Ch.15: Urban AmericaSection 2

I. Americans Migrate to the Cities The urban population of the United States grew

from about 10 million in 1870 to over 30 million by 1900.

Immigrants remained in the cities, where they worked long hours for little pay. Still, most immigrants felt their standard of living had improved in the United States.

Farmers began moving to cities because of better paying jobs, electricity, running water, plumbing, and entertainment.

Question

What did the cities have to offer Americans that rural America did not?

Cities had electricity, running water, and modern plumbing. People were able to go to museums, attend theater performances, and visit libraries as well.

II. The New Urban Environment Housing and transportation needs

changed due to the increase in the amount of people living in cities.

As the price of land increased, building owners began to build up. Skyscrapers, tall steel frame buildings, were constructed for this reason. Chicagoan Louis Sullivan contributed to the design of skyscrapers.

II. The New Urban Environment In the late 1800s, various kinds of

mass transit developed to move large numbers of people around cities quickly. Beginning with the horse car, and later to the more sophisticated electric trolley cars and elevated railroads, engineers created ways to move the ever-expanding population around the city.

Horse Car Trolley car

Elevated railroad

is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other steel, concrete or brick structure. The railway may be standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or a suspension railway. Elevated railways are usually used in urban areas where otherwise there would be a large number of level crossings.

Elevated railroadsSeptember 11 was an ominous date in NYC history even before 2001, if on a smaller scale. Due to a switching error, a horrendous 1905 train wreck killed 12 and seriously injured another 48 in Manhattan on the erstwhile IRT Ninth Avenue line at West 53rd Street. As this astounding (and anonymous) photo illustrates, it was a horrifying calamity of Hollywood blockbuster proportions long before movies were capable of simulating such disasters. The motorman, Paul Kelly, faced criminal charges for the crash because police suspected the incident was a willful act connected to an imminent strike by the motormen. Kelly went on the lam and eluded capture for nearly two years.

Question

What made it necessary to build skyscrapers?

The increasing need for land drove the price of land up. Buildings were built upward instead of outward to use less land in an effort to keep costs down.

III. Separation by Class Definite boundaries could be seen between where the

wealthy, middle class, and working class people lived.

Wealthy families lived in the heart of the city where they constructed elaborate homes.

The middle class, which included doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers, tended to live away from the city.

The majority of urban dwellers were part of the working class who lived in city tenements, or dark and crowded multi-family apartments.

Question

What were some differences between the social classes?

The social classes differed in their level of income and the area in which they lived. The wealthy lived in the heart of the city in elaborate homes. The middle class lived away from the central city and used commuter lines to get to work. The working class lived in cities in tenements.

IV. Urban Problems The growth of cities resulted in an increase in crime,

fire, disease, and pollution. From 1880 to 1900, there was a large increase in the murder rate.

Native-born Americans blamed immigrants for the increase in crime.

Alcohol contributed to crime in the late 1800s.

Contaminated drinking water from improper sewage disposal resulted in epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera.