Life in the Cities Topic 1.5
City Growth New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans and many other cities were bursting at the seams New machines replaced manual labor on many farms 1880s rural population = 72% 1910s rural population = 54% Growing middle class!
City Growth Great migration of southern blacks 2 phases 1890 1910 Movement of southern blacks to northern and Midwestern cities.
City Growth Skyscrapers & elevators Buildings can be taller and cites can be more dense Advances in transportation made commuting much easier Mass transit-public systems that could carry large numbers of people fairly inexpensively Suburbs-residential communities surrounding the cities
Where do poor people live? Tenements Low-cost apartment buildings designed to house as many families as the owner could pack in A group of run-down tenements could transform an area into a slum Hundreds of people were crammed into space meant for a few families Severe overcrowding Few trees, little grass Dark, foul air Open sewers attracted rats (diseases) Small fires become large fires quickly Contagious diseases spread easily
Where do poor people live? Tenements
How can we improve this? “Lack of ventilation = main problem” Lack of ventilation helped spread disease 1879 change in New York law required an outside window in every room Solution = dumbbell tenements Each building narrowed in the middle, gaps on each side formed air shafts to bring light and air to inside rooms (did it really work?)
Do we just not know about it? Native of Denmark Boarded a steamship for America in 1870 Experienced dreadful conditions in which many new Americans lived Landed job as police reporter Later-How The Other Half Lives
Do we just not know about it? How The Other Half Lives (urban poor) Jacob Riis, reporter, publishes book in 1890 Describes living conditions in cities Led to legislation to improve tenements Used new technology-flash photography
Danger! Fire was a constant danger in the cities Chicago experienced one of the most devastating Great Chicago Fire of 1871 18,000 buildings burned leaving 250 people dead 100,000 homeless Property damage estimates reached 200 million/ 2 billion today Disease spread quickly-summer months apartments heated like ovens
Growing Cities Rapidly growing cities proved hard to govern Growth put pressure on city officials to improve Police and Fire protection Transportation systems Sewage disposal Electrical and water service Health care Raised taxes and set up offices to deal with peoples needs
Growing Cities Political Machine-was an unofficial city organization designed to keep a particular party or group in power and usually headed by a single powerful boss. Sometime the boss held public office More often he handpicked others to run for office and then helped them win Worked through exchange favors Used an army of ward leaders Each managed a city district to handout city jobs and contracts to residents of their ward In return expected to give votes to machine’s Extremely corrupt Controlled local politics
Rise of Political Machines William Marcy Tweed – Boss Tweed Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall Political club that ran New York City’s Democrat Party You worked for a political machine in hopes of getting a government job that could lead you to big bucks through government corruption.
Through countless instances of fraud-many millions of dollars Political Machines (continued) Helped many immigrants who were “fresh off the boat” with jobs and housing in exchange for their votes Tweed and friends padded bills for construction projects and supply contracts with fake expenses and kept the extra money Through countless instances of fraud-many millions of dollars
Political Machines (continued) The nickname for Tammany Hall was the “Tammany Tiger;” this cartoon shows the Tiger riding on the backs of immigrants . . . from where he gets his power.
Political cartoons by German immigrant Thomas Nast helped bring down tweed Exposed his methods to the public Depicted Tweed as a thief and a dictator who manipulated New York City politics for his own benefit Convicted of crimes Tweed died in jail Tammany Hall dominated New York politics for another half century
Thomas Nast The Man Who Drew Santa Claus!!