Article Cleanup 

For my own reference (or anyone else should they happen to feel like taking a stab at it): 
This was a version from early '08 which was very stub-like: concise, but not very informative. 
This is the first version where it was rearranged topically. The catch is that all of the topical information is still historical. 
The article should be examined from a modern perspective and revised under Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities/US Guideline. Take a look at examples from Category:FA-Class WikiProject Cities articles (or even the recently delisted New York City).