Science and Urban Life Advances in science and technology helped solve urban problems, including overcrowding.

Technology and City Life In response to cities changing due to the Industrial Revolution. Technological advances began to meet the nation’s needs for communication, transportation, and space.

Skyscrapers One remedy for more urban space was to build toward the sky. Architects were able to design taller buildings because of two factors: The invention of elevators (Otis) The development of internal steel skeletons to hold the weight of the buildings.

Louis Sullivan He designed the ten-story Wainwright Building in St. Louis. Wainwright Building

Daniel Burnham He designed the Flatiron Building in New York City in 1902. This building showed that even the smallest parcel of land can be a valuable and useful commodity. Skyscrapers allowed the maximum use of limited and expensive space.

Flatiron Building

Electric Transit 1888 Richmond, Virginia became the first American city to electrify its city transportation. Soon other cities were following and by the beginning of the twentieth century almost all cities in America were using Electric transportation.

Electric Streetcars They were also known as trolleys. They ran from outside neighborhoods to downtown offices and department stores.

Elevated Cars A few large cities such as Chicago and Boston had these “el” trains.

Subways These were underground rail lines. Along with the trolleys and elevated trains, subways helped create the suburbs that blossomed along their routes.

Engineering and Urban Planning The need for open spaces in crowded commercial cities inspired the emerging science of urban planning.

John Augustus Roebling He designed the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the largest steel-cable suspension bridge ,the longest such bridge at 1,595 feet long. He provided an elevated promenade that allowed people to walk over the bridge and enjoy the view.

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Promenade on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Frederick Law Olmstead Spearheaded the movement for planned urban parks. With help from Architect Calvert Vaux, he created the New York “Greensward” which became Central Park. The finished park featured boating, tennis courts, a zoo, and bicycle paths. He also created the Boston parks system located in the back bay area.

Frederick Law Olmstead

City Planning Because of the rapid growth rate of the cities, the structure of cities were becoming unregulated and “weedlike” Daniel Burnham was asked to fix Chicago and remake the city. He took a large swampy area near Lake Michigan and created what was known as the White City of Chicago.

White City of Chicago Had majestic exhibition halls, statues, the first Ferris wheel and a lagoon that welcomed visitors who came to Chicago.

A Revolution in Printing By 1890 the literacy rate in the U.S. had risen to nearly 90 percent. American mills began producing huge quantities of cheap paper from wood pulp. The new paper was durable and able to withstand high-speed presses. With new electrically powered presses, print could now be printed on both sides of the paper.

George Eastman He created the Kodak camera. Now people were able to buy a camera at a reasonable price. Take pictures, send the roll to the Eastman factory and have their pictures developed and mailed back to them. This revolutionized journalism and newspaper reporting.