The Challenges of Urbanization Cities: Crowded; Noisy; and Exciting

Factors Contributing to Urbanization in the Late 19th Century Immigrants also contributed to the growth of cities. Cities were where the jobs could be found. The Americanization Movement was designed to assimilate people of wide-ranging cultures into the dominant culture. Schools & voluntary associations provided programs to teach immigrants skills needed for citizenship In 1840; there were 131 cities in the nation. By 1900; the number had increased to 1700. Farm machines were replacing farm workers. Factories; mills; and other city business needed workers. Cities also attracted people because cities were exciting.

Western Union Bldg,. NYC – 1875 Cities grew not only in terms of population but also in size, with skyscrapers pushing cities upward

Flatiron Building NYC – 1902 D. H. Burnham

Streetcars and trains allowed urban residents to live further from their jobs than walking distance. With the rise of skyscrapers; electric elevators made it easy to get to the top; people no longer had to use the stairs Subways allow commuters to travel to the city via trains that go underground so as not to interfere with above ground transportation The Brooklyn Bridge

John A. Roebling: The Brooklyn Bridge, 1883

Urban Living Conditions Immigrants often lived in buildings abandoned by middle-class residents and converted into multifamily units. These tenements soon became identified as “slums”. Many families would cram into spaces only meant for a few. Many immigrants tended to settle with others from the same country creating the ethnic neighborhoods and sections that can still be found in many big cities today.

Urban Living Conditions cont. Outside the tenements, raw sewage and garbage littered the streets. Contagious diseases raged in such conditions. Babies were especially susceptible. In NYC, in one district of tenements, six out of ten babies died before their first birthday.

Problems in the Cities Transportation Water Supply Cities developed mass transit-transportation systems designed to move large number of people along fixed routes. Cities struggled to repair old transit systems and to build new ones to meet the demand of expanding population. Cities faced problems supplying safe drinking water. Residents of many cities had grossly inadequate piped water or none at all. Residents had to collect water in pails from faucets on the streets and heat it for bathing.

Housing Poor families struggled to survive in crowded slums living in tenements. Tenements were overcrowded, dirty and oftentimes had no windows, heat, or indoor bathrooms. Hine, Lewis W. NYC tenement 1910

In the Tenements *Many immigrants lived in crowded tenement buildings. Families shared living space and decent lighting & fresh air were scarce. *

Jacob Riis, 1889 “Lodgers in a Bayard Street Tenement, Five Cents a Spot"

Bunks in a seven-cent lodging-house, Pell Street

Jacob Riis – Men’s Lodging Room in the West 47th Street Station – c

Tenement Housing Tenement housing in New York City.

A typical tenement house on the corner of Ontario and Monroe streets in Toledo, Ohio.

Problems in the Cities Sanitation Fire Crime -Overcrowded and poorly -As the cities grew; so did the challenge of keeping them clean. -Horse manure piled up on the streets; sewage flowed through open gutters; and Factories spewed foul smoke into the air. Fire -Overcrowded and poorly built tenements and lack of water made fire especially dangerous. -Most city firefighters were volunteers and not always available when they were needed. Crime -As the population of cities increased so did pickpockets and thieves. -NYC organized the first full-time salaried police in 1844. -Most other cities were too small to have much impact on crime.

Street cleaning, Fourth Street Reform Garbage collection and street cleaning began regularly. Street cleaning, Fourth Street

New buildings were required to have fire escapes and plumbing. Typical tenement fire-escape serving as an extension of the flat: Allen Street

Social Gospel Movement-Leaders of this movement preached that people reached salvation by helping the poor. Salvation Army

Hull House – a settlement house set up by Jane Addams in Chicago Settlement houses were community centers located in slum neighborhoods. Workers there provided help & friendship to immigrants and the poor. Hull House in the early 1900’s (above) and Jane Addams in the 1930’s (right). She was a well-known social reformer.

Hull-House Nursery, ca. 1890s

Gospel of Wealth Is an article written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy (love of humanity) by the new upper class of Self-made rich. Distributing his fortune in a way that it will be put to good use, and not wasted on frivolous expenditure. Carnegie put his philosophy into practice through a program of gifts to endow public libraries, known as 'Carnegie libraries' in cities and towns throughout the United States and the English-speaking world, with the idea that he was thus providing people with the tools to better themselves.

Social Darwinism > Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer is both an early sociologist and also the father of social Darwinism, against which most early sociology was directed. His social Darwinist doctrines of “survival of the fittest,” “laissez faire” and the "night watchman state" became the conventional wisdom of most English speaking social theory from 1890 to 1920, celebrated by sociologists such as W. G. Sumner and by robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie. Spencer saw individualism and competition as the key to social progress, and he argued that government programs are ineffective and lead to dependency. The individualism and the biological reductionism of Social Darwinism was in conflict with the basic insight that human behavior is socially shaped by culture, families, religion, class, gender, schools, organizations and other groups Herbert Spencer is both an early sociologist and also the father of social Darwinism, against which most early sociology was directed. His social Darwinist doctrines of “survival of the fittest,” “laissez faire” and the "night watchman state" became the conventional wisdom of most English speaking social theory from 1890 to 1920, celebrated by sociologists such as W. G. Sumner and by robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie. Spencer saw individualism and competition as the key to social progress, and he argued that government programs are ineffective and lead to dependency. The individualism and the biological reductionism of Social Darwinism was in conflict with the basic insight that human behavior is socially shaped by culture, families, religion, class, gender, schools, organizations and other groups.