Nearly all major cities in the US exist because of waterways. They developed early because of that. Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver are exceptions.
Atlanta started as the terminus (which was its first name) of a rail line coming down from Chattanooga. I'm not sure why it ended where it did, a town called Decatur is a few miles east and it could have ended there, or even just north of the river, maybe bridging wasn't an issue. The end is on a low ridge with no running water, it's basically a divide. Anyway, rail really changed a lot of things.
Cincinnati was the fourth largest city in the US circa 1880. Chicago had both water and was a major rail hub.