Urban America

1877-1920

1
Ch.19: Urban Life, 1877–1920

New urban environment create many
changes

Cities = source of hope, conflict, adjustment

Especially so for “New Immigrants”

51% of Americans urban (1920)

City central to US life

Source of diversity & pluralism (class, race,
ethnicity)

Also new sources of entertainment
(vaudeville)
2
 Outline of this Lecture
I. Economic & Social Forces That
Changed Cities
A)Industrialization
B)Transportation
C)Population Growth
II.Urban Life
A)Rich / Poor / Middle Classes
− “Machine” Politics & Urban Life
C)Betterment / Improvement
D)Women & Minorities
E)Ethnic / cultural enclaves 3
 I. Economic and Social
Forces that Changed the
Cities
»Industrialization
»Transportation
»Population Growth

4
 A. Industrial Development

Cities = centers of industrial growth

Concentration of capital, workers, &
consumers

Most cities have variety of factories

Often specialize in 1 product (clothing,
NYC; steel, Pittsburgh)

Shape of city change

Earlier cities compact; sprawl start late
1800s
5
 B. Transportation
Revolution
,

Horse railways,
1880s

Subways, elevated trains and electric 6

trolleys,1890s
 Mechanization of Mass
Transportation

Mass transit allow middle-class & rich to live
away from congestion of urban core

Then commute for work, shopping, etc.

Cable cars, 1870s; electric streetcars, 1890s;
interurbans, 1900-1920s

Largest cities build elevated trains and/or
subways (both expensive) to bypass traffic

With sprawl, cities subdivide

Growing separation between home & work

Between rich & poor
7
Interurban Car, Urbana, IL 1909

8
 Beginnings of Urban Sprawl

Electric interurban railways link nearby cities
and accelerate growth of suburbs

Fares too expensive for factory workers

Growth unplanned & guided by profit motive

Little attention to parks, traffic, etc.

Some businesses (shops) also move to
suburbs

Urban core = work zone

Urban growth both centrifugal & centripetal
<==City==> / ==>City<==
9
 C. Population Growth


Foreign Immigration

In-Migration from Rural Areas

10
 Population Shifts
• 1860 1 in 6 Americans lived in cities of
8,000 or more OR nearly 20 percent lived in
cities
• 1890 3 in 10 lived in cities OR 33.3
percent lived in cities
• 1900 40 percent lived in cities
• 1920 50 percent lived in cities

• Urban population increased 700

percent between 1865 and 1905

11
 Population Growth

1870: 10 million Americans in cities

1920: 54 million (550% increase)

Some growth from annexing nearby areas

Biggest factor = in-migration from
countryside and immigration from abroad

Rural populace decline

Low crop prices & high debts hurt farmers

Move to cities for jobs & to escape
isolation
12
 Population Growth (cont.)

1000s of rural African Americans migrate
to cities in search of new opportunities

Discrimination limit them to service jobs

More openings for black women than men

Many Hispanics in West migrate to cities

Take over unskilled jobs (construction)

Even more newcomers were immigrants

Some from Canada, Asia, or Latin
America
13
 Foreign Immigration

Most immigrants from Europe

26 million (1870–1920); most go to cities

Part of worldwide population movement

Causes: population pressure, land
redistribution, & industrialization

Religious persecution motivate some

New communications & transportation
facilitate global movement of peoples

14
Immigration to the United
States, 1870-1900

15
 The “New” Immigration

Earlier, most European immigrants from
northern & western Europe (Map 19.2)

By 1900, shift to southern & eastern Europe

Bring greater diversity in language, religion,
ethnicity, & customs to USA

Foreign-born & native-born of foreign parents
become majority in many US cities (Figure 19.1)

Many native-born whites (old immigrant
heritage) resent “new” immigrants

16
 Ellis Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z23tbYOHHAI

17
 In-Migration from Rural
Areas

Falling crop prices, economic recessions
& depressions (“boom & bust” cycles)

Lure of steady / steadier employment in
factories / offices / retail

Greater social opportunities

Mechanization of agriculture means
fewer people needed “down on the farm”

18
Urban and Rural Population,
1870-1900 (in millions)

19
 II. Urban Life

A)Rich / Poor / Middle Classes

− “Machine” Politics & Urban Life
C)Betterment / Improvement
D)Changes in the Social Fabric
of the Family
E)Ethnic / Cultural Life
F)Beginnings of Mass Culture
20
A. Rich / Poor / Middle Class

Concentration of wealth & power in the
cities – financial sectors

Concentration of industrial work in cities

Rising managerial class / mid-level
workers

Growing consumer culture

21
 Currier & Ives Print of the
Proposed Brooklyn Bridge
(1877)

The Brooklyn
Bridge in 1890 22
(built in 1883)
 N.Y. Tribune
Building, 1873-1875

23
Architect: Richard Morris Hunt
 New York World
Building, 1890 

Architect:
George B. Post
309' high
24
 Park Row Building, New
York, 1899

Architect: R.H.
Robertson
391' high

25
 (Old)
Madison
Square
Garden,
NYC

Architects McKim, Mead and

White 26
Tower 304' high
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York
City

5th Ave. near St. Patrick's Tower completed in 1888 

1858-1879 330' high 27
Fifth Avenue in New York City on
Easter Sunday in 1900

28
Hester Street, New York City
c. 1902

29
Living Conditions in the Inner
City

Massive influx of people create immense
problems of overcrowding, disease, poverty

Some improvement overtime, but many
problems remain

Biggest problem = lack of adequate housing

High rents force 2–3 families to occupy one-
family apartments in tenements, esp. NYC

Tiny rooms lack windows, water, safe heat

Result = disease, vermin, & filth

30
 New York tenements at the turn of
the century

500,000 people per

square mile in the
Lower East Side. One
person per square 31
foot.
Room in a Tenement Flat,
1910

Jessie Tarbox Beals

32
Museum of the City of New York
 Jacob Riis (1849-1914)
Photographer and author of How the Other
Half Lives (1890)

Children sleeping
in Mulberry Street
33
(1890)
“Street Arabs” in sleeping
quarters

Jacob Riis 34
Sabbath Eve in a Coal
Cellar

Jacob Riis 35
Police Station Lodger

Jacob Riis 36
 Showing Their Tricks: Hell’s
Kitchen Boys, 1888-1889

Jacob Riis
37
Bohemian Cigar Makers in a Tenement
Sweatshop, 1889

Jacob Riis 38
 Chicago Slums c. 1900
Children playing near a dead
horse

39
Bobover Rebbe and his granddaughter,
Borough Park, New York.

40
Home of an Italian Rag picker, 1888

41
Jacob Riis
 B. “Machine” Politics &
Urban Life
• Organized group  that controlled the
activities of a political party in a city.
• Offered services to voters and businesses in
exchange for political and financial support.
• Pyramid with local precinct workers at
bottom and political boss at top.
• Immigrants fueled the machine as voters.
They Received:
– Naturalization
– Housing
– Jobs
42
 Political Machines (cont.)

NYC’s Tammany Hall mix personal gain
with public accomplishments

Profit from control of city contracts & jobs

Also profit from illegal actions (gambling)

Construct vital public works

Bribes & kickbacks inflate costs to
taxpayers

Like business leaders, bosses use politics
for self-interest and reflect racial/ethnic
bias 43
Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall
Machine

44
 Tammany Hall and
Machine Politics
Tammany
City Hall Hall
Mayor
Bd. of Aldermen Boss

1 st 2nd 3rd 4th

Ward Ward Ward Ward

VOTES MONEY 45
The Tammany Tiger
Loose

46
C. Betterment / Improvement

Efforts to improve and to better
the lives of city dwellers came
on several fronts:
− Economic
− Social
− Spiritual / Moral
− Governmental
47
Diagram of a dumbbell
tenement, c. 1879
Illegal by 1901

48
 Housing Reform;
New Home Technology

NY regulate light, ventilation, & safety of new
buildings; not affect existing structures

Riis & Veiler advocate model tenements

Even reformers reject public housing

New systems of heat, light, & plumbing benefit
upper & middle classes first

Slowly others gain access to gas, electricity,
water

Wealthy create new private spaces in home

49
 Sanitation, Construction;
Urban Poverty

In response to germ theory, cities build
better water purification & sewer systems

Street paving, steel-frame construction,
elevators, & steam-heat improve urban
life

Still, many working families live in poverty

Seasonal nature of work; boom/bust
cycles

Americans debate whether to help poor
50
 Poverty Relief

Traditional belief: poor = many lazy &
immoral / deserving poor

Aid to poor creates dependence

Some reformers begin to argue new
urban environment contributes to poverty

Advocate government action to address
poverty with safety & health regulations

Origins of later Progressive movement

In late 1800s, most wealthy reject reform
51
 The Stirrings of Reform

Social Darwinists see attempts
at social reform as useless and
harmful

Reformers begin to seek
changes in U.S. living, working
conditions
52
 Progress and Poverty

Henry George: the rich getting
richer, the poor, poorer

George’s solution: tax land,
wealth’s source

53
 New Currents in Social
Thought

Clarence Darrow rejects Social Darwinism,
argues poverty at crime’s root

Richard T. Ely’s “New Economics” urges
government intervention in economic affairs

Liberal Protestants preach "Social Gospel"
– Purpose: reform industrial society
– Means: introduce Christian standards into
economic sphere

54
 A Crisis in Social Welfare

Depression of 1893 reveals insufficiency
of existing private charity

New professionalism in social work

New efforts to understand poverty’s
sources

Increasing calls for government
intervention

Social tensions engender sense of crisis
55
 Crime and Violence

Homicides & other crimes (theft) increase

More reporting may explain growth

Nativists blame immigrants

But native-born also participate in crime

Violence against newcomers frequent

Race riots against blacks in cities across
USA
− Atlanta, GA (1906); East St. Louis, IL (1917)

56
 Law Enforcement

Cities develop professional police, post-
1850

Police often exhibit poor training,
corruption, & ethnic/racial prejudice

Different groups want different kinds of
law enforcement on customer-oriented
crimes

57
 Managing the City

Governments slowly address new problems

Many urban governments lack organization

Clean water & waste disposal = urgent
needs

Lack of 2 cause disease (yellow fever,
typhoid)

Engineers purify water with filters & chlorine

Also improve waste disposal, street cleaning,
lighting, construction, & fire protection
58
 Civic Reform

Upset by corruption & taxes, middle/upper
classes oppose bosses but with little
success

Advocate city managers & city commissions
to create efficient government by experts

Reformers do not realize urbanities are loyal
to boss because boss help with problems

A few reform mayors use government to
address poverty (Pingree of Detroit)
59
The City Beautiful Movement

Architects try to make cities attractive &
efficient with parks, wider streets

Displace poor in process

Naiveté/insensitivity of many reformers

60
 The Settlement Houses
Famous Houses
– 1886--Stanton Coit’s Neighborhood Guild, New York
– 1889—Jane Addams' Hull House, Chicago
– 1892—Robert A. Woods’ South End House, Boston
– 1893—Lillian Wald’s Henry Street Settlement, New
York

Characteristics
– Many workers women
– Classical, practical education for poor
– Study social composition of neighborhood
61
 Jane Addams, founder of Hull
House
(1860-1935)

62
In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize
Hull House, Chicago
1889

63
Lillian Wald (1867-1940), nurse, social
worker

Wald
introduced
the pioneering
concept of
public health
nursing

64
 Lillian Wald founded Henry Street Settlement
in New York in 1895

Lillian Wald in her

office 65
 One of Lillian Wald's nurses takes a short cut
across tenement roofs to visit a patient, c. 1908

66
 II. Urban Life

D. Changes in the Social

Fabric of the Family

67
 Family Life

Family remain primary social unit

Help members with urban-industrial
problems

Most households consist of nuclear family

Family size shrink with declining birth rate

Stages of life (youth, parenthood, old age)
become more distinct

Number of unmarried people increase

Boarding = common practice
68
 Changes in Family Life

Urbanization, industrialization alter family

Family life virtually disappears among poorly-paid
working class

Suburban commute takes fathers from middle-
class homes

Tensions for women
– Domesticity encouraged
– Identity as mere housewife almost shameful

69
 Manners and Mores
Victorian morality dictates dress,
manners
Protestant religious values strong
Reform underpinned by
Protestantism

70
 Changing Views: A Growing
Assertiveness among Women

"New women"--self-supporting
careers

Demand an end to gender
discrimination

Speak openly about once-forbidden
topics
71
1910 telephone exchange
in New York City

72
 Educating the Masses

Few students reach the sixth grade

Teaching unimaginative, learning passive

Segregation, poverty compound problems
of Southern education

1896—Plessy v. Ferguson allows "separate
but equal" schools

73
 Geographic and Social
Mobility

Newcomers cope with challenges by relying on
family (pool resources, help with jobs)

Also constant movement within city or to
another city in search of better opportunities

Some find success; others keep moving

White male occupational mobility exist with
more white-collar jobs & small businesses

Few rag-to-riches successes

Most rich start with affluence

74
 Geographic and Social
Mobility (cont.)

Moderate advance occur for some white
men, esp. native-born

17–20% of manual workers rise to non-
manual work within 10 years

Some downward mobility also occur

Especially owners of small businesses

Little mobility for women and people of
color

75
 Geographic and Social
Mobility (cont.)

Acquiring property difficult because of high
interest loans with short repayment periods

36% of urban Americans own homes (1900)

Higher than most Western nations

Gap between rich & poor widen

Possibility of mobility serve as safety valve

Relieve some tensions/frustrations of city life

76
 II. Urban Life

D. Ethnic / Cultural Life

77
 Cultural Retention and
Change

Peopling of cities = dynamic process

Immigrants initially live in ethnic enclaves
and try to preserve traditional culture

Crowding/movement force contact with
others

In large cities, neighborhoods = multi-
ethnic “urban borderlands”

White New Immigrants suffer prejudice,
but less than blacks, Asians, & Hispanics
78
 Racial Segregation and
Violence

White immigrants leave enclaves over time

Not so for people of color; racism = key factor

Segregated black “ghettos” develop; few jobs

Lots of animosity from surrounding whites

Churches central to African American life

Asians also suffer segregation, discrimination, &
violence (e.g., Exclusion Act of 1882)

Mexicans lose land; whites isolate them into
barrios far from urban core

79
 Cultural Adaptation

Immigrants try to preserve native language

But children learn English at school & at
work

Music reflect cultural interaction

Religiously, USA become more diverse w/
more Catholics, Jews, Orthodox Christians,
etc.

Some Catholics & Jews accommodate to US
culture

Others resist (Conservative/Reform
80
Judaism)
 II. Urban Life

E. Leisure & Rise of Mass

Culture

81
 Leisure and Entertainment

Domestic leisure--card, parlor, yard games

Sentimental ballads, ragtime popular

Entertainment outside home

Circus immensely popular

Baseball, football, basketball

Street lights, streetcars make evening a time for
entertainment and pleasure

82
 The New Leisure
and Mass Culture

Leisure time expand and become big
business

Sports: baseball & football for men; women’s
basketball; croquet & cycling for both sexes

Popular drama, musical comedy, &
vaudeville provide escape, but reinforce bias

Movies, newspapers, & magazines become
profitable consumer goods

Create mass culture, but USA still pluralistic
83