I'm not sure what telegraphs and airplanes have to do with things. Our nation was a lot less centralized in my own lifetime. The term "it was a lot more important who was mayor" does not come from the 1800s, it comes from Jerry Pournelle who grew up in that world. And yes, when he was young they had telegraphs and airplanes. And missiles.

You go through a long litany on kicking problems upstairs. That's how it's supposed to work. Right now the DEFAULT is to have the Federal government run things. And the Federal government seems to have a lust for further combining many functions under one "superauthority" as if this will automatically make things work better. FEMA comes to mind.