AHC: Make Ft. Wayne Indiana's Largest City

[Duke Andrew of Dank]

The challenge is simple.

Make Ft. Wayne the largest city in Indiana as opposed to Indianapolis.

If possible, try to think of some realistic consequences of if this were the case.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

How much smaller would Indiananpolis be were UniGov waived away? Incorporation of near all the suburbs in Marion County grew the city in a uncommon way.

Without the suburban absorption of UniGov & related activity Indy would be closer to a typical rust belt city. Some of the efficiencies of scale would be lost in the moisac of suburban towns. A portion of the urban renewal, gentrification, and other improvements would be absent as well. Smaller tax base and different business development would reduce cash flow in 'old Indy'.

 

[Duke Andrew of Dank]

I also think a big part that could of happened is if more rail activity lead to more industry.

 

[Thomas Jefferson]

Have Fort Wayne be selecteed as the state capital, instead of building a new capital at Indianapolis, would require a POD well before 1900, though.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Previous capitols we're in the south. Corydon & Vincennes. Ft Wayne was a relative backwater until decades after Indy was established.

 

[Chris Triangle]

Ah, Fort Wayne. Headquarters of Do it Best, my local hardware store.

OK, well, what was going on in that corner of Indiana? I'm thinking cars. Studebaker was in South Bend and they were big. Lasted through the mid 60s... Maybe if Studebaker or someone like it sets up shop in Fort Wayne, that can be a seed for a budding metropolis?

Regardless of how big it gets, if For Wayne is Indiana's largest city, it is indeed more of a Great lakes city like Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland as opposed to Indianapolis which is further inland. As such, Indiana's economic center will be closely tied with those cities. We also see a greater continuum of the urban metropolis from Buffalo to Milwaukee. Fort Wayne will be on a railroad line on the way to Chicago from the Eastern cities as well. Ion the other hand, the interior of Indiana languishes and the southern part of the state, which has far stronger ties to the Inland South (southern Indianans even have southern accents), will feel quite alienated. Overall, Indiana's social and political development mirrors Ohio but with more extreme divisions between urban and rural.

 

[SmithAlien]

I grew up in the Fort Wayne area, so to see a thread on it piques my interest.

If Fort Wayne were Indiana's largest city, would its airport be much busier and larger (and maybe even have a European flight or two, like the current Indianapolis airport has)? Would the proposed highways through downtown have been built? Would there be a university medical center and children's hospital there instead of in Indianapolis where it is now? Too many questions and possibilities for me to imagine in a significantly enlarged Fort Wayne...