Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine is one of the furthest northeast major cities in America, and its historic dock area along the harbor is lined with warehouses and other commercial buildings that reflect its rich heritage. Further up the hill, the mansions once owned by the ship captains who once sailed out of Portland still stand, testaments to the wealthy of this city.

Named after Louis XVI of France for his support of the American Revolution, Louisville, Kentucky was founded at the rapids in the Ohio River, taking advantage of the boats needing to transfer over land at this strategic point. Today, the city has many historic neighborhoods that lie on the south side of the river and Louisville’s downtown, as well as one of the last remaining Marine Hospitals.

Further south than Richmond, the town of Cairo lies at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, protected by massive levies at the southernmost point in Illinois. The site of lynchings in the early Twentieth Century, Cairo was torn apart due to out of control racism that caused the town to lose the majority of its population. Now a shadow of itself, Cairo is most known for its streets full of vacant buildings and empty lots.

Taking advantage of one of the canals that crisscrossed Ohio, Dayton, grew to be an industrial city in the Nineteenth Century. Later, the Wright Brothers would build their first airplanes in the city, leaving a lasting heritage in Dayton. Today, the city struggles with disinvestment and abandonment.

The “Gateway to the Ozarks, Springfield, Missouri is the product of the railroads in the years after the Civil War, which saw a major early battle of that conflict fought just to the west of the city. Due to the railroad first passing to the north, Springfield has two centers of commercial development that have seen revitalization in the last several decades after disinvestment in the late Twentieth Century.

The state capital of Indiana, the city of Indianapolis sits in the middle of the state. A modern metropolis laid out as a planned city with a grid and diagonal streets radiating out from a central square, Indianapolis has many historic buildings and neighborhoods that point to its rich heritage dating back to the early 1800s.