Urban Opportunities
 Rapid
urbanization: growth of cities
 Immigrants Settle in Cities
○ Most immigrants became city dwellers
because cities were the cheapest and most
convenient places to live as well as plentiful
jobs for unskilled labor.
○ Clustering in neighborhoods with those of the
same ethnic background (Ghettos)
○ Growth revitalized cities, but created serious
problems that had an impact on the poor.
Migration From Country to City
○ Farming technology made many
advancements (good news/bad news)
○ Forced many rural people including AfricanAmericans out of farming & into the city to
take whatever job was available
 Urban Cultural Opportunities
○ New forms of entertainment were a lure to the
city Example: sports, theater
○ Job competition between African Americans
and white immigrants resulted in racial
tension.
Urban Problems
 Housing
○ Working class families could either:
○ Buy a house on the outskirts and deal with
Transportation issues or…Rent a room in a
boardinghouse and share kitchen, and diningroom facilities with other families
○ Row houses: attached single-family dwellings
that shared side walls with other similar
houses
○ Growth of Tenements: Multi-family urban
dwellings that were overcrowded and
unsanitary.
Other Problems
 Transportation
○ Before industrialization going to work was a walk,
or a horse ride
○ Cable cars are developed and utilized
○ 1888, 1st practical electric streetcar line began
operating in Richmond, Virginia
○ Why not keep using horses?
 Sanitation
○ Horse manure pile dup on the streets, sewage
flowed through open gutters, and factories spewed
foul smoke into the air
○ Trash collection was inconsistent and people
dumped their garbage in the streets
○ Sewer lines were not widely used until 1900.
Even more Problems
 Threat of Fire
○ Water supply was a problem, and candles or lanterns
were used for light
○ Most buildings made of wood, and built close to one
another
- The Great Chicago Fire (Oct. 8, 1871)
- The San Francisco Earthquake (April 18, 1906)
○ Newer buildings would be built of brick, steel, and
concrete
○ Invention of the automatic fire sprinkler in 1874
 Crime
○ Pickpockets and thieves flourished in urban crowds,
and con men took advantage of non-English speaking
immigrants
○ New York organized the 1st full-time, paid police force in
1844
○ Gangs controlled areas with high crime rates.
Settlement House Movement

Social Gospel Movement
 An early reform program to combat urban
poverty and poor living conditions
 Preached salvation through service to the
poor
 Reformers established Settlement houses
that provided assistance to the people in the
area, especially new immigrants.
 One of the biggest activists was Jane
Addams