U.S. History
Ch. 21
How the Other Half Lives….
Urbanization &Tenement Housing
The second Industrial Revolution that began in America following the Civil War not only changed how
people worked, but it also changed where people worked. Since the colonial period, most people worked and lived
in rural areas. But in the late 1800s that began to change as people moved to the cities to find jobs. Factories
owners were drawn to cities because of the good transportation they offered and the large number of workers that
lived there. As more factories opened up in the cities more people (especially immigrants) began moving there
resulting in a cycle of urban growth. When cities grow (both in terms of size and population) it is referred to as
urbanization.
Cities Grow Up & Out….
Technology had a large impact on the growth of cities in the late 1800s. The
Bessemer Process made producing steel much easier and cheaper. The availablity of steel
coupled with the invention of the elevator led to the building of skyscrapers. The
nation’s first skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building (Chicago, IL) which was
constructed in 1885. In the decades that followed other skyscrapers were constructed
such as the Chrysler (1928) and Empire State Buildings (1931) of NYC. Skyscrapers
resulted in cities growing upward.
By 1900 electric street cars were carrying more than 5 billion passengers a year.
Some of these street cars were located under the streets (subways) while others were
elevated above the streets. Before the invention of street cars, most people got around
cities by walking or riding in horse-drawn carriages. Streetcars allowed cities to expand
outward. People could live further away from the center of the city, but still manage to
get to work using street cars.
Urban Disasters…
American cities such as New York and Chicago became very densely populated (meaning
crowded). The high concentration of people in these cities led to an increased risk of disaster. For example, in
1871 a fire broke out in Chicago. The fire spread quickly through the city (many buildings were poorly constructed
and made of wood). In less than a day 4 square miles of the city had been burned to the ground and hundreds of
people had lost their lives. Nearly 1/3 of the city’s residents were left homeless. A similar fire destroyed much of
San Francisco after an earthquake ignited fires in the city in 1906. The government had not planned for how to
handle a disaster affecting so many people.
Cities were very unsanitary at the turn of the century. Diseases spread quickly
through the cities of America. The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 resulted
in the deaths of over 20 million Americans. Outbreaks of typhoid fever,
a disease caused from ingesting food contaminated with bacteria, were
commonplace. A New York City food worker nicknamed Typhoid Mary,
was identified as a carrier of the disease. She was placed in quarantine from
1915 until her death in 1938 to try and stop the spread of the disease.
Tuberculosis was another disease that killed large numbers of Americans.
Tenenment Housing…
Most families living in cities could not afford to buy homes, so they rented apartments or tenements. A
tenement is an apartment house that is run-down and overcrowded. Old buildings, landlord neglect, poor design
and little government control led to dangerous conditions in many tenements. Poor families that could not afford
to rent a place of their own often needed to move in with other families. This resulted in severely overcrowded
tenements. It was not uncommon for 12 or more people to live together in a two-room apartment.
Inadequate garbage pick up also caused problems. Tenants dumped their garbage down narrow air shafts
between the apartment buildings. There was little fresh air and the smell was awful. The garbage attracted rats and
other pests that quickened the spread of disease. Most tenements had no running water. Residents had to collect
water from a faucet in the street. The water had to be heated for bathing, but it was unsafe to drink. In the first
week of July in 1877, 139 babies died in the city of Baltimore from drinking contaminated water. Few tenement
buildings had indoor plumbing. Sewage flowed in open gutters. Neighborhoods full of these tenement buildings
became known as slums. After visting the slums of Chicago, British writer Rudyard Kipling wrote, “Having seen
Chicago, I urgently desire to never see it again.”
During the 1880s many in upper- and middle-class society were unaware of the dangerous conditions in
the tenement houses. Jacob Riis, an immigrant himself who could not originally find work, hoped to expose the
poor living condtions that existed in the slums of New York City. After a successful career as a police reporter he
decided to publish a photojournal documenting these conditions using graphic descriptions, sketches, photographs,
and statistics. Riis blamed the apathy of the rich for the conditions of the New York slums, and assumed that as
people were made more aware of these conditions they would be more apt to help eradicate them.
Riis went into the city and took photographs of people livingi n poverty. Due to the recent invention of
flash photography, Riis was able to capture the unlit areas of tenements and expose wretched working and living
conditions. This unveiled a new perspective of nightlife in dark places that were often not even lit by streetlight,
much less seen by the average New Yorker. The harsh white light from magnesium flash powder caused a look of
shock on the faces of those photographed and came to stand for candid and objective photography.
The collection of Riis’ photographs were published in a book entitled, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among
the Tenements of New York.
Name:
Date:
Core:
U.S. History
Ch. 21
Reflections on Urbanization
Directions: Use the “How The Other Half Lives: Urbanization & Tenement Housing” handout to
answer the following questions.
Fact Check…
1. Define the term urbanization: _______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. Briefly explain two factors that led to an increase in urbanization in the late 1800s/early
1900s. ____________________________________________________________________
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3. What is a tenement house? ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
4. Which of the following illustrates problems that resulted from urbanization?
a. Home Insurance Building (1885)
c. Typhoid Mary
b. Empire State Building (1931)
d. subways
I chose answer choice ______ because: __________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. Who was Jacob Riis? ________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Reader Response…
1. Why do you think that Jacob Riis entitled his book of photography “How The Other
Half Lives”? (ATITIC)
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4
Exemplary
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Insightful, well
organized, and
fluent
Deep understanding
of text is
demonstrated
Specific references
to text are used to
support ideas
Text references are
well interpreted and
clearly connected to
response
3
Proficient
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Thoughtful,
organized, and
fluent
Clear understanding
of the text is
demonstrated
Relevant references
to text are used to
support ideas
Text references are
explained and
connected to
response
2
Progressing
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Organized and
somewhat fluent
Basic understanding
of text is displayed
At least one
relevant example
from text is used to
support ideas
Text references are
somewhat
connected to
response
1
Beginning
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Disorganized or
confusing
Limited or no
understanding of text
is displayed
Limited or no
examples from text
are used to support
ideas
Text reference seems
irrelevant to response