SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE

SKYSCRAPERS Architects were able to design new taller buildings because of 2 factors the elevator and the development of the internal steel skeleton Louis Sullivan designed the 10 story skyscraper and called it “proud and soaring thing” and it became Americas greatest contribution to architecture According to Frank Lloyd Wright skyscrapers solved the practical problem of how to make the best use of limited space Daniel Burnham designed the slender 285-foot tower in 1902 called the Flatiron Building and is served as a symbol for a rich and optimistic society

ELECTRIC TRANSIT o As skyscrapers expanded upward there were changes in transportation which also allowed cities to spread out ward o Electricity transformed urban transportation and made it better o 1888 Richmond, Virginia, became first American city to electrify its urban transit o By the twentieth century trolley cars ran from outlying neighborhoods to offices and department stores o New York’s northern suburbs alone supplied 100,000 commuters each day for the central business district

ENGINEERING AND URBAN PLANNING  Steel cable suspension bridges like the Brooklyn Bridge also brought cities’ sections closer together and sometimes they provided recreational opportunity  City planners sought to restore serenity to the environment by designing recreational areas like Frederick Law Olmsted spearheaded the movement for planning urban parks  In New York City Olmstead along with Calvert Vaux helped draw up a plan for “Greensward” which was selected to become central park

AIRPLANES  The brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright bicycle manufacturers from Dayton, Ohio were experimenting with new engines powerful enough to keep “heavier-than-air” craft aloft  The Wright brothers built a glider then commissioned a 4-cyclinder internal combustion engine chose a propeller and designed a biplane with 40’4”  Their first successful flight was on December 17,1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and it covered 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds  Within 2 years the Wright brothers had increased their flights to 24 miles and by 1920 the U.S government had established the first transcontinental airmail service

PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLOSION  Before the 1800’s photography was a professional activity  George Eastman developed a series of more convenient alternatives to heavy glass plates previously used  When photographers were slow on using the new film Eastman decided to aim his product at the masses  In 1888 Eastman introduced the Kodak camera the purchase price of $25 it included a 100 picture roll of film  After taking pictures people would send it back for $10 and there pictures were developed and the camera returned reloaded  The camera prompted millions of Americans to become amateur photographers and it also helped create the field of photojournalism

THE DAWN OF MASS CULTURE

RECREATION Many cities began building amusement parks. Bicycles became popular, especially with women. The bicycle freed women from scrutiny, and their tight corsets. Tennis also was a common sport. The first match in the U.S was in Spectator sports became very prevalent, especially by the start of the 20 th century. Baseball became a professional sport, and there were many clubs by the 1860s. The first world series was held in amusement-park.html

MASS CIRCULATION NEWSPAPERS  Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, explored things such as a large Sunday edition, comics, sports coverage, and women’s news.  Joseph Pulitzer had bought the New York World in  William Randolph Hearst owned the New York Morning Journal and the San Francisco Examiner.  Hearst’s Journal was filled with many exaggerations, and even an imaginary conquest of Mars.  By 1898, each paper had reached more than one million copies a day in circulation / New York World, 1883

FINE ARTS  By 1900 there was at least one art gallery in every large city,  Thomas Eakins embraced realism, eventually using photography to make realistic studied of people and animals in the 1880s.  The Ashcan School of American Art painted urban life without sugarcoating it, in the early 20 th century.  People could walk to a new art gallery from a new public library in many cities.  In American by 1900, there were thousands of free circulating libraries.

POPULAR FICTION  The term “dime novels” came to be because of light fiction books sold for ten cents.  Some successful authors of the era are Sarah Orne Jewett, Theodore Dreiser, Stephen Crane, Jack London, and Willa Cather.  Samuel Longhorne Clemens, AKA Mark Twain, declared independence of “literature and all that bosh.” This inspired other young authors.  Despite art galleries and libraries attempts to raise cultural standards, many Americans did not have interest in high culture.

URBAN SHOPPING, DEPARTMENT AND CHAIN STORES  In Cleveland, Ohio, the nation’s earliest form of a shopping center was opened in  Places where public transportation could easily bring shoppers from nearby areas were popular places for retail shopping districts.  The first department store concept was brought to America by Marshall Field of Chicago.  In 1865, Field opened his own store, basing it on women customers.  Chains stores are retail stores offering the same merchandise under the same ownership.  By buying in quantity and limiting personal services, chain stores sold goods for less.

MODERN ADVERTISING AND CATALOGS  In 1865, expenditures for advertising were under $10 million a year. By 1900, they were $95 million.  There were many odd ways of advertising, such as putting signs on barns, houses, billboards, and even rocks.  Retail merchandise was brought to small towns by Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck.  Ward’s first catalog was launched in /cheryl-stjohn-mail-order-merchandise- 2/

BY: ERIN LANCOUR AND BRIJESH DEVARAM