields cost, now, is it any wonder that businesspersons, and people traveling for pleasure (or, more likely, former Delta people traveling to visit family) are LOATHE to go to Greenville?

Honestly, you're better off, taking the two-lane roads - except that there are so many DRUNKS and potheads and meth heads among the Delta's Underclass (as well as among the Ole Miss Crowd), that you risk a head-on collision. And now that every little witch in the world, seems to feel entitled to "stay in touch with her friends", texting-while-speeding... I don't want to even think about it. Rocks-in-my $1,500.00 (or more) windshield, on the "4-lane" vs. a head-on collision, on some 2-lane with some idiot texting while driving 90mph? How about Option #3: AVOID going to Greenville?

All of this, of course, is before one considers the large numbers of TOXIC HUMANS in Greenville, now. They're the main reason why you can't do anything, or have anything, in that town. THEY, as much as did NAFTA and the lack of an expressway, are what killed the town's nascent industrial base. NO employer in his right mind, wants to hire someone lazy, incompetent, criminal, and hostile. And that, unfortunately, describes a huge chunk of the labor force available in Greenville.