Chapter 8.1 Science & Urban Life Technology and City Life Skyscrapers – tall buildings made possible by the invention of elevators and the development of internal steel skeletons. Louis Sullivan one of the first architects of skyscrapers. Frank Lloyd Wright studied under Sullivan. Daniel Burnham designed the famous Flatiron Building. Page 277

Flatiron Building New York City

Electric Transit 1888 Richmond, Virginia became the first city to electrify urban transit. Electric streetcars also called trolley cars had a system of rails that would bring people from outside the city to businesses and department stores. New lines fed the growth of the suburbs. Some cities built their streetcars above street level, known as “el” trains. New York built a subway system below ground.

Engineering & Urban Planning Steel suspension bridges like the Brooklyn Bridge brought cities closer to each other. 1857 landscape architects Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux designed what would become Central Park in New York City. Big movements toward city planning of parks. All major cities were setting aside land.

City Planning Chicago went from 30,000 in 1850 to 300,000 in 1870. Local architect Daniel Burnham task was to remake the city. Built White City for Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. White City was a vision of future cities.

White City, Chicago

New Technologies Revolution in printing. By 1890 the literacy rate in the U.S. had risen to 90%. More people wanted reading material. American mills began producing large quantities of cheap paper. Web-perfecting Press printed on both sides of a continuous paper roll.

Airplanes Orville & Wilbur Wright bicycle manufactures. First successful flight on Dec. 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It lasted 12 seconds. Airplanes first used for mail service. Public had little interest in the beginning.

Photography George Eastman developed more convenient photography equipment. 1888 Eastman decided to market camera for average person. He created the Kodak camera. The cost of the Kodak camera was $25. It came with film loaded and ready to go. When done the owner would send camera with film in for processing. For $10 they would get their film developed and sent to them along with their camera loaded with new film.