The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Athens is the county seat, it would survive in much smaller form, akin to Jeffersonville to its north.  The suburbs of ATL are beginning to encroach.  

The state built a four lane highway to Athens a while back and is now converting it to limited access (at great expense) and that will encourage folks to move further out.  I hear occasional murmurs about some train connection but don't expect that.  For some reason no one can figure out, building more freeway lanes doesn't cure the traffic problem ....

I'm given to understand that, at one time, Austin was also a "sleepy college town". They got excited about growth in the early 80's when Texas Instruments set up shop. They started development, and were left holding the bag when TI split shortly thereafter.

When I got there in 1990, they were growing again. It seems the TI fiasco left such a bad memory that they were determined to delay expansion of public utilities - fearing another collapse. That clearly didn't happen. They ended up about 15 years behind where they should have been.

I'm given to understand that, at one time, Austin was also a "sleepy college town". They got excited about growth in the early 80's when Texas Instruments set up shop. They started development, and were left holding the bag when TI split shortly thereafter.

When I got there in 1990, they were growing again. It seems the TI fiasco left such a bad memory that they were determined to delay expansion of public utilities - fearing another collapse. That clearly didn't happen. They ended up about 15 years behind where they should have been.

As recently as the 1980 census, Tulsa had a larger population than Austin--360,919 to 345,890. Since then, Austin has grown (per the 2020 census) to 961,855, while Tulsa has merely crept up to 413,066. Those figures are for the cities proper. I'm sure there's a similar, perhaps even larger, disparity in the metro areas.

I'm given to understand that, at one time, Austin was also a "sleepy college town". They got excited about growth in the early 80's when Texas Instruments set up shop. They started development, and were left holding the bag when TI split shortly thereafter.

When I got there in 1990, they were growing again. It seems the TI fiasco left such a bad memory that they were determined to delay expansion of public utilities - fearing another collapse. That clearly didn't happen. They ended up about 15 years behind where they should have been.

Additionally, I'm given to understand that sometime in the 70's, the power-brokers had decisions to make on whether or not Austin should remain a sleepy little city or expand to something more like Houston.  They decided to remain small, and one way they did that was by choking infrastructure (not approving road expansions, etc.), figuring that cities that can't accommodate more hustle and bustle won't get it.  Generally, history was on their side.  

Then Michael Dell plopped offices up in Round Rock and blew up the north end of the city.  Samsung set up shop on the east side of town, changing that area also.  By the time I arrived in 2004, the city proper had, I want to say, 500kish people, all trying to get around on roads built to serve a few hundred thousand less than that.  This was explained to me by a disgraced lawyer who had once been a highfalutin wingman to People Who Matter.  Or so people told me.  

Now Elon Musk has plopped Tesla out by the airport, but even before that, as far back was 2010-2011 I was reading that hundreds of people were moving to Austin every day and the population was growing at a crazy rate.  

The toll roads have undoubtedly helped, but nevertheless traffic seems worse than ever when I'm there.  

I'm not moving the Austin

That's how I felt about College Station in Texas.  I'm pretty sure the university came first and the town grew around it, and I always thought if the university blipped out of existence the economy would crumble and it would go back to being a giant cow pasture. 

That’s literally how the town got its name. The train stop was called College Station. 

The city next door, Bryan, is about 100,000 strong. I’m pretty sure it would do ok with or without. Last I looked the B/CS was about 250,000 strong. 

Yes, they do but up to each other, hence the term B/CS.  Kinda true about being in the hood in Bryan, but just like any city there are areas that are nicer than others.  

I always had an apartment in Bryan, because it was cheaper and I was a poor college student.  I never lived in CS.