NCSCOS Goal 7
Science and Urban Life
• By the turn of the 20th
century, four out of ten
Americans lived in cities
• In response to urbanization,
technological advances
began to meet
communication,
transportation, and space
demands
Skyscrapers
• They emerged after two critical
inventions elevators and steel
skeletons to bear their weight
• Most dramatic development in
architecture
• It solved the issue how best to use
limited and expansive space
• William LeBaron Jenney receives
credit for designing first skyscraper
was built in Chicago- 10 stories high
Louis Sullivan
• Among Chicago
architects Louis
Sullivan stands out
• emphasized height
• designed an exterior
that largely reflected
interior function
("form follows
function“)
Frank Lloyd Wright
• worked with Sullivan
• began to produce
works of his own
• laid basis for later
reputation as most
creative American
architect of 20th
century
Another view of Burnham’s Flatiron Building
Electric Transit
• Changes in
transportation allowed
cities to spread outward
• By the turn of the
century, intricate
networks of electric
streetcars – also called
trolley cars –ran from
outlying neighborhoods
to downtown offices &
stores
Postcard, "Rush Hour on West Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio." Trolley cars dominate
the street. Before the automobile, the streets belonged to the public.
EL’S and the Subways
• A few large cities
moved their streetcars
far above street level,
creating elevated or
“el” trains
• Other cities built
subways by moving
their rail lines
underground
Bridges and Parks
• Steel-cable suspension
bridges, like the Brooklyn
Bridge, also brought
cities’ sections closer
• Some urban planners
sought to include
landscaped areas & parks
• Frederick Law Olmsted
was instrumental in
drawing up plans for
Central park, NYC
The main object and justification of the park is
simply to produce a certain influence in the
minds of people and through this to make life
in the city healthier and happier. The
character of this influence…is to be produced
by means of scenes, through observation of
which the mind may be more or less lifted out
of moods and habits.”
~Frederick Law Olmstead
City Planning
• Daniel Burnham
oversaw the
transformation of
Chicago’s lakefront
from swampy
wasteland to elegant
parks strung along Lake
Michigan
• Today Chicago’s
lakefront is one of the
most beautiful
shorelines in North
America
Revolution in Printing
• By 1890, the literacy rate in
the U.S. was nearly 90%
• American mills began to
produce huge quantities of
cheap paper from wood
pulp
• Electrical web-perfecting
presses printed on both
sides of paper at the same
time
• Faster production and
lower costs made
newspapers and magazines
more affordable (most
papers sold for 1 cent)
Airplane
Actual photo of Wright
Brother’s first flight 12/17/03
• In the early 20th century,
brothers Orville and Wilbur
Wright, experimented with
engines and aircrafts
• They commissioned a fourcylinder internal
combustion engine, chose a
propeller, and built a
biplane
• On December 17, 1903
they flew their plane for 12
seconds covering 120 feet
in Kitty Hawk, NC
• Within two years the
brothers were making 30
minute flights
• By 1920, the U.S. was using
airmail flights regularly
Photography
• Before 1880, photography
was a professional activity
• Subjects could not move
and the film had to be
developed immediately
• George Eastman invented
lighter weight equipment
and more versatile film
• In 1888, Eastman
introduced his Kodak
Camera
• The $25 camera came with
100-picture roll of film
In 1888, George Eastman introduced his Kodak camera. The purchase price of
$25 included a 100-picture roll of film. After taking pictures, the photographer
would send the camera back to Eastman’s Rochester, New York, factory. For $10,
the pictures were developed and returned with the camera reloaded. Easily held
and operated, the Kodak camera prompted millions of Americans to become
amateur photographers. The camera also helped create the field of
photojournalism.
Expansion of Public Education
• Between 1865 and 1895,
states passed laws
requiring 12 to 16 weeks
of annual education for
students ages 8-14, but
the curriculum was poor
and the teachers were
usually not qualified
• However, the number of
kindergartens expanded
from 200 in 1880 to 3,000
in 1900
High School Enrollments Soar
• High schools expanded
their curriculum to
include science, civics
and social studies
• By 1900 500,000 teenagers were enrolled in
high schools
Racial Discrimination in schools
• African Americans
were mostly excluded
from secondary
education
• In 1890 less than 1%
attended high school
• By 1910 that figured
had reached only 3%
Education for Immigrants
• Unlike African
Americans, immigrants
were encouraged to go
to school
• Most immigrants sent
their children to public
schools
• Also, thousands of
adult immigrants
attended night schools
to learn English
Expanding Higher Education
• In 1900, less than 3% of
America’s youth attended
college
• Between 1880 and 1920
college enrollments more
than quadrupled
• Professional schools were
established for law and
medicine
Newspapers
• First Mass Circulation
– Joseph Pulitzer
• New York World
– William Randolph Hearst
• New York Morning
Journal
– Pulitzer and Hearst in a
constant competition to
out-do competition
• Both sold over one million
copies per day
Realism Literature
• Portrayed life as it
actually happen
• Focused on the Rugged
Individualism of the
tough urban setting or
the unexplored
wilderness
Realist Writers
• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
- Wrote The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
- Captured frontier realism and
humor with authentic American
dialect
• Stephen Crane- Red Badge of
Courage
• Jack London- The Call of the Wildunexplored wilderness
Ashcan School
• Attention to city was
characteristic of work
• Robert Henri and
associates, called "the
Eight," in early 1900s
• Later labeled the Ash Can
School because of
preoccupation with urban
life and ordinary people
• Thomas Eakins who the
founder of the school
Dawn of Mass Culture
• Many middle class
Americans fought off
city congestion and dull
industrial work by
enjoying amusement
parks, bicycling, tennis
and spectator sports
• American leisure was
developing into a
multi-million dollar
industry
Amusement Parks
• To meet the recreational
needs of city dwellers,
Chicago, NYC and other
cities began setting aside
land for parks
• Amusement parks were
constructed on the
outskirts of cities
• These parks had picnic
grounds and a variety of
rides
• Coney Island was the
most popular park of the
era
“Inside the park was an enchanted, storybook land of
trellises, columns, domes, minarets, lagoons, and lofty aerial
flights. And everywhere was life – a pageant of happy
people; and everywhere was color – a wide harmony of
orange and white and gold…It was a world removed – shut
away from the sordid clatter and turmoil of the street.”
-- Bruce Blen on Coney Island
Bicycling and Tennis
• After the introduction
of the “safety bike” in
1885, Americans
increasingly enjoyed
biking
• By 1890, 312
companies made over
10,000,000 bikes
• Tennis also was very
popular in the late 19th
century
Coke and Candy
• Hershey’s chocolate Bar
– First sold in 1900
– Factory located in
Hershey Pennsylvania
• Coca cola
– Originally created to
cure headaches
– Originally contained
small amounts of
cocaine
Motion Pictures
• 1st film- The Great Train
Robbery
Vaudeville and Music
• Vaudeville- traveling shows attracted many,
theatrical. Music, dancing
• Ragtime Music
a) Blends African American spirituals and
European music
b) Originated in Saloons
c) Important for Jazz
“Vaudeville appeals to the businessmen, tired and worn, who drops in for half an
hour on his way home; to the person who has an hour or two before a train goes,
or before a business appointment; to the woman who is wearied of shopping; to
the children who love animals and acrobats; to the man with his sweetheart or
sister, to the individual who wants to be diverted but doesn’t want to think or
feel; to the American of all grades and kinds who wants a great deal for his
money.”
Circus
• P.T. Barnum and James
A. Bailey
• 1881 “The Greatest
Show on Earth”
• Today Ringling Brothers
and Barnum and Bailey
Circus
Spectator Sports
• Americans not only
participated in new
sports, but became avid
fans of spectator sports
• Baseball and boxing
became profitable
businesses
• Mark Twain called
baseball, “the very
symbol of the booming
19th century”
Sports/Entertainment
• Spectator sports enjoyed by
millions
-baseball
• American pastime
• Father of Baseball Alexander
Cartwright
• Clubs started in 1845
• 1869 Cincinnati Red
Stockings- 1st Professional
Team
• 1871 National League 1st
Professional League
• 1903 1st World Series Boston
v Pittsburgh
“Baseball has seized
upon the American
people, irrespective of
age, sex or other
condition.”
-Harper’s Weekly__________________
“Baseball is the very
symbol…and visible
expression of the drive
and push and rush and
struggle of the raging,
tearing, booming
nineteenth century.”
- Mark Twain -
"The American National Game of Baseball." The 1862 World Series. Notice that the pitcher is
pitching underhand and the fielders do not have gloves. The umpire is standing way off to the
right.
The New York Polo Grounds, from a stereoscopic photograph, 1906, of "World's Pennant Day" when New York
was playing Cincinnati.
New York boys playing baseball in an alley, 1910. Beginning in the 1890s there was increasing agitation for
small parks and playgrounds to get the city's children off the streets.
Boxing
• Very popular and
profitable
• Placed wagers
• John L. Sullivan Heavy
weight champion
Basketball
• Invented by James
Naismith at Springfield
College
• Only true American
Sport- Developed in
U.S.
Football
• Invented by Walter Camp
• 1st College Game
Princeton v Rutgers
• 1920s Professional
Football born
• Started in Canton, Ohio
• NFL formed in 1922 with
16 teams
• Green Bay and Chicago
still exist
Growing Consumerism
• The turn of the
century witnessed
the beginnings of
the shopping center,
department and
chain stores, and the
birth of modern
advertising
Department Stores
• Marshall Field of Chicago
brought the first
department store to
America
• Field’s motto was “Give
the lady what she
wants”
• Field also pioneered the
“bargain basement”
concept
• Macy’s in NYC
Chain Store
• In the 1870s, F.W.
Woolworth found that
if he offered an item at
a low price, “the
consumer would
purchase it on the spur
of the moment”
• By 1911, the
Woolworth chain had
596 stores and sold
$1,000,000 per week
Advertising
• Expenditures for
advertising was under
$10 million a year in
1865, but increased to
$95 million by 1900
• Ads appeared in
newspapers, magazines
and on billboards
Catalogs and RFD
• Montgomery Ward and
Sears were two pioneers
in catalog sales
• By 1910, 10 million
Americans shopped by
mail
• In 1896 the Post Office
introduced a rural free
delivery (RFD) system that
brought packages directly
to every home