Cities Expand and Change American History

Goals  Students will be able to:  Analyze economic challenges American farmers faced in the 1800s  Examine causes and consequences of the second Industrial Revolution  Analyze changes as the U.S. became an industrial society  Identify the characteristics that define and differentiate regions  Terms to know:  Urbanization, rural-to-urban migrant, skyscraper, Elisha Otis, mass transit, suburb, Frederick Law Olmsted, tenement

Cities Take Hold  In the late 1800’s, the U.S. began to rapidly urbanize  Urbanization is the process of citizens moving from rural areas, into the city  American citizens began to live lifestyles dominated by schedules, public transportation, living in apartment buildings, and interacting with strangers  Cities became a destination for migrants as they provided major transportation, jobs in factories and in the service industry, and a variety of shops  Educated workers were drawn to the cities for office jobs and immigrants largely took factory work  Women were able to find work as teachers, secretaries and typists  While life in these cities was not all great, it did provide most Americans a greater quality of life  People largely felt city life was an improvement over rural life, even with the struggles that existed

Immigrant Opportunities and Urban Migration  By 1900 urban populations, especially those on the east coast, had huge immigrant populations  As immigrants moved into the U.S., they largely settled around others who had come from the same country  This pushed certain industries and factories to largely employ individuals from only that country  There was a large movement of U.S. citizens from rural areas to urban areas in the 1890s  These individuals were referred to as rural-to-urban migrants  These migrants largely came to work in factories which required hard work on a rigid schedule. But the jobs paid cash, something that was rare on the farm.  Despite the hard work, the draw of the city and the opportunities it provided were irresistible

Technological Improvements  The technological improvements of the late 1800s and early 1900s brought about great change in urban America  Cities began to build skyscrapers, buildings that were ten-stories or taller that were constructed with steel framers  These buildings were made safe and usable when Elisha Otis developed a safety elevator that would not fall if the lifting cable broke  Heating systems for these buildings were also improved upon in the 1870s  Citizens also developed mass transit to aid citizens in their commute  Commuter rail lines were the traditional mode of transit, but cities began to use trolleys and electric cars to move people around the city.  Cities like Boston and New York developed subway systems that would allow for the use of electric cars to move of people all around the city, without disrupting ground traffic.

City Planning  As cities became more complex, people were hired to plan how the cities would be laid out.  City planners chose were buildings would go, where mass transit would be situated, and determined how to segregate populations  Individuals like Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and Central Park in NYC, were brought in to develop parks that would beautify the city.

Urban Living  Many poor urban workers lived in tenements  Tenements were low-cost, multifamily housing, designed to put as many people into the apartment at once  The living accommodations were extremely poor and crowded, causing an uncomfortable lifestyle for those who resided there  Not only were tenements uncomfortable, they lacked sanitation which helped to rapidly spread disease through the population

The Danger of Cities  Because sanitation was poor throughout these cities, disease epidemics happened often  Streets were often filled with trash, dead horses, human and animal waste, and other hazardous materials  These pushed cities to develop sanitation departments that sought out clean water and pushed to clean up city streets  Filtration systems were developed and urban life slowly improved  Fire, crime, and violence were common in the cities  Most cities did not have professional firefighters, nor the required tools to fight fire  Police officers were also few and far between, making the journey to and from work dangerous  Gangs also became increasingly common as citizens fought due to ethnic and racial differences