The New Metropolis
The New Metropolis
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Henry George: “Poverty Amid
Progress”
• “as savings in production and exchange are
made possible by denser settlement”
• [regarding communities with little
progress]“while you won’t find wealth in all its
effects, neither will you find beggars-”
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City Organization
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Districts
Ethnic enclaves
Suburbs
Transportation
Planning
– Eg: Chicago
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What social and political institutions helped poor & immigrant newcomers adapt to urban life
during the Gilded Age?
Terms: Ethnic ”ghettos”, Immigrant newspapers, Ward Politics, Reform Judaism, Ethnic
Catholic Parishes, YMCA
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Technology Fosters Urban Growth
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Steel
Skyscrapers
Electricity
Tenements
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Urban Life & Society
• Entertainment
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Vaudeville
Nickelodeons
Amusement Parks
Spectator Sports
• Music
• Sex & the city
• High Culture
– Museums
– Opera halls
– Public Libraries
– Ragtime
– Blues
– Musical theatre
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Carnegie Hall 1891
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Standard of Living = Leisure
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Big Picture Question: How did the wealthy and middle classes of Gilded Age differ in their
expressions of social status?
Terms: Nob Hill & 5th Avenue, NYC Metropolitan Opera House, McAllister’s Social Register,
“white-collar” jobs,
“streetcar suburbs”
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Shame of the Cities…
In the absence of government service, private interests…
• Political Machines
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Definition..
In practice
Service
beneficiaries
Corruption
• Ex: Tammany Hall, St
Louis, Memphis, San
Francisco
• Successes
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Immigrant services
Voter registration
Parks
Utilities
Facilities
– Chicago v. Berlin
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How effectively did urban leaders face crowding, safety & transportation challenges in major American cities
during the Gilded Age ?
Mass Transit, Skyscrapers, Electricity, Chicago Fire, San Francisco Earthquake, Streetcars, Urban
Environmental Hazards, Dumbbell Tenements, "City Beautiful” Movement, Chicago vs. Berlin
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Machine Politics
• Problems reveal limits
– Crises:
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Galveston-hurricane
Cleveland labor strikes
Chicago fire (1871)
SF Earthquake (1906)
• Reforming Politicians
– Tom Johnson (Cleveland)
– Josiah Quincy (Boston)
– Hazen Pingree (Detroit)
– Economic Depression
• (1890s)
– Overpopulation
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What factors encouraged American cities grow significantly during the Gilded Age?
Terms: Sister Carrie, Causes of Urbanization, Pittsburg, Pullman & New York
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Problems Revealed by Muckrakers
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Lincoln Steffens
Jacob Riis
Ida Tarbell
Julius Chambers
Ray Stannard Baker
• Reforms
– Public health
– Prostitution
– Settlement houses
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