Timeline of the first 10k for major US cities

[iheartthed]

See when the primary city of each major metro first hit 10k in population. The list is limited to the primary city of the top 51 metros, excluding Riverside.

1790 (first census)
Baltimore
Boston
Chesapeake-Norfolk-Virginia Beach (Va Beach is the current largest, but Chesapeake was the first city in the modern metro to reach 10k)
New York
Philadelphia


1810
Providence
New Orleans (Louisiana Purchase completed in 1803)
Washington (Washington became the capital in 1800)


1820
Richmond


1830 (river cities start to explode after Louisiana purchase)
Cincinnati
Louisville
Pittsburgh


1840
Buffalo
St. Louis


1850 (Great Lakes cities take off)
Chicago
Cleveland
Columbus
Detroit
Hartford
Milwaukee
Nashville
San Francisco (gold rush of 1849)


1860
Indianapolis
Memphis
Minneapolis-St. Paul (last major river city, St. Paul reached 10k first)
Sacramento


1870 (transcontinental railroad completed in 1869)
Atlanta
Grand Rapids (last major Great Lakes city)
Kansas City
Salt Lake City
San Antonio


1880 (the boom of the west takes off, enabled by railroads)
Austin
Dallas
Denver
Houston
Los Angeles
Portland
San Jose


1890 (the last big spurt of major cities created by the railroads)
Birmingham
Charlotte
Jacksonville
Raleigh
San Diego
Seattle


1900 (Spanish American War ended in 1898; US takes control of Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, feeding the growth of South Florida)
Oklahoma City
Tampa


1910 (electric air conditioning invented in 1903)
Phoenix


1920
Miami


1930
Orlando


1950
Las Vegas

[pj3000]

Interesting look at how the cities are grouped coinciding with historical growth periods.

However, I highly doubt the invention of electric mechanical air conditioning had anything to do with Phoenix reaching 10k in population by 1910. I wouldn't think that there was any air conditioning in Phoenix at that time. "Modern" air conditioning wasn't widely available until the 1950s. Even swamp coolers weren't around until the 40s. There must be some other reason for Phoenix's early growth.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Interesting look at how the cities are grouped coinciding with historical growth periods.

However, I highly doubt the invention of electric mechanical air conditioning had anything to do with Phoenix reaching 10k in population by 1910. I wouldn't think that there was any air conditioning in Phoenix at that time. "Modern" air conditioning wasn't widely available until the 1950s. Even swamp coolers weren't around until the 40s. There must be some other reason for Phoenix's early growth.

Yeah, I believe it was a railroad depot. But air conditioning seems critical for all of the cities that reached 10k after Phoenix.

[PHX31]

Interesting. I would have never guessed Phoenix reached 10k before Miami. And similarly Salt Lake City before Denver - although I suppose the Mormon Pioneers have something to do with that.

[pj3000]

I think Phoenix, Miami, and Orlando probably had a handful of buildings that were air conditioned by the 1930s, but I doubt too much earlier. I think the first air conditioned building was in NY in the late 20s. So I don't think air conditioning of any type was widely available for residential application until well after these cities hit 10k in pop.

But there's no doubt that advancement and the proliferation of air conditioning 100% enabled these cities to be what they are today.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I think Phoenix, Miami, and Orlando probably had a handful of buildings that were air conditioned by the 1930s, but I doubt too much earlier. I think the first air conditioned building was in NY in the late 20s. So I don't think air conditioning of any type was widely available for residential application until well after these cities hit 10k in pop.

But there's no doubt that advancement and the proliferation of air conditioning 100% enabled these cities to be what they are today.

Phoenix and Orlando also remained pretty small until after 1950. Phoenix didn't hit 100k until 1950 and Orlando not until 1980.

Miami grew much faster, but that reminded me that I missed pointing out an event, so thanks for reminding me of that. Miami grew after the Spanish American War.

[lio45]

Regardless of the gold rush, San Francisco couldn't show up before the 1850 census anyway, for the same reason New Orleans doesn't show up until the 1810 census.

(NOLA probably met the threshold in 1800 while San Francisco probably didn't in 1840, but still, they both showed up in the 10k+ category in the very first census for each.)

[lio45]

Originally Posted by pj3000

However, I highly doubt the invention of electric mechanical air conditioning had anything to do with Phoenix reaching 10k in population by 1910. I wouldn't think that there was any air conditioning in Phoenix at that time. "Modern" air conditioning wasn't widely available until the 1950s. Even swamp coolers weren't around until the 40s. There must be some other reason for Phoenix's early growth.

I'd say 10k is a low enough threshold to be reachable without creature comforts, i.e. a glorified work camp can actually reach that level, if local wealth/resources are high enough to make up for an unpleasant climate without modern mitigation measures.

However, to see a metro of many million people like it is today, in Phoenix's climate, A/C is obviously mandatory, yes. (Same with Miami and Orlando.)

[Obadno]

Broadly speaking air conditioning didn't become common until the 1960's which is why you see the major sunbelt booms begin in the 1960's

People have lived in the Phoenix area and similar climates for thousands of years. The reason people were there is because of agriculture. Today what is sprawl would have looked like this:



Despite what you would think outside of the hottest days (115+) shade, water and a breeze make it more than manageable to deal with low humidity. And even if not, the truth is you can survive in very hot temperatures with water and shade, unfortunately you won't be very comfortable, but you won't die.

People have been living in Arid River valleys for literally 10,000+ years.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by lio45

Regardless of the gold rush, San Francisco couldn't show up before the 1850 census anyway, for the same reason New Orleans doesn't show up until the 1810 census.

(NOLA probably met the threshold in 1800 while San Francisco probably didn't in 1840, but still, they both showed up in the 10k+ category in the very first census for each.)

Neither city registered a 10k population prior to their states being admitted to the Union.

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by pj3000

I think Phoenix, Miami, and Orlando probably had a handful of buildings that were air conditioned by the 1930s, but I doubt too much earlier. I think the first air conditioned building was in NY in the late 20s. So I don't think air conditioning of any type was widely available for residential application until well after these cities hit 10k in pop.

But there's no doubt that advancement and the proliferation of air conditioning 100% enabled these cities to be what they are today.

Originally Posted by Obadno

Broadly speaking air conditioning didn't become common until the 1960's which is why you see the major sunbelt booms begin in the 1960's

People have lived in the Phoenix area and similar climates for thousands of years. The reason people were there is because of agriculture.

Yeah, the first air conditioned building in Phoenix was the Westward Ho in 1929.

Phoenix was still very much a farming community in 1910. Its initial boom was probably facilitated by the railroads that arrived in 1887 and 1895, as well as the National Reclamation Act, which funded the damming of the Salt River, first with Granite Reef dam in 1908, and later with the Roosevelt Dam in 1911.

[The North One]

1950 for Las Vegas is insane. That place was literally built yesterday.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Neither city registered a 10k population prior to their states being admitted to the Union.

Actually, that's incorrect, at least in the case of San Francisco.

California was admitted as a US state in 1850.

SF's population in 1848: 1,000
In 1849: 25,000

Per Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogr..._San_Francisco

[edale]

Cincinnati was just short of the 10k mark in 1820, but if you include the Northern Kentucky river cities of Newport (founded 1795) and Covington (1814) and other towns that were established earlier than Cincinnati and eventually annexed by it later in the 1800s, like Columbia (1788), it was definitely over 10,000.

[dave8721]

In Miami's case the growth after 1920 was supercharged, similar to the growth of Las Vegas after 1950. It went from a couple hundred people to 10k by 1920 to 100k by about 1925. It was 110k at 1930 due to the 1926 hurricane which devastated the growing city. It grew back up to 250k in the tiny city limits by 1950.

I wonder if we will ever see cities grow out of nothing like that again?

It hit 10k by 1920 but by 1925 it looked like this:


by the 1930s:

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Actually, that's incorrect, at least in the case of San Francisco.

California was admitted as a US state in 1850.

SF's population in 1848: 1,000
In 1849: 25,000

Per Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogr..._San_Francisco

Perhaps, but 1850 would have been SF's first +10k census whether or not California was a state already.

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by dave8721

In Miami's case the growth after 1920 was supercharged, similar to the growth of Las Vegas after 1950. It went from a couple hundred people to 10k by 1920 to 100k by about 1925. It was 110k at 1930 due to the 1926 hurricane which devastated the growing city. It grew back up to 250k in the tiny city limits by 1950.

That's insane. 'Biggest percentage population jump between censuses' would be a good separate thread. Miami's 440.5% between 1920 and 1930 is one of the biggest I've seen, especially because it had relatively high raw numbers. Chicago jumping 570.3% between 1840 and 1850 is crazy too.

[craigs]

Los Angeles County hit 10,000 residents in the 1860 Census. I realize that's an orange in this thread about apples, but I bring it up because the city proper covered only a small area then, and due to annexation, most of the county population in 1860 lived in what became parts of the city proper. I also realize that scenario is not unique to LA (hello Philly, New York, and Boston).

[bobdreamz]

Originally Posted by muertecaza

That's insane. 'Biggest percentage population jump between censuses' would be a good separate thread. Miami's 440.5% between 1920 and 1930 is one of the biggest I've seen, especially because it had relatively high raw numbers. Chicago jumping 570.3% between 1840 and 1850 is crazy too.

Also take into account how young of a city Miami is. It just celebrated it 127th. Birthday last week.
When Miami hit 10k in 1920 it was only 24 years old.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

Also take into account how young of a city Miami is. It just celebrated it 127th. Birthday last week.
When Miami hit 10k in 1920 it was only 24 years old.

Chicago reached 10k in about a decade from incorporation.