URBANIZATION

OBJECTIVES : 1) STUDENTS WILL ANALYZE THE CAUSES

OF URBAN GROWTH IN THE LATE 1800S2) STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY

VARIOUS PROBLEMS THAT DEVELOPED WITH RAPID URBAN GROWTH

3) STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS CITY DWELLERS HAD FOR

URBAN PROBLEMS

Chapter 4 Lesson 2

UrbanizationTHE GROWTH OF CITIES

Essential Question: What types of problems developed due to the rapid growth of urban areas during the late 19th century?

1) What areas are considered “Urban”?

2) What factors led to urban growth?

3) What kind of challenges do you think city dwellers faced? How did they meet them?

Urbanization

America Becomes a Nation of Cities

USA began as agrarian (nation of farmers)

19th century Industrialization led to a nation of city dwellers

Shift from “rural” to “urban” in late 1800s

Urban= population Of 2,500 1860

20% of U.S. pop. Lived in urban areas 131 cities w/ pop. Greater than 2,500 9 U.S. cities had pop. Greater than

100,000 1900

1,700 cities w/ pop. Greater than 2,500 38 cities w/ pop. Greater than 100,000

1920 majority of U.S. citizens live in URBAN

areas Today=more than 80% URBAN

Urban Growth

UrbanizationCities Offer Advantages

Job Opportunities Higher standard of living – earning wages &

paying low rent, allowed many city workers to save; move into middle class?

Connected – Churches, theatres, social clubs, museums, parks

Immigrants Move to Seize Opportunities Some cities had 40% foreign-born workforce Neighborhoods, cities, & industries often

had a majority of workers from one locale (Polish steel workers in Pennsylvania)

Farmers Migrate from Country to City Rural – to – urban migrants found wages

paid for hourly labor; did not have to rely on crop harvest

Large numbers of migrants moved to cities

Technology Improves City Life

Engineers Build Skyward Skyscrapers solved the problem of

how to make the best use of limited expensive space.

Technology factors: Invention of Elevators and Steal Internal Skeletons.

The combination of steel and cement make an extremely strong building material.

Architecture = professional Louis Sullivan designed the ten-story

Wainwright building in St. Louis in 1890.

Broadway 1909

Electricity Powers Urban Transit

Changes in Transportation allowed Cities to Expand Outward. MASS TRANSIT In 1890, horsecars still moved 70

% of urban traffic In 1873, San Fransisco installed

the first cable cars In 1888 Richmond Virginia became

the first city to electrify its urban transit.

By the turn of the Century all large cities were using street cars transport residents of outlying

neighborhoods to downtown department stores, offices, banks and factories.

Boston=1st city to put streetcars under ground in 1897 (subways)

Chicago installed elevated trains

City Planners Control Growth

City Planners designed cities to be more functional & beautiful Allowed city planners to designate certain

areas for specific functions separate areas for industry, retail business,

& residential neighborhoodsIn 1858 Frederick Olmsted developed

“Greensward” which later became Central Park in New York. The park was set in a natural setting trees and ascetic landscapes. boating, tennis, bicycle paths and a zoo.

Parks allowed people to get away from the busy city.

Many people were not adjusted to city life and parks helped to establish serenity in the urban environment.

City Planning

Daniel Burnham – Designed Chicago’s Southlake front

Integrated boulevards, parks, buildings, & electric streetcars

UrbanizationUrban Growth Creates

Problems Housing Water Sanitation Fire Crime

Urban Problems

Housing People had to live close to

factories, because they could not afford to travel far

Overcrowding in areas led to SLUM conditions

Most lived in TENEMENTS – low cost multi-family housing

“Dumbbell” Tenements – crowded, smelled bad, diseases, poor ventilation, little indoor plumbing

TENEMENTS

Tenements

Journalist Jacob Riis documented tenement & slum conditions – He wrote, How the Other Half Lives “"Long ago it was said that 'one half of the world does

not know how the other half lives.' That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate, of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat”

How did Jacob Riis attempt to change conditions for the urban poor? Did he succeed? If so, how?

Urban Problems

What types of problems developed due to the rapid growth of urban areas?

Water – indoor plumbing/sprinklersCrime – local police force not

always reliable; corrupted by local politicians

Fire – poor construction methods led to daily fires; Great Fire of Chicag0 – October 8-10, 1871

Sanitation – Those without plumbing disposed of waste in streets; sewage dumped to rivers; Horses were major problems Who cleaned up manure? Piled up in

streets Philadelphia, 1872 – 2,500 horses died in a

two week period; who cleans them up? Left dead in streets

Urban Problems

Great Chicago Fire of 1871 & its aftermath

61,000 buildings burned

Urban Problems

Eventually, cities adapted to the growth & the problems associated with massive populations

Cities developed: organized municipal police & fire

departments Building codes – outlawed

tenements; required building inspections

Health Codes – to prevent disease from poor sanitation

Sewage Systems – to deal with human waste

Mass Transit – decreased the need for horses in cities

The Gilded age:1877-1900 Mark Twain

“What is the chief end of man? - to get rich. Dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must.” Mark Twain

Urban Problems – Politics

The Gilded Age

“ Unless you can get the ear of a Senator…and persuade him to use his “influence” in your behalf, you cannot get an employment of the most trivial nature in Washington. Mere merit, fitness and capability, are useless baggage to you without ‘influence’…It would be an odd circumstance to see a girl get employment…merely because she was worthy and a competent, and a good citizen of a free country that ‘treats all persons alike”

Mark Twain

Corruption Plagues Politics

What is the function of a “machine”?

Political Machine: Local political party organization

capable of mobilizing or “manufacturing” large numbers of votes on behalf of candidates for political office

Political machines dominated in most American cities between the Civil War (1865) and the Great Depression (1930s)

Most famous = “Tammany Hall” – NYC political machine

Political Machines

Why did this work? Political Machine met the

NEEDS/WANTS of many different groups (constituents)

Urban poor needed jobs, food, money, housing, schools, etc…

Immigrants needed help: learn English, find housing, food, medical attention, naturalization

Local Businesses: government contracts, favorable tax treatment, municipal services

Party BOSSES delivered Used municipal graft, voter fraud, &

business corruption to secure votes & make money for themselves

Political Machines

Controlled access to services in city

Gave jobs to supporters (private & public) – SPOILS SYSTEM a.k.a. -Patronage

Improved community: Built parks, sewage

systems, waterworks, schools, hospitals, orphanages, etc…STOLE MONEY

TAMMANY HALL

NYC Democratic political machine

William “Boss” Tweed Tweed Ring ScandalPaid $13,000,000 for

a job that cost $3,000,000 of the taxpayers’ money

Pocketed the difference ($10 million)

Political Corruption Exposed

Political Cartoonists Raise the Alarm Famous cartoonists

used their influence to expose corruption within local and national politics

Joseph Keppler – “ The Bosses of the Senate” (p.194);

Thomas Nast – exposed William “Boss” Tweed of NYC’s Tammany Hall