American Cities that could have been more prominent

[phx1138]

real estate brokers thought that the Bronx would become the heart of the Midtown commercial district.

So why didn't it?

 

[Kevin R.]

So why didn't it?

That... is actually a good question. The Bronx is quite a bit closer to the main transportation routes between New England and the rest of the country than Manhattan is. If Robert Moses hadn't gutted the South Bronx with the Cross-Bronx Expressway... maybe the Hub could've been the Bronx's Times Square?

As for the other three outer boroughs, I don't see them ever becoming anything more than suburbs of Manhattan. Staten Island and Brooklyn are too exposed to storms, and Brooklyn and especially Queens are too far from the Hudson River to take advantage of Erie Canal traffic (the Erie Canal was a matter of when, not if, in any TL where the state of New York has a clear route to Lake Erie). Newark, New Jersey, OTOH, is a distinct possibility. It also has access to the Hudson, yet is substantially more sheltered than Manhattan is. If the 1938 New England Hurricane had veered just sixty miles west and hit New York, it could've done to that city what the 1900 hurricane did to Galveston, driving population and business inland into Newark and the Bronx.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

That said, had the CPR gone on the northern route & ended in Prince George (unlikely?), Vancouver could be quite a bit smaller than it is. (Saskatoon & Calgary would probably be larger.)

Pretty much unthinkable, but there is a potentially even more interesting what if, involving a central route. The company was chartered with the intention of going to Victoria, and planned to build a fixed link somewhere north of Campbell River before following essentially the Esquimalt & Nanaimo route south. Island fixed link, significantly larger Victoria, bypassed Vancouver and much less practical connection to the mainland (though by the time the CPR got to BC the real threat of an American takeover had passed) all at once.

 

[Odd_Numbered_Bonaparte]

Cairo Illinois
Its a ghost town today but it used to be decently sized. Anyway its an island right at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
Its not hard to see that becoming a major hub.

 

[Shtudmuffin]

I'd like to think that St. Louis could have been much bigger than it is today.

 

[phx1138]

That... is actually a good question.

TY.

If Robert Moses hadn't gutted the South Bronx with the Cross-Bronx Expressway... maybe the Hub could've been the Bronx's Times Square?

The more I learn about him, the more I think somebody should have pushed him under a subway train.

 

[Workable Goblin]

As for the other three outer boroughs, I don't see them ever becoming anything more than suburbs of Manhattan. Staten Island and Brooklyn are too exposed to storms, and Brooklyn and especially Queens are too far from the Hudson River to take advantage of Erie Canal traffic (the Erie Canal was a matter of when, not if, in any TL where the state of New York has a clear route to Lake Erie). Newark, New Jersey, OTOH, is a distinct possibility. It also has access to the Hudson, yet is substantially more sheltered than Manhattan is. If the 1938 New England Hurricane had veered just sixty miles west and hit New York, it could've done to that city what the 1900 hurricane did to Galveston, driving population and business inland into Newark and the Bronx.

New York was waaaaaaaaaay too big and established by 1938 to get knocked off by a piddly little Category 3 hurricane. Galveston had an exceptionally poor natural position and was hit by an exceptionally strong hurricane, a bad combination under any circumstances; and Houston was already becoming a major port by the time Galveston was hit. I also have to point out that Galveston was hit by another major hurricane in 1915, something which is decidedly unlikely to occur in New York.

 

[imperialaquila]

If you somehow manage to alleviate or stop white flight, Baltimore, and most of the Rust Belt for that matter, is significantly better off. I could easily see a population exceeding 1 million, if you can stop white flight. The stadium idea from upthread is a good one too, I never knew that.

 

[Lyly]

Ft Smith, Arkansas. The Arkansas territory originally included much of OK, and Ft Smith was the major settlement and trade center for the region. Keep the territory united with a capital at Ft Smith, and we might be talking today about a much larger and nationally significant city on the order of Kansas City or St Louis opposed to the modest sized city that is there today.

It might even have more than one bookstore today too!

 

[FDW]

If you somehow manage to alleviate or stop white flight, Baltimore, and most of the Rust Belt for that matter, is significantly better off. I could easily see a population exceeding 1 million, if you can stop white flight. The stadium idea from upthread is a good one too, I never knew that.

Actually, Baltimore [technically does have a population over 1 Million, if you count the suburbs. (Which I always do)