Cities you wish had grown more

[Landshark]

It'd have been interesting to have the capitol cities of the Pacific Northwest (Salem, OR ; Olympia, WA; and Boise, ID) to have become larger metropolises.

Boise and Olympia grew fast over the last decade.  Boise is now similar in size to Spokane while Olympia has grown to be the third largest population center in Washington outside of the Central Puget Sound region (though Tri-Cities, the fastest growing part of Washington, may pass them soon). 

[agentsteel53]

the third largest population center in Washington outside of the Central Puget Sound region (though Tri-Cities, the fastest growing part of Washington, may pass them soon). 

that statement sounds awfully over-qualified. 

how did Olympia manage to beat out Seattle and Tacoma to be the state capital? 

[corco]

how did Olympia manage to beat out Seattle and Tacoma to be the state capital? 

When Olympia was designated capital in 1853, it was roughly the same size as Seattle, if not larger. Tacoma didn't even exist until 20 years later when Northern Pacific decided "Hey, this is a good spot for the railroad to end." Olympia also had the region's Customs house (although it was moved shortly thereafter), so it made sense to put the territorial government down there. When it became a state, they just kept the capital in Olympia.

[Rover_0]

Hmmm...let me see...these cities are smaller cities but could be bigger, like St. George, Utah-sized, not huge.

--Price, UT; it's near one of the largest oil reserves in the country, it's fairly big right now, and it should--one day--have an Interstate serving it, being on one of Utah's most-travelled non-Interstate routes (US-6 between I-70 and I-15)

--Cedar City, UT; before St. George exploded, Cedar City was the largest city in southwestern Utah, being a college town (Southern Utah University), near a rail line, and all-around good weather (though a bit cold for the winter for much of S. Utah), unlike St. George's 100-degree plus summers.  It and St. George could be twin cities of sorts (though not right next to each other), if Cedar became about as big as St. George.

--Flagstaff, AZ; I know, it's about as big as St. George, but with its mild summer weather, proximity to the Grand Canyon, and being one of the only places in Arizona with considerable mountains, why isn't it bigger?

[froggie]

Chicago's growth is obvious being at the lower elbow of the great lakes and also being the best connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system. 

Being an early railroad hub certainly didn't hurt Chicago's growth prospects either.  If anything, I'd argue being a railroad hub helped the city MORE than it's water location.

[Landshark]

how did Olympia manage to beat out Seattle and Tacoma to be the state capital? 

To add to Corco above, back when Washington first became a territory, Vancouver was the largest settlement while Tumwater and Olympia were the first settlements on Puget Sound.   Also, the railroads weren't here so people had to rely on waterways and primitive overland routes to get from place to place.  Olympia's location at the south end of Puget Sound, near the Puget Sound-Chehalis-Pacific portage, and along the Cowlitz Trail made it a natural location for the capital.  It was the railroads later crossing the Cascades from the east that made Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett boom towns.  Olympia beat out Vancouver and Monticello (now Longview) for territorial capital and later Ellensburg (which burned down) and North Yakima (now called Yakima, as the original Yakima is now Union Gap) for state capital in a statewide vote.  Centralia, Pasco, Union Gap (then called Yakima), Tacoma, Walla Walla, Waterville, and Spokane (then called Spokane Falls) also were mentioned as candidates.   

[Landshark]

Being an early railroad hub certainly didn't hurt Chicago's growth prospects either.  If anything, I'd argue being a railroad hub helped the city MORE than it's water location.

It's location on the elbow of Lake Michigan is why the railroads were there.  The railroad companies were not going to build massive trestles to cross Lake Michigan, they were naturally going to go around the lake.  That's also why Chicago also has so many U.S. highways going through it. 

[SP Cook]

Transportation related what ifs:

Portsmouth, Ohio.  Washington said "a great city will rise here", as it was where the Scioto met the Ohio.  What if the Scioto was canalized and then connected by something similar to the Erie Canal to a north flowing river in Ohio, and thus to the Great Lakes?

Tidewater, Virginia.  To me the biggest "what if" in early American history.  Say something like the Erie Canal conncects the James and Kanawha rivers, which was goal specifically mentioned in the Virginia Constitution of the time, or an effective railroad was invented earlier.  Tidewater, Virginia would have thus been the port of choice for the entire midwest, and thus a city similar to New York.

Reno, NV.  Las Vegas outpaced Reno simply by having better air service and friendly government.  If Reno had some smarts in the 1950s, Las Vegas' and Reno's roles might be reversed today.

[agentsteel53]

Reno, NV.  Las Vegas outpaced Reno simply by having better air service and friendly government.  If Reno had some smarts in the 1950s, Las Vegas' and Reno's roles might be reversed today.

did Reno not cooperate with the mob correctly?

[roadfro]

Reno, NV.  Las Vegas outpaced Reno simply by having better air service and friendly government.  If Reno had some smarts in the 1950s, Las Vegas' and Reno's roles might be reversed today.

I wouldn't necessarily quote "air service" as a major contributing factor to Vegas' growth outpacing Reno's--unless you qualify it by referring to commercial air service as we know it today, which did develop more rapidly in Vegas. If I recall correctly, both cities had airfields established around the same time.

In "friendly government", one must assume 'friendly' as open to gambling & vices & mob influence...

[tchafe1978]

My current hometown of Belmont, WI could have been much larger. The first state capitol was located here, until it was moved to Madison after the first legislative sesssions back in 1836 or so. This little town of about 900 could instead swap places with Madison and easily have a population over 200,000.

[mgk920]

Las Vegas, NV also has the electric power resources that Reno, NV does not.

Mike

[CL]

Salt Lake City. Not in the suburbs (although the extreme southwestern quadrant remains undeveloped) but in the downtown core. Although the metro area has 1.1 million, the city proper has only 180,000. What we need is a good downtown (right now it's rather stale) that is teeming with people on the streets... and lessen accessibility to cars. Widen the sidewalks... what have you.

[roadfro]

Las Vegas, NV also has the electric power resources that Reno, NV does not.

If you're referring to the hydro-electric power generated at Hoover Dam, only about 25% of it goes to Nevada (with that being distributed amongst much of the southern part of the state, not just the Vegas area).

However, one could argue that the construction of Hoover Dam itself in the 1930's may have helped lead to population increases in the Las Vegas region that the Reno region did not have.  Without looking at actual census numbers, I believe it was around the 1920s or 1930s that the Vegas area began to rival the greater Reno area in population, with the 1950s/60s marking the beginning of substantial population increases that exploded even further later on.

[thenetwork]

I would have liked to seen Youngstown, OH much bigger -- if only for the fact that they had built several freeways surrounding downtown that weren't quite completed, mainly because the freeways they had planned into the suburbs never materialized thanks to the closing of the steel mills beginning in the late 70s.

The only freeway they did complete was SR-711, but now that the the city is just a shell of it's former self, that group of freeways creating an "inner loop" (SR-193, US-422, US-62, SR-7) is pretty much overkill. 

[triplemultiplex]

The geography of the Wisconsin Dells area lends itself to the construction of a large dam on the Wisconsin River and in an alternate universe where Wisconsin was settled by Europeans at a later date, such a damn would've been built a hundred years ago thus recreating a smaller version of Glacial Lake Wisconsin.  I'd imagine it extending upstream about as far as the current Petenwell Flowage does.  Where Wisconsin Dells and Lake Delton exist in the real world, a single large city called simply "Delton" would occupy that location.  Delton grows so quickly that the state capital is moved there shortly after the dam's construction.

Today, Delton would be a Madison sized city, so the entire transportation grid in central Wisconsin would be drastically different.  I-39 would follow the eastern shore of Lake Wisconsin up through WI Rapids en route to Stevens Point & Wausau.  I-90 & 39 would swing west of a much smaller Madison and come into the Dells from the south.  I-94 probably would've hugged old US 16 a lot closer.  US 151 would be a freeway heading straight for Oshkosh. WI 13 would be the main corridor on the lake's western shore.

Interesting to ponder.  Such a dam, though would be a horrible idea.  Central Wisconsin is home to some of the most valuable wetlands in the state and I'd never want to see most of Juneau County under water.  Plus most of the lake would be really shallow and subject to intense, annual algae blooms.

[architect77]

Mobile, Alabama I could see as a MUCH bigger city (even though it already is an upper-medium sized city)

Mobile is an absolutely beautiful area, I too wish it were a big city, so I could live there.

[wh15395]

It would be cool if Fort Wayne, IN would become a bigger city. If the Indiana Toll Road went further south through Fort Wayne and then traveled to the Chicago area I could see it growing. On top of that maybe an upgrade of U.S. 33 to freeway standards so that travel between Columbus to Chicago and Detroit would be faster.

[lamsalfl]

Wouldn't mind seeing a huge metropolis in the western Dakotas or Montana.  That entire area is so far removed from large city amenities.

City that I think can take it to the next level?  Cheyenne.  It's on the Front Range and only 100 miles from Denver with plenty of growth in between.  Also, it's on 2 interstates.  I think you'll see Wyoming lose its rank as the smallest state soon enough. 

[Landshark]

Casper will eventually over take Cheyenne.  Sioux Falls grew quite a bit this past decade.  Rapid City, Fargo, & Bismarck grew too.  Williston, ND is witnessing a recent boom to due oil and has a housing shortage.