Quote:
Originally Posted by Centropolis
i'm not sure about Pittsburgh but St. Louis was one of the earliest (if not earliest, excepting Pittsburgh I imagine which is arguably not midwestern per say) midwestern cities to decline, and was doing so while Detroit was in full swing boom.
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Pittsburgh is not part of the midwest. However, it's true that stagnation set in a lot earlier in Pittsburgh than elsewhere. It's the main reason why Pittsburgh didn't end up with a large black population like other rust belt metros. The period of rapid employment growth basically ended around 1920 - right when immigration restrictions kicked in - meaning we didn't need to have southern blacks and hillbillies in order to keep the mills fully staffed (local population was enough).