during the Antebellum Era the U.S. is an agricultural nation and Cleveland was a city on growth. Cleveland was near a river and it had a bid steam boat industry, which was going well and steady.  most of the money on Cleveland was invested in boats and the water industry, when the big boom happened with the expansion of the railroads.  When Cleveland was asked to be involved and become part of that railroad expansion, they declined because they didn’t think that transportation system was going to be relevant, and they kept investing the money on steam boats.  Chicago took part and got involved in the railroads and, hence, Chicago became a more important city than Cleveland. During industrialization Chicago became more popular and a more centric city, and that made the city to grow in  building density and population.