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TOPIC III:
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A. Overview: Urban Growth and Expansion
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B. External Transportation Revolution
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C. Intra–urban (mass transit) Transportation Revolution
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D. Changing Urban Economy.
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E. Changing Urban Populations (economic class; ethnic and racial
division).
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F. Making Cities Liveable.
Urban Growth and Westward Expansion, 1800 – 1900.
A. Overview: Urban Growth and Expansion.
1. Swift growth of cities after the birth of the nation (1789).
a. Baltimore replaces Newport among the “Big 5."
New York City emerges as dominant city in U.S.
b. Urban Populations:
1790: 201,655 in urban places;
1860: 6 million in urban places.
1820: farm population rising at same rate as urban population;
1840 – 1850: urban population rising 92.1 % v. total population rise, 35.9%.
1850 – 1860: urban population rising 75.4 % v. Tot. pop. rise, 36 %.
c. New “upstart cities” in New West:
1st Wave: (1790's -- 1820). Ohio Valley, , Mississippi Valley :
e.g. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, St. Louis
2nd Wave: 1820 – 1840. Great Lakes Region.
e.g Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee.
Buffalo: 1811 pop. 400 – 500; 1813 – destroyed by British;
1825, Erie Canal completed, p. c. 2400; 1830 pop. – 8680;
1835 -- 15000.
Southern Urban Frontier: Savannah, Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans (St.
Louis; Lexington.)
2. Changing Character of Urban America in 19th Century:
a. “WALKING CITY” gives way to MODERN CITY.
– Technological transformation: transportation ; infrastructures.
b. Economic Change:
– RURAL AGRICULTURE overshadowed by COMMERCIAL CITY;
– COMMERCIAL CITY to be superceded by INDUSTRIAL CITY.
c. Atlantic Seaboard Cities: European Orientation giving way to Western
orientation.
d. Urban populations:
expanding; diversifying.
e. Two Transportation Revolutions: Urban Rivalry as Driving Force
i. EXTERNAL (inter-city) TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION:
– Urban Rivalry (19th. cent.) driving urban growth and westward
expansion: “Weapons”/strategies in the urban struggle: rivers; port
facilities; steamboats; CANALS; RAILROADS ( Chud., 40 – 45).
ii. INTERNAL TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION:
– transformation from “WALKING CITY” to Modern City;
B. External Transportation Revolution. (Urban Rivalry and technology of
Transportation – driving forces behind Westward expansion: Chud., 40 – 45).
1. ATLANTIC SEABOARD CITIES : (Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia,
Boston) become driving forces in the Western movement:
Thomas Bailey: “More than anything else, the desire of the East to tap the
West drove the transportation revolution.”
Constance McLaughlin: “In the East the cities built the railroads; in the
West, the railroads built the cities.”
a.
Baltimore: “new kid on the block”:
–
–
National Road (1812);
Baltimore and Ohio (1828). (Chud., 44)
b. New York City: rising from the ashes after American Revolution;
emerging as economic capital of U.S.; (stimulated by challenges from
Baltimore and Boston).
i.
Black Ball Line:
N. Y. C. Linked to Liverpool (England);
–
First regular packet service – revolutionized Atlantic trade;
-- Coastal trade: Black Ball Line – New York’s magnet for merchants
from
Gulf ports to Boston.
– 9 steamship lines (by 1856):
* carrying southern cotton to New York (and other northern ports) and
from New York to Liverpool;
** Southern businessmen dependent on Northern businessmen:
merchants, shippers, bankers, insurance and credit agents, manufacturers.
Southern Resentments over $$$ drained from South to North.
“We are mere way stations to Philadelphia, New York and Boston.”
(Southern urban businessmen).
ii. Erie Canal:
– Dewitt Clinton’s “Ditch” (1817 – 1825) – challenging men and nature;
– Impact: New York City becomes the economic powerhouse – the
center
linking American Western cities to European cities.
iii. Railroad Era Begins for New York
– Challenges:
Baltimore : Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1828);
Boston’s Railroad Link to Albany;
– Challenges break down New York’s resistance: railroads across the state
organized into the New York Central (1852).
c. Boston (again challenged; again rises to the challenge):
OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
BIRTH
i. Boston Disadvantaged in the new Commercial Revolution age.
ii. Boston: railroad hub and Industrial Revolution.
Assets:
– Merchant capitalists: Boston Associates;
– Water Power;
– railroad connections:
Boston as hub of New England;
– Labor, etc.
– Industrialism comes to the cities.
2. URBAN RIVALRY IN THE WEST.
Urban Rivalry: Eastern cities racing to capture the burgeoning trade of the
West; Western cities: spearheads of western settlement;economic
organization;
a. Buffalo v. Black Rock:
i. Historical Background (Buffalo):
– Pre-canal development: Red Jacket, Holland Land Co., Joseph Ellicott,
Comeback after War of 1812 disaster. (Goldman, 21 – 33; 45 – 46).
ii. Samuel Wilkeson and the Battle for the Canal; (Goldman, 24 – 26);
iii. Impact of the Canal: (Goldman, 56 – 62);
– Increased Efficiency (time and costs) between Buffalo and New York;
– Buffalo’s Growth and Prosperity;
– Impact on the urban West;
– Impact on Upstate New York Cities.
iv. Coming of the Railroads. (Goldman, 62 – 64).
b. Cleveland v. Sandusky (Chud. 43 – 44).
c. Chicago v. St. Louis: (Chud. 44 – 45).
– Wm. Ogden and the Rise of Chicago;
– Chicago–winning the battle over St. Louis;
– Impact on the nation: Shifting Trade patterns; Increasing sectional
tensions; (South v. North); Cities and the Civil War (Chud., 78 – 81).
d. Transcontinental Railroad: Union Pacific – Central Pacific completes
RR. connections from coast to coast.
-- Denver v. Cheyenne.
3. The Railroad Revolution:
– Advantages of RRs.;
(Chud., 60 -- 61)).
– Impact on the National Economy: Industrial Revolution.
Assn. IV. D. Changing Urban Economy (Pre-Civil War)
Readings. Chudacoff, #2, “Commercialization and Urban Expansion . . .”
(pp. 54 – 62); Goldman: #3, “Impact of Commerce and Manufacturing . . .”
(pp. 63 – 71).
Discussion Points:
Chud. (45 – 61).
1. Discuss the emerging urban industrialization, especially 1840 – 60 period in
terms of :
a. Changing nature of manufacturing;
b. Emerging class structure – work and lives of the rich, poor and middles
classes;
c. Changing status and expectations of women.
2. Goldman (63 – 71).
a. What were the major factors leading to the rise of the manufacturing industry
in Buffalo by the 1850's? Discuss Joseph Dart’s significance.
b. What kinds of industry were emerging in Buffalo?
c. Why was Manufacturer and Traders (M & T) Bank significant in Buffalo’s
emerging industrial economy by the 1850's?
Electronic Sources:
1. Samuel Wilkeson: Google - Samuel Wilkeson and Erie Canal ; click - Erie
Canal Links ; click - Katherine G. T. Whittmore, Carving the Harbor that Built
Buffalo.
2. Buffalo’s Water Front – Grain Elevators: Google - Buffalo History; Enter
Joseph Dart and Water Front ; Click Grain Elevators – History.
3. Herbert Hauptman, Ph.D.: Google “Buffalo Bioinformatics” ; Enter Herbert
Hauptman and Woodward; click - Einsteins in the City – Speakers – Herbert
Haunmptman . . . .