Suburbia a CHC2D Canadian History presentation

A New Reality ★ by far the biggest change in North American society was the expansion of the suburb ★ “suburb” refers to any area of primarily residential housing that is away from the central industry of the city ★ city workers who lived in the suburbs could travel back and forth (or commute) by the new train lines and highways ★ the distance from the hub of activity to a place that was mostly for sleeping led to the suburb being called a “bedroom community”

The ‘Burbs ★ suburbs boomed across North America for three principal reasons: ★ the baby boom meant larger families needed more space than what was being provided in city apartments ★ race riots and other protests in the sixties made families see the suburbs as much safer, since the angry “poor” people could not afford to live away from the core ★ the ‘burbs offered new shopping opportunities for the family that made them attractive

The ‘Burbs ★ shopping in the suburbs changed dramatically with the development of the supermarket ★ in the past, families had to buy their meat at a butcher, their fish at a fishmonger, produce from a farmer’s market and dry goods from a grocery ★ now, they could buy them all at one spot ★ as a result, many of the smaller “mom and pop” stands disappeared because they could not compete against a place that could charge less due to higher volume sales

The ‘Burbs ★ soon, other types of stores began to be replaced by national chains of shops that catered to buyers with lots of products — like pharmacies and fast food restaurants ★ by the end of the 1950s, some of these stores were being put together into one building called shopping malls ★ Ottawa’s first shopping mall was Billings Bridge, opened in 1954 with Steinberg’s Grocery Store at its center