4 ms·

> I noticed this looking at a satellite photo of Nebraska recently — the towns lit up following a major East/West interstate across the state. At least for the

> I noticed this looking at a satellite photo of Nebraska recently — the towns lit up following a major East/West interstate across the state. At least for the midwest - specifically west of Chicago, the way I always heard it was that the towns are fairly equally spaced (look at a night-time light map of the US) because there needed to be a rewatering / refueling place for steam engines, so towns popped up at the range of steam engine service intervals. I bet the towns existed on a nice line (the rail line) first, and then it made sense to put the interstate parallel to the existing towns.

trevin 3y ago
Yes this sort of things fascinates me - the links from the past explain how fundamental things are structured today. A Harvard professor has a few books about this and talks specifically about how railroads stops from way back when are responsible for much of the layout of suburbia today. I'd imagine much of the placement of things is based on railroads from the steam era. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388804.Outside_Lies_Magic https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388804.Outside_Lies_Magi...
- yayitswei 3y ago
  Fun related story re: links to the past https://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html https://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html
bombcar 3y ago
Even away from the railroads towns would space "roughly" equally if there was nothing else to distinguish them, because they'd be travel destinations for those around them. Something like a day's travel between, which becomes more dense over time, with places appearing roughly at midpoints.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ghaff 3y ago
  Yeah. If you fly over the Midwest on a clear day, a lot of it is almost a cookie-cutter pattern.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Driving those grids off-freeway (and even off-highway) you come through town and town again, and sometimes it's really clear why there's a town (say, you pass over a river or by a lake in or next to the town) and others are more like what was said "a town that exists only so the map won't be too empty". My favorite part of it is road jogging: https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-1-of-3/ https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-1-of-3/ - because a curved earth can't take flat maps and 1 mile squares without something breaking. (part 2 https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-2-of-3/ https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-2-of-3/ and part 3 https://aewinc.com/finally-why-do-roads-jog-at-some-intersections/ https://aewinc.com/finally-why-do-roads-jog-at-some-intersec... as they didn't link well)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
analyte123 3y ago
The distance a horse can travel in a day (25-40 miles) is another common distance between towns.
- nradov 3y ago
  Many of California's original cities grew up around Missions, which were constructed to be roughly a day's journey on horseback apart. https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/california-missions/ https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/california-missio...

trevin 3y ago

Yes this sort of things fascinates me - the links from the past explain how fundamental things are structured today. A Harvard professor has a few books about this and talks specifically about how railroads stops from way back when are responsible for much of the layout of suburbia today. I'd imagine much of the placement of things is based on railroads from the steam era. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388804.Outside_Lies_Magic https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/388804.Outside_Lies_Magi...

yayitswei 3y ago
Fun related story re: links to the past https://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html https://www.astrodigital.org/space/stshorse.html

bombcar 3y ago

Even away from the railroads towns would space "roughly" equally if there was nothing else to distinguish them, because they'd be travel destinations for those around them. Something like a day's travel between, which becomes more dense over time, with places appearing roughly at midpoints.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ghaff 3y ago
Yeah. If you fly over the Midwest on a clear day, a lot of it is almost a cookie-cutter pattern.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Driving those grids off-freeway (and even off-highway) you come through town and town again, and sometimes it's really clear why there's a town (say, you pass over a river or by a lake in or next to the town) and others are more like what was said "a town that exists only so the map won't be too empty". My favorite part of it is road jogging: https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-1-of-3/ https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-1-of-3/ - because a curved earth can't take flat maps and 1 mile squares without something breaking. (part 2 https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-2-of-3/ https://aewinc.com/why-do-roads-jog-part-2-of-3/ and part 3 https://aewinc.com/finally-why-do-roads-jog-at-some-intersections/ https://aewinc.com/finally-why-do-roads-jog-at-some-intersec... as they didn't link well)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

analyte123 3y ago

The distance a horse can travel in a day (25-40 miles) is another common distance between towns.

nradov 3y ago
Many of California's original cities grew up around Missions, which were constructed to be roughly a day's journey on horseback apart. https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/california-missions/ https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/california-missio...