1. The Challenges of Urbanization
Whittier Union High School District, edited by Spinrad

2. Immigrants settle in cities
Most immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th c. lived in cities, esp. NYC
Cheap and convenient
Unskilled laborers found steady employment (mills & factories)
Ethnic communities were there
1890 – 2x Irish lived in NYC than in Dublin, Ireland,1910 – immigrants more than ½ of the total pop in 18 major U.S. cities

3. Americanization movement
Designed to assimilate people of many different cultures – to make them cultural Americans
Social campaigned sponsored by the government & concerned citizens
Schools and communities services provided English literacy and American History and government
Is this what is done today?

4. Crime/Fire Crime was high (pick pocket & thieves)
First salaried police force in NYC – 1844
Other cities-police force was too small
Fire
Limited water supply
Fires spread rapidly (Chicago and S.F.)
Use of candles and kerosene
Cincinnati, Ohio had the first paid fire dept.

5. Child Labor 19th-century industrialization
Families depended on children’s income
Opposed by progressives

6. Water Cities had a hard time supplying safe drinking water
City population grew too fast
Homes seldom had indoor plumbing-collected water in pails from street faucets
Needed to improve both drinking water and sewage treatment to control disease epidemics (i.e. cholera and typhoid fever)

7. Sanitation
Providing hygienic living conditions to millions in a small area was a challenge
Horse manure and dead animals on the streets
Sewage flowed through open gutters
Factories led to pollution/smoke in the air
People dumped their garbage on the streets

8. Housing
Row housing single-family dwellings shared walls with other houses (built in a row). Row housing provided single-family homes for working class families
Tenements –
3 -4 families occupying old one family house. Dumbbell style. One shared bathroom, little ventilation
Immigrants took over homes of working-class families that left the city center for better housing.

9. Reformers tried to improve life
Social Gospel movement & Second Great Awakening pre-Civil War
Settlement houses (community centers in urban slums – provided social services)
Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago