Did Milwaukee try to save itself through annexation?
I was looking for a correlation between 1950s population density in Midwest cities and population decline, and noticed that some of the cities we're talking about have increased in area. Milwaukee's current population density is 48% of what it was in 1950, which makes it look a lot more like its non-Chicago neighbors Cleveland (42% of 1950 density), St. Louis (37%), Pittsburgh (45%), and Detroit (39%), than Chicago (70%). Columbus, OH (39%) showed a similar drop in population density, and like Milwaukee, has also grown substantially in land area since 1950.
Minneapolis (81% of 1950) is the only major city that has retained mid-century density better than Chicago (70%). Cincinnati (57%) is the only other Midwest city to retain at least 50% of 1950 density.
Indianapolis (29%) and Kansas City (25%) showed the worst declines in population density, but also grew substantially in land area.
source for 1950s numbers:
https://www.census.gov/population/ww...0027/tab18.txt