1. URBANIZATION SECTION 2
US History/Geography

2. Americans Migrate to Cities
1860 = 10million
1900 = 30 million
Cities had
Running water
Bright lights
Modern plumbing
Museums/libraries /theaters
Immigrants went to cities instead of rural areas because they didn’t have money to buy farms and they didn’t have the education to obtain higher paying jobs.

3. Americans Migrate to Cities
Price of land in cities = expensive!!!
Costs to build OUT not UP!
“Skyscrapers”
First built 1885 (Chicago)
Design contributor – “Louis Sullivan”
“What people are within the buildings express without”

4. Americans Migrate to Cities
More people and need to get around quickly = mass transit systems
Horsecar = railroad car pulled by horses
cities including San Francisco used Electric Cable Cars
Elevated Railroads
Largest cities (Boston, New York) built first subway systems
1890: 70% of traffic was horsecars in the US
Cable cars pulled by under ground cables
1887 Developed electric trolley car (Frank Sprague)

5. QUESTIONS
What new technologies helped people in the late 1800s get to and from work?
What were some advantages of living in the city?
When was the first skyscraper built?

6. Separation By Class High Society
Fashionable locations in heart of city
Castle/mansion style houses
Homes larger = more servants for women to manage
Women spent time in social activities
Many spent more on one party then majority of people made in one year
Example: New Yorkers made average 500 a year … socialite Cornelia Sherman Martin spent $360,000 on one dance

7. Separation By Class Middle Class Gentility Expanded at this time
Included:
doctors, lawyers, engineers, managers, social workers, architects and teachers
Moved away from central city (suburbs)
Escape crime and pollution
Could afford larger homes
Took advantage of commuter rail lines
Had at least 1 live in servant
Servant gave women time to enjoy leisure time outside the home
Eventually the free time was spent in “clubs” for activity in charities and reform activities
helped establish juvenile courts for example

8. Separation By Class The Working Class Few owned homes
Lived in CROWDED “tenements” (aka apartments)
First tenement built in 1839
To make more money, families in tenements often rented out space to a boarder
Industrial worker family only made $445 /year
Boarders could sometimes be helpful and other times they added to the burden of living on 1 dollar a day

9. Separation By Class The Family Economy
60% of families had more than one wage earner 1900.
Sometimes that included child workers
Working Class women began working outside the home
Sometimes teachers
Mainly domestic service
No job? Had to rely on family and charities
70% of 65 or older lived with children
Reformers didn’t like that child was working not in school and had to deal with DANGEROUS working conditions
Women domestic service = long hours, low wages and social isolation

10. QUESTIONS
4. Who was considered middle class? (professions) 5. Where did the middle class live? 6. What did women do in the wealthy class? 7. What did women do in the working class?

11. Urban Problems Problems of living in cities Minor criminals
Crime / Violence / Fire / Disease /pollution
Minor criminals
Pick pockets, swindlers , thieves
Thrived due to crowded streets
Major Crimes
Murder rate jumped from
1880 – 25 murders per million people
1900 – 100 murders per million people

12. Urban Problems Alcohol contribute to violent crime
Jacob Riis, documented slum life
Accused saloons of causing poverty, corruption and suffering … also claimed sold beer to minors
Bigger problem = disease and pollution
Poor sewage disposal = contaminated drinking water = epidemics
Examples: Typhoid fever and cholera
Alcohol inside and outside the home

13. Urban Problems Machine Politics “Political Machine”
Informal political group designed to gain and keep power
Started because cities grew faster than gov’ts
New people needed housing, jobs, food, heat and police protection
Went to “party bosses” = leader of Machine
Gave new comers what they needed in exchange for votes

14. Urban Problems Graft and Fraud Party bosses controlled city money
Many grew rich as result of fraud or “graft”
Getting money through dishonest or questionable means
“George Plunkitt”
New York City powerful part boss
Defended grafts ….Honest graft
Outright Fraud
Bosses accepted bribes from contractors who were supposed to compete fairly
Honest Graft: If I happen to find out before hand where a park is being built and buy land near in advance and sell to city I’m just looking out for myself. Not my fault I got the information!

15. Urban Problems Tammany Hall NYC Democratic political machine
Lead by “William ‘Boss’ Tweed” 1860s-1870s
His corruptness lead to prison sentence

16. Urban Problems Machines controlled everything
Including police…that’s why so corrupt
Opponents of Political Machines
Bosses were too corrupt…were not good for society
Defenders of Political Machines
Machines provided necessary services and helped to assimilate the large amount of new city dwellers.

17. QUESTIONS
8. What did political machines do to help people living in the cities in the late 1800s? 9. Who was New York City’s most powerful party boss? 10. What is graft?