Growth of Cities

Ch 20.2

Population• 1870- ¼ Americans lived in cities with 2,500 or

more people

• 1910- ½ of the American population were in cities

• New York, Detroit, and Chicago (1890)- 80% of the population was made up of immigrants

Growth of the Cities• 1. Immigrants

• 2. Womeno No longer needed to make clothing and household goodso Moved to the cities in search of jobs

• 3. African Americanso Began to move to Northern cities for jobso Less discrimination

Railroads• Railroads helped people move and transported

raw materials for industry

• Chicago and Kansas Cityo Large meatpacking centers

• Pittsburgho Iron and Steel manufacturing

• New York and San Franciscoo Trade with foreign countries

Tenements• Tenements: A building in which several

families rented a room, often with little safety or sanitationo Immigrants typically lived in tenements

• Often poor and run-down neighborhoods

Hester Street, 1902

Italian Neighborhood, New York City 1900-1910

Lower East End Ghetto- 1909

Shoppers on Sixth Avenue, New York City- 1903

The Middle Class• Enjoyed a comfortable life• Many lived in the suburbs• Hot water, indoor toilets, and electricity (1900)• Included doctors, lawyers, ministers, managers

The Gilded Age• The very rich lived lives of extreme luxury

• However, many people lived in terrible poverty

• Gilded: Something covered in a thin layer of goldo The Gilded Age refers to the extravagant wealth of a few that

covered up the terrible poverty

Cities in Crisis• Garbage accumulated in city streets

o Sanitation was a huge problem

• Diseases spread quicklyo Chicago- Whooping cough, diphtheria, measleso New York City- Tuberculosis

• Povertyo Increase in crime

Skyscrapers• Cities had limited space

o Architects began building upwards

• 1884- 10-story office building built in Chicagoo World’s first skyscraper

• 1913- 55-story Woolsworth Building in New York City

New Forms of Transporation

• 1873- San Francisco- Cable Cars• 1888- Richmond, VA- Trolley Car• 1897- Boston, MA- Subway• 1904- New York City- Subway