7.2 The Problems of Urbanization

Urban Opportunities People were drawn to the cities by opportunity. Urbanization means the growth of cities. By 1910, immigrant families made up more than half the total population of 18 major American cities. Most of the farm inventions, forced farm hands into the cities for jobs.

Urban Problems 1. Housing Both were established with good intent, but normally turned into slums. Dumbbell tenements: buildings shaped like barbells. Row houses: attached single-family dwellings that shared side walls with similar houses.

Urban Problems Transportation 2. In 1888, the first practical street car was operated in Richmond, Va. Boston began running electric subways in 1897.

Urban Problems 3. Water Chlorination was introduced in 1893 and filtration in 1908 to control diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever.

Urban Problems 4. Sanitation

Urban Problems 5. Fire Earthquakes were frequently the cause of fires. Automatic sprinklers were developed in 1874. Henry Parmelee, Inventor of the automated sprinkler. The first full time fire department began in 1853 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Miles Greenwood, 1st Fire chief

Urban Problems 6. Crime New York City had the first organized full time police force in 1844.

Reformers Mobilize The Social Gospel Movement preached salvation through service to the poor. Settlement houses were community centers in slum neighborhoods that provided assistance and friendship to local men, women, & children. Jane Addams founded the most famous settlement house was Chicago’s Hull House.