1. Cities Expand & Change
Section 5.2

2. Objectives
Analyze the causes of urban growth in the late 1800’s.
Explain how technology improved city life.
Evaluate how city dwellers solved the problems caused by rapid urban growth.
Key Terms
Urbanization
Skyscraper
Suburb
Rural-to- Urban migrant
Elisha Otis
Fredrick Law Olmsted
Mass Transit
tenement

3. America: A Nation of Cities
Urbanization begins in the late 19th century.
The number of cities and people living in them increase dramatically.
Daily Life in urban cities:
Scheduled work
Rode trolley cars
Paid rent to live in apartments
Interacted with many people.

4. The Advantages of cities.
Women’s opportunities:
Dramatically expanded in urban areas.
Factory Work
Take in boarders
Do piecework
Domestic Servants
Educated Women
Teachers
Secretaries
Typists
The Advantages of cities.
Major manufacturing and transportation centers.
Northeast
Pacific Coast
Midwest Waterways
Connected by railroad lines.
Easy, accessible transportation.
Magnet for immigrants and rural Americans.
Migrants moved from city to city in hope of better fortunes.
Middle Class emerges
Offered variety, promise, and even glamour.
Opportunities for more social events.
Churches, theaters, museums, night clubs

5. Urbanization for Immigrants & Farmers
Rural-to-urban migrants – 1890’s
Horrible factory conditions
Dim light
Narrow confines
Rigid schedule
Pro: Paid regularly in cash
Minneapolis, St. Paul, & Chicago exploded in the 1890’s with Midwest farmers & African Americans moving out of the South.
1900 – 40% of the population was foreign born in many urban areas.
Western Pennsylvania Steel Mills
Workers predominately Polish
New York Textile Mills
Eastern European Jews
Northeast
Irish women were mainly domestic servants
Pacific Northwest
Scandinavians worked in the fish-packing industry.

6. Technology Improves City Life
The cities struggled to meet the demands of growth to provide water, sewers, schools, and safety.
Skyscrapers
Ten-story & taller buildings
Steel frames with artistic designs.
Provided office space to cities with no room left on the ground.
Elisha Otis – Develops a safety elevator that would not fall if the lifting rope broke.
Central heating systems improved in the 1870’s

7. Urban Transportation
Streetcars powered by overhead electric cables are developed.
1888 – Richmond Virginia
Within a decade, every major city had cable cars.
Quiet, clean, & efficient
Reliable schedule
Carried many people….
Mass Transit – public systems that could carry large numbers of people.
Inexpensive!
Reshaped the nation’s cities.
Before Cable Cars:
Commuter rail lines
Powered by coal-driven steam engines
Slow
Unreliable
Dirty
Trolleys pulled by horses
Slower
Left horse “waste” on streets
SUBWAYS:
Boston – 1897
Nation’s first subway system
New York
Problems with cable cars:
Blocked fire trucks on narrow streets
Caused traffic congestion which delayed the schedule

8. Suburbs are developed! “Streetcar Suburbs” Middle & Upper class
Could afford transit fares
Wanted away from the noise and dirt of the cities.
Cleaner, quieter living
“Streetcar Suburbs”
Lower Class:
Remained in the cities so they could walk to work

9. Urban Living Creates Problems
Tenements
Low cost multifamily housing
Designed to squeeze in as many families as possible
Sometimes several families lived in one unit.
Used the additional rooms for sewing & piecework for $$
Few windows
Little sanitation
Very unhealthy & dangerous
Unpaved streets were crowded with rats, trash, dead animals, ect…..
Alleys between tenements were clogged with food waste and trash
1880’s – Planners attempt to regulate housing, sanitation, sewers, & public health.
Water from reservoirs
New water filtration system was created
Fire, Crime, & Conflict:
Development of Firemen…..
Open fireplaces and gas lighting caused several house fires.
Chicago fire of 1871
Destroyed the city
Killed people
Left 100,000 homeless
Danger!!
Professional, uninformed city police forces begin.
took exams & patrolled neighborhoods
Ensured safety with new electric streetlights.
Couldn’t overcome urban group tensions.