The Challenges of Urbanization Ch. 7.2

Immigrants settle in cities Most immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19 th c. lived in cities -Cheap and convenient -Unskilled laborers found steady employment (mills & factories) 1890 – 2x Irish lived in NYC than in Dublin, Ireland 1910 – immigrant families were more than ½ of the total pop. In 18 major U.S. cities

Americanization movement Designed to assimilate people of many different cultures – to make them Americans Social campaigned sponsored by the government & concerned citizens Schools and communities services provided English literacy and American History and government Is this what is done today?

Crime/Fire Crime was high (pick pocket & thieves) First Salaried police force in NYC – 1844 Other cities police force was too small Fire Limited water supply Fires spread rapidly (Chicago and S.F.) Use of candles and kerosene Cincinnati, Ohio had the first paid fire dept.

Child Labor 19 th Century Families depended on children’s income This had nothing to do with not wanting a better life (by going to school)

Water Cities had a hard time supplying safe drinking water City population grew too fast Homes seldom had indoor plumbing Collected water in pails from street faucets Needed to improve water to control diseases (i.e. cholera and typhoid fever)

Sanitation Providing hygienic living conditions was an on going challenge Cities were not clean Horse manure on the streets Sewage flowed through open gutters Factories = pollution/smoke in the air People dumped their garbage on the streets

Housing Row housing single-family dwellings shared walls with other houses (built in a row) Row housing provided single-family homes for working class families Tenements – families occupying old one family house -Mainly immigrants took over old homes of working-class families that left the city center

Reformers tried to change things Social Gospel movement & Second Great Awakening (see index for page #) Settlement houses (community centers in urban slums – provided social services) Jane Addams est.. Hull House in Chicago