Don't you think the industrial revolution is a unique period? And who is to say corruption didn't have a big impact, just lessened by the booming period?
I don't get what you are trying to say. Yes, it was a booming period, that is the point. The question is why it was a booming period.
I don't think rule by corrupt political machines is ideal, I'd prefer if it if cities were run as joint stock corporations. But despite its many shortcomings, Tammany Hall and its ilk were much better at ruling than most of our modern city governments. Compare how the recovery of Chicago after the great fire to that of New Orleans after the flood. Or compare it to the (non-existent) rebuilding of the World Trade Towers. They were building infrastructure at amazing rate, we are letting it decay. If I could trade the current Boston government for Tammany Hall, I'd do so in a second.
