Rise of the City. From Farm to City Before the Civil War most people lived on farms –1860 urban...
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Transcript of Rise of the City. From Farm to City Before the Civil War most people lived on farms –1860 urban...
Rise of the City
From Farm to City
• Before the Civil War most people lived on farms– 1860 urban population of 6
million
• By 1900 most people lived in urban areas – 1910 urban population of 44
million– Industrial Revolution was
responsible for urban growth – jobs
– New social problems developed
• Ethnic rivalry of immigrants • Poor sanitation and health • Food and housing shortages • Pollution from factories
From Farm to City Continued
Allure of the City
• Folklore of the city drew in country youth – for whom country life can be
frustrating from isolation from “modern” society
– Left for work opportunities, adventure and freedom
– Entire regions were abandoned
• African–Americans – Following the Civil War African-
American migration flowed to northern cities
– In search of work and a better way of life
– Cities such as Detroit, New York and Chicago became major destination for migration
Tenements
• Tenements – Rented houses or congested apartment buildings found in urban areas– Often slum like conditions,
accommodating the cities poor and immigrants
– Poor ventilation, poor heating, and lack of sewer lead to bad health
– Over crowded– Infectious disease common– Made of wood – fire hazard– Poverty = Crime,
dangerous to live
Tenements Continue
• By 1900 90% of New York’s residents resided in Tenement housing – 1.6 million people living in 42,700 units
Vertical Expansion
• Conventional brick buildings only go five stories up – limit growth
• Skyscrapers, which use steel frames, can reach 100 plus stories – limitless growth
• The Bessemer Process allowed steel to be made at a cheap and fast rate – allowing rapid construction
• Edison's use of electricity provided power for lights and elevators – which allowed buildings to be built higher
• Radiators provided heat
Horizontal Expansion
• Era of horse and steam – people could not live far from place of employment – time constraint
• Electricity and steel allowed people build mass transit – Trolley Systems – Cable Car Systems – Subway Systems
• Mass transit allowed large numbers of people to become commuters
• Middle and upper class left the cities and moved to edge of cities – AKA Suburbs – poor stayed in city unable to pay fare
• Urban sprawl often took place without plan
Politics
• New type of government needed to run a city– Central
organization to coordinate citywide services
• Transportation • Sanitation• Utilities • Taxes• Etc…
Politics Continued
• Political Machines – Political parties who
controlled all aspects of a city and city life
• Often corrupt in nature – Undemocratic and
authoritarian– Buying and selling of votes – Kickbacks and payoffs
• Ran by party “Bosses”• Engaged in need public
services, gained popularity with the population – allowed corruption to exist
– Food, heat, clothing, money for poor
– Housing and jobs for immigrants
– Sponsored sports teams and cultural events
City Environment
• Cities in 1900 were generally filthy and disease ridden– Water quality was poor and
sewage dumped in the street
• Cholera• Typhoid Fever• Yellow Fever
– Animals roamed freely • Pigs and horses produced
100’s pounds manure yearly
– No trash collection– Factories caused pollution
and poor smelly air quality– City rivers became dumps
and sewers
City Environment
• Sanitary Reformers – Government and civil reformers invested in health reforms– Trash collection– Street Cars – Screws and clean
water systems – Manure collected and
sent to farms outside city