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Originally Posted by jmecklenborg
What are these business advantages? It's located at the dead-end of a minor inland waterway, not as a hub of northbound or southbound traffic on the giant Mississippi, like Memphis. It's got a railroad named after it but so does Louisville. It has interstates fanning in several directions but...so does every other city. It has a major research university but so does Pittsburgh...and Cleveland...Ithaca, NY and other areas that aren't growing.
The other cities in Tennessee enjoy the same tax environment. Memphis is on the Mississippi and way closer to the big cities in Texas. Chattanooga is way closer to Atlanta. Knoxville has the flagship state university.
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I don't know what else to say, but I think your concept of what makes a city boom is a bit out of date. The short answer is it's just critical mass at the right time for Nashville.
Those advantages you list certainly applied years ago, especially manufacturing bases, navigable water and rail lines. In their place arose the importance of being regional hubs for more 'white collar' (i.e. professional) jobs. Two of the earliest dominant industries in Nashville was insurance and publishing. Before Music City, we were (still are) known as Athens of the South. As the state's capital, Nashville has always been a 'white collar' hub, and Vandy's appearance in the 1870s cinched that direction for the city. During the second half of the 20th century, trucking products across country became feasible and more flexible than rail. Nashville being a hub of 3 Interstates is extremely attractive for that reason. Lots of logistics companies based here.
Most of the cities you named were late in moving away from their old style industrial base toward more modern industries that grew far faster after WW2. And that presented opportunities for other cities. Look at Charlotte, a small city 70 years ago that seized on its advantages in the Finance sector. Now it surpasses nearly all those traditional financial centers. Perhaps no city has languished in that time more than Louisville, which was a top 10 city at the beginning of the 19th Century. As a Southern city, it was one of the premier hubs right up to WW2. From what I know of the city, I don't think there was a whole lot they could have done to change their destiny. The great migration south had begun. Manufacturing changed and distribution of those goods changed with it. Those were what I referred to above a National Trends.
Maybe I haven't made the case for healthcare and media strongly enough. The quaint notion of "Music City" being boots and fiddles is no longer the bulk of that industry here. It's PRODUCTION and PUBLISHING and PROMOTING. Sure, the tourism is what outsiders associate out of their ignorance with Nashville because they have no clue as to its size and influence around the world. It's been called the "Third Coast" for decades because so much post-production was done here. If anything, Nashville has lagged in the Convention sector, but once again the timing may be on Nashville's side. I just saw yesterday that our city is a top contender for hosting the 2024 Republican Convention.
I named several advantages above that distinguish Nashville from its peers. With the most diverse economy in the South, we have more Fortune 500 companies than most of our peers and a thriving startup scene. Nearly all of those F500 Cos are homegrown, unlike so many in Atlanta and Dallas. Venture Capital is a huge factor in determining where companies locate or start, and Nashville's VC base took off around 2000. The innovation of Nashville's workforce has a long history of businesses founded here that became large corporations such as HCA, Equitable, American Express, Frito-Lay, Maxwell House, Martha White, Dollar General, and Several national restaurant chains. There was even a car manufacturer back in the early 20th century. Then there's new manufacturing. A study released last week noted that Tennessee leads the South in alternative energy development. Also the power of the healthcare industry (specifically the private sector) is enormous. Not only is it high-growth, but it spawns so many related businesses as it changes rapidly. I mentioned the music industry. Finally, don't underestimate the power of Vandy, especially when an institution like that provides billions in research each year. Not only does it bring bright young people to the city for school, more and more are deciding to stay in Nashville after graduation.
I apologize for the bit of stream-of-conscious nature of this post. (Can you tell I'm in music promotion LOL?) I typeid this fast, but if that doesn't lay out many advantages that our peers surely envy, I don't know what else to tell you. Remember that growth has potential of becoming a self-generating force. I remember the old saying in Dallas back in the 1980s was that growth was our top industry. Of course that was before the oil bust.