How Most U.S. Cities Are Insanely Well Located

▶ In this video I talk about the location choices for the establishment of cities in the United States of America. Discussing the key points related to the locations and success of major cities in the United States, having their locations usually chosen based on factors such as freshwater supply, suitable terrain for food production, strategic location, and access to resources. And then highlighting some specific cities: Chicago a portage point between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, making it a crucial transportation hub. New York City: a natural harbor and port, particularly with the construction of the Erie Canal. New Orleans: the mouth of the Mississippi River, enabling close trade connections with various regions. San Francisco: The discovery of gold in nearby Sierra Nevada led to a rapid population increase and the city's success, despite natural disasters. Jacksonville: at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Los Angeles: the discovery of oil, access to freshwater through an aqueduct, a busy container port, and the growth of the film industry. Houston: Its proximity to Trinity Bay, the discovery of oil and NASA facilities further fueled its growth. Dallas: succeeded through factors like favorable tax laws, travel, tourism, and artificial lakes to address water supply issues. And Anchorage: at the confluence of rivers, deep waters for shipping, and access to the Matanuska valley contributed to its growth, especially with the discovery of gold.

▶ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:50 How Location Choices Are Made
03:08 Understanding Location Choices
03:22 Chicago, Illinois
06:09 New York City, New York
07:51 New Orleans, Lousiana
09:27 San Francisco, California
10:55 Jacksonville, Florida
12:04 Los Angeles, California
13:14 Houston, Texas
14:24 Dallas, Texas
15:04 Anchorage, Alaska
16:04 Summary

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[General.Knowledge]

*Which is your favorite city in the US?*

[tabletgenesis]

*Most countries:* The lands near this river are fertile for agriculture, feeding the population, and obviously there's water in the river. Enemies will struggle to efficiently cross this river, saving at least half the city.
*Mexico:* There's an eagle holding a snake in its mouth on top of a catcus.

[markmh]

The fact that the "film industry" is based in Los Angeles is NOT "circumstantial, " as you said. (In comparison to the space industry/NASA being in Houston, which IS purely circumstantial due to Lyndon Johnson being president AND from Texas AND wanting NASA to put Mission Control in Houston; he made it happen.) Within 100 miles of Los Angeles in every direction is virtually every kind of terrain and habitat imaginable, making it the perfect place to locate a movie industry which must film outdoor scenes in all sorts of settings. Since you could find all sorts of outdooe settings within a close drive to L.A., it was ideal for movie studios to keep costs down. No other U.S. city can claim this.

[charlessalzman]

Hollywood is totally a location choice. It is in close proximity to mountains, forests, deserts, and the coast. So many environments in close proximity was a money saver for the studios. Additionally, the mild weather and sunny days meant that films could be shot year round and would rarely be interrupted by poor weather.

[ARabidPie]

Some other's to add to this list:
Seattle-Tacoma - Located on the Puget Sound, a massive natural harbor. Gateway to the Alaskan gold rush. Terminus of the northern transcontinental railway. Massive timber resources.
Denver - Basically exists because it's the last stop before crossing the Rocky Mountains and sits near the head of the South Platte River which flows into the Missouri river. 1858 Gold Rush.
Detroit - Located on the Detroit River connecting the upper and lower Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
St. Luis - Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Was the gateway to the west.
El Paso - Railroad hub, Rio Grande river, US-Mexico border crossing.

Outside the US, but nearby you also have:
Montreal, Canada - Located on a river confluence. The core of the city is on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence, making it incredibly defensible. Its location on the St. Lawrence makes it a major port for Canada and the Great Lake region.
Calgary, Canada - Extremely fertile soil. Oil.

[chironpl]

What made Chicago important was the coincidence of having a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. The building of the Erie canal brought commerce up the Hudson and then to the Great Lakes. Then the Illinois & Michigan canal expanded Chicago's role as a transportation hub. Once railroad began to be built they naturally filled in the role of the next major transportation means and kept Chicago as the major hub

[ThePattyO]

Another one to add: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Minneapolis was founded at St. Anthony Falls, the most significant natural waterfall on the Mississippi River. Minneapolis is the head of navigation for the Mississippi; it's the furthest upriver that barges and boats can travel. The falls were harnessed to directly power Minneapolis's mills. Northern Minnesota forests were cut down and floated downriver to be cut at Minneapolis, and wheat grown throughout the Midwest was carried by train to Minneapolis to be ground into flour. By the mid-1880s, Minneapolis was the largest producer of flour in the world. (General Mills and Pillsbury [later a subsidiary of General Mills], two of the most well-known food producing companies, both got their start as Minneapolis flour mills.) Minneapolis also became a center of banking and finance due to the milling industry, and banking is still a major part of the regional economy.

[mihaiazimioara]

Very interesting video, as always! One point that you might have missed regarding Houson: until 1900, the neighboring Galveston was the more important and famos city. After the hurricane that year, Galveston was devastated and Huston took its place in the region.

[kevinblatter]

Being a SF Bay Area native, I feel a need to correct a few things: 1) The western terminus of the transcontinental RR was Sacramento, not SF. A passenger could take a ferry from Sacramento to SF though. 2) SF is in close proximation to Central Valley and California Delta which has some of the most fertile farmland in the world. 3) San Jose, not SF was the hub of the technology boom of the latter half of the 20th century. SF was a financial hub, not a technology hub. 4) In the 21st century, SF has indeed become a tech hub, but that is only in the last 25 or so years.

[kathleenhudson]

One of the big reasons for population growth in Los Angeles has always been attraction to the climate.

[jackmccool]

Chicago was probably the best on this list because
A. Chicago is almost immune to natural disasters and flooding because it lives in the interior of the USA

B. The place its located is amazing in general with enough land to expand in.

And C. It drinks from a stable freshwater lake instead of imported salt water

[normanhairston]

The popular narrative about Gary, IN, adjacent to Chicago, is that the steel industry collapsed, leaving the city derelict. The truth is, precisely because of its excellent location, US Steel closed down virtually all of its primary steelmaking in Pennsylvania and other locations and consolidated into Gary. However, with that consolidation came massive automation, increasing steel production in Gary while cutting the workforce by over 80%. In addition to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watershed transportation, Gary also boasts 2 of the 3 coast-to-coast interstates (80 & 90), one of the three Great Lakes to Gulf Coast interstates (65), an international airport, commuter rail access to Downtown Chicago, and 8 of the 12 major east-west rail lines pass through the area. This is not to mention a temperate climate that can better accommodate some degree of global warming and the fact that it sits on the Great Lakes which are 20% of the world's liquid fresh water. Location, location, location.

[jamesleyda]

Seattle/Tacoma are awesomly located for many reasons not mentioned in this show. They are used to being ignored too

[MercenaryJedi]

The Fall Line on the Eastern Seaboard is an excellent example of geography determining the location of major cities. Because the waterfalls and rapids limit how far upstream boats can proceed, there are two locations on all of the major rivers where waterborne traffic must stop: the mouths of rivers, where oceangoing ships must transfer to river boats, and the Fall Line, where cargo must be moved overland or transferred to ships above the falls. As a result, major cities are found near these locations. Nearly every state along the Fall Line has its capital located on the line, as well as Washington, DC. Georgia used to have its capital along the Fall Line, but the rise of railroads resulted in the capital being moved to the hub of Atlanta.

[gregshonle]

One very important thing missing from the criteria: viable overland transportation (i.e. the railroads, back in the day). Back then, if there weren't a river for transportation, the only other option was getting a major railroad to extend their tracks to your city. If the Dallas/Fort Worth area had not been able to orchestrate the ending of cattle drives with the railroad routes arriving, it is likely that neither would be a major city today. Denver likely only rose to significance due to gold discoveries in the area. Much of Colorado's development was due to the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad's expansion through the state.

[LaMont]

Cincinnati is almost directly west of dc by 500 miles. It’s 500 miles north of Atlanta. Less than 500 miles from Chicago. Ohio river leads directly into the gulf. Less than 2 hrs from Columbus and Indianapolis. We can drive to Toronto and Atlanta relatively in the same time frame.

[kalebwieland]

Do a part two! I'd love to see some of the other large (but somewhat not large cities compared to the other large cities like Grand Rapids, MI or El Paso, Texas.

[christopherbolander]

Chicago was just taking off as a railway hub when the 1871 fire hit, making it doubly important for transportation. Years later came air travel and again Chicago was perfectly located to become America's first busiest airport.

[TracyII]

Due to the geographic advantages that you described, Chicago is the home to many freight companies, including UPS. It is also home to many distribution centers for a variety of companies and a popular choice for foreign companies to set-up there US sales offices.

Thanks to the same water system as Chicago and access to many nearby resources (farming, forests, mines, and oil), Detroit became a manufacturing hub early on. This then led to it being the center of car manufacturing in the US and a key to WWII production. For a short time after WWII, Detroit was the richest city in the world.

What made Detroit a better choice for major manufacturing over Chicago is its proximity to Pennsylvania, especially Pittsburgh. At the beginning of the 1900's, Pennsylvania was one of the top producers of oil and steel.

[rpgbb]

Actually it’s not circumstantial that Hollywood developed in LA. Originally the movie industry was based in New Jersey but because of the weather, they eventually moved to LA