Going Back to 1850: Line Graph Shows L.A.'s Rise to #2 Largest U.S. City
Los Angeles, take a bow. According to an eyesore posted by L.A. Taco, you stand sprawl tall wide and proud as America's second largest city. While this news is hardly breaking, the city's growth history proves interesting to examine, even if the presentation makes it difficult.
Beginning in 1790, the line graph depicts population growth by decade of the largest U.S. cities via slender, colorful lines scrawled against a grey background. Represented by a dark blue line, L.A. enters the graph in 1850 when it was incorporated as a municipality, two years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred California to the U.S. A notable population boost occurs around 1876, the year the Transcontinental Railroad reached completion. From there it's been a mostly steady climb for the City of Angels. The 2010 Census totals L.A.'s population at 3,792,621.
Most cities show progressive increases in population, and L.A.'s dramatic spike to the number two spot positions it just above Chicago but below NYC - all housing over one million humans and ascending towards the ten million mark.
After several attempts to read further into the numbers, we gave up due to crossed-eyes and headaches. L.A., you're brimming with design talent. Somebody please fix that graph.
