Upper Midwest ATL

What if the upper midwestern USA develops differently than OTL

Here's my scenario. Duluth and Superior diversify their economies in the early 1910s and weather the economic storm that destroys their once promising growth. Duluth has a population of 300K and superior around 150K and have a metro population of around 2 million.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul put an end to their rivalry and decide to merge and become one buroughed out city, a la New York City. Minneapolis is split into 5 boroughs and Saint Paul 4. The combined city then becomes the new city of Minnesota City, MN. Urban population: 800K. Most populated buroughs: New Warsaw (Present Day Northeast Minneapolis), North Mexico (Present day West Side of Saint Paul), Calhoun (Present Day Uptown) and Battle Creek (Present Day east side of Saint Paul) Metro population: 6M. The central new business district is situated between the former downtowns of both cities, now known as the boroughs of the arts-infused Minneapolis Heights and the old money filled borough of Old Saint Paul.

With the gas crisis which ensues during World War 2, Milwaukee becomes a secondary hub for vehicle production. Motorcycles become very big in the USA as a means for transportation since gas prices are at an equivalent 6$ a gallon during the Depression. Sales of the Model T fall sharply and Ford purchases the neighboring Detroit Motorcycle Company to compete with Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson.

The Detroit Motorcycle Company, introduces some small displacement, continuously variable transmission motorcycles which are considered these days to be ahead of its time. The Detroit Motorcycle Company then relocates to Grand Rapids and becomes Grand Rapids Motor Company. The small motorcycles enjoy some modest success, especially the 3 wheelers due to their better handling in the ice and snow of the Upper Midwest. They're considered niche products and kids toys throughout the life of the product but are still sought after because of their great gas mileage.

Italian motorcycle makers Piaggio introduces their own small displacement, CVT motorcycles with step through frames after WW2 is over. The popularity and comfort of the step through frames of the Italian motorcycles spell the end for the stand-over frame style of the GRMC. Forced to adjust to market forces Ford panics and spins off the GRMC into their own company. The GRMC then decides to introduce their own step-through style of motorcycles. The "Gremmics" as they are colloquially known as, recover their market share and become big hits in urban areas such as Minnesota City, New York City, Chicago, Boston and Kansas City.

General Mills spins off its consumer foods branch into the Des Moines Grain Company, which spurs a huge economic development in Des Moines. Des Moines has a population of 300K and a metro pop of 1.3M.

Rochester, MN is spared the tornado that destroyed the town in 1883. However, the need for a new Rochester area hospital is still felt after a rash of farm related injuries strike the Olmstead County, MN area and there are no hospitals around to treat the injured. The Mayo Brothers build their clinic, which trains some of the best doctors in the world 30 years later during WW1 and becomes a force in the medical community during WW2. It develops identically to OTL, although with a 20 year lag since there's no tornado which turns the city into rubble.
 
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There have been threads smiler to this in the past, but I will give it a go.

The rise of the Duluth-Superior metro region is largely attributable to the decision of the US Steel Corporation in 1906 to localize its new steel plants next to the Mesabi Range. (Gary Indiana is butterflied away) Considerable sums were spent expanding Duluth's rail infrastructure, and Superior's port facilities to better facilitate the import of coke and the export of steel and taconite ore. US Steel's investment's also lead towards the founding of the University of Minnesota's Duluth campus in 1918 as well as Superior industrial and technical college in 1924. These institutions provided the Duluth-Superior metro region with a highly skilled industrial workforce. Further industrial developments were brought about by the founding of Anderson-Schmidt as a partnership of two machine shop owners. Anderson-Schmidt would emerge as a significant global supplier of mining and excavating equipment.

Southeastern Wisconsin would emerge during the 1940's and 1950's as a secondary center of automotive manufacturing. This rise was brought about by the concentration of machine-shops, metal fabricators and parts manufacturers which rivaled similer regions in Ohio and Central Michigan. The Vanguard of this was led by Nash Motor's, Harley Davidson, and Johnson Controls. During this time period Milwaukee would expand enormously through a broad group of industries ranging from power-tools to brewing. The demand for land would result in a city county merger in 1948 with the city's metro population in 1980 peaking at just over a million inhabitants.

Milwaukee's rise in the postwar era is mostly attributable to Nash Motors. Nash survived the postwar era of Corporate consolidation and emerged as a member of the big 4 automakers. In the process it would acquire Hudson Motors, Willy's, and Oshkosh Truck. Nash's sucess was based upon three factors. The Rambler would emerge as the most popular line for domestic compact cars particular after the oil shocks of the 1970's, its jeep division became a major provider of trucks and light utility vehicles; the acquisition of Oshkosh Truck and its transformation into a Jeep in the early 80's transformed it into a major manufacturer of heavy duty and specialized vehicles.
 
I'm wondering whether the expansion of jobs in these cities would stop the decline in population in the rural areas of the region, or speed it up?
 
November 1938-Minnesota government drops tax for defense and agriculture industries. Increases tax on lumbering in order to try and push it into Wisconsin.
January 1939-The new zeal of a nice population base excites many businesses into moving towards Minneapolis. Honeywell expands. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing begins to build a flourishing new brand of tape that is the Scotch Tape brand, but with new waterproofing technology to make it better and more applicable to different markets
September 1939-War breaks out in Europe. President Roosevelt calls for Americans to keep calm. President Roosevelt, fearing the worst for America, begins to ask mining companies throughout the Iron Range to step up production, in exchange for reduced taxes and increased subsidies.
January 1940-Thanks to the quickly expanding Mayo clinic, Merck and Company relocate to Rochester, Minnesota.
March 1940-Farmers Mutual Insurance, with five hundred thousand dollars builds a wing called "Farm Mutual Chicago" the flood of insurance buyers in Chicago causes FARM to get large amounts of cash quickly, and quickly surpasses 10 million dollars in cash, becoming a rich company in the mid-west. Farmers Mutual pours hundreds of thousands of dollars into the University of Wisconsin, increasing its excellence in both academics and athletics.
May 1940-France falls to the Nazis. Roosevelt quietly funds more money to Enrico Fermi's nuclear team. Fermi draws up plans for a back-up site in rural Wisconsin should the University's plant be sabotaged.
March 1941-Lend Lease supplies to the UK and China greatly bolster the Minnesotan economy, due to the increased amount of iron being mined and sold to defense industries.
May 1941-Fermi's backup nuclear plant breaks ground near Round Lake, Wisconsin.
December 7th 1941-Pearl Harbor is attacked.
1942-In addition, fears of bombings of the West Coast due to the successful military campaigns of Japan (while largely irrational) spark many Americans to move inland. Milwaukee, Chicago, Springfield, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Superior benefit greatly.
March 1942-"Fermi's Child" as the Round Lake Reactor is known as, is completed.
1943-The Minnesota National Guard takes severe casualties in Alaska. Nearly 300 MNNG units are killed. President Roosevelt flies to Minneapolis to give a speech on staying in the fight.
1944-RLR successfully generates power, though not on the grid, this is a massive break through. RLR sector 2 begins enriching U-235
June 1944-Minneapolis has reached a population of 650 thousand. By January 1945, Minneapolis is the 10th largest city in the USA.
August 1945-Two nuclear bombs are dropped on Japan. The Hiroshima bomb is notable for having its Uran-235 enriched in Wisconsin.
January 1946-The metro area of Minneapolis-St.Paul has now reached 2 million.

Might have gone way ASB somewhere, but I kind of stopped caring :v
 
November 1938-Minnesota government drops tax for defense and agriculture industries. Increases tax on lumbering in order to try and push it into Wisconsin.
January 1939-The new zeal of a nice population base excites many businesses into moving towards Minneapolis.Honeywell expands. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturingbegins to build a flourishing new brand of tape that is the Scotch Tape brand, but with new waterproofing technology to make it better and more applicable to different markets
September 1939-War breaks out in Europe. President Roosevelt calls for Americans to keep calm. President Roosevelt, fearing the worst for America, begins to ask mining companies throughout the Iron Range to step up production, in exchange for reduced taxes and increased subsidies.
January 1940-Thanks to the quickly expanding Mayo clinic, Merck and Company relocate to Rochester, Minnesota.
March 1940-Farmers Mutual Insurance, with five hundred thousand dollars builds a wing called "Farm Mutual Chicago" the flood of insurance buyers in Chicago causes FARM to get large amounts of cash quickly, and quickly surpasses 10 million dollars in cash, becoming a rich company in the mid-west. Farmers Mutual pours hundreds of thousands of dollars into the University of Wisconsin, increasing its excellence in both academics and athletics.
May 1940-France falls to the Nazis. Roosevelt quietly funds more money to Enrico Fermi's nuclear team. Fermi draws up plans for a back-up site in rural Wisconsin should the University's plant be sabotaged.
March 1941-Lend Lease supplies to the UK and China greatly bolster the Minnesotan economy, due to the increased amount of iron being mined and sold to defense industries.
May 1941-Fermi's backup nuclear plant breaks ground near Round Lake, Wisconsin.
December 7th 1941-Pearl Harbor is attacked.
1942-In addition, fears of bombings of the West Coast due to the successful military campaigns of Japan (while largely irrational) spark many Americans to move inland. Milwaukee, Chicago, Springfield, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Superior benefit greatly.
March 1942-"Fermi's Child" as the Round Lake Reactor is known as, is completed.
1943-The Minnesota National Guard takes severe casualties in Alaska. Nearly 300 MNNG units are killed. President Roosevelt flies to Minneapolis to give a speech on staying in the fight.
1944-RLR successfully generates power, though not on the grid, this is a massive break through. RLR sector 2 begins enriching U-235
June 1944-Minneapolis has reached a population of 650 thousand. By January 1945, Minneapolis is the 10th largest city in the USA.
August 1945-Two nuclear bombs are dropped on Japan. The Hiroshima bomb is notable for having its Uran-235 enriched in Wisconsin.
January 1946-The metro area of Minneapolis-St.Paul has now reached 2 million.

Might have gone way ASB somewhere, but I kind of stopped caring :v


A few problems with your timeline. First, 3M is located in the Saint Paul area (Maplewood, MN), not Minneapolis. Second, until the 1930s or 40s, Saint Paul was the principal city in MN, not Minneapolis. Most likely, Minneapolis would have been dwarfed by Saint Paul in population if 3M grew larger than it did OTL. In fact, if things went according to plan when both cities were being planned, Saint Paul would be the big city and MPLS would be a large satellite city. Rochester's development and current size is more dependent on an act of God rather than inevitability. Rochester has no major navigable rivers nor is it on any trade routes. The only way Rochester would grow into the city it is today is because of the EF5 tornado that ripped through the city's outskirts. EF5 tornadoes are rare in those parts and tornadoes are too random of events to base a timeline on. Superior wouldn't be the largest city in the Twin Ports area in most timelines, save for a Mini-Motown timeline in Milwaukee. Superior's farther away from the iron mines than Duluth.
 
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