The Age of the City
Brinkley Text Chapter 18
The Urbanization of America
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The United States began as an agrarian,
largely rural society
By the late nineteenth century (1800s), it was
beginning to become an urban nation
Cities grew rapidly
Their growth was largely unplanned
Public facilities and institutions could not keep
pace with growth
The Urbanization of America
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Housing, transportation, sewers, social
services, governments – all lagged behind and
struggled to meet the growing demands of a
growing population
Many people were intimidated and dazzled by
this change, and had difficulty adapting to them
The Urbanization of America
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But for many people, cities were confusing but
alluring
The urban population of the United States grew
sevenfold in the half-century between the Civil
War (1865) and World War I (1917)
New York grew from a million people in 1860 to
over three million in 1900
Chicago went from 100,000 to over 1,000,000
The Urbanization of America
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This growth occurred even with . . .
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A high infant mortality rate
A declining fertility rate
A high death rate from disease
But without immigration from outside the US,
and migration within the US, cities would have
grown very little, if at all
The Urbanization of America
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The growth of cities was largely driven by
immigration and internal migration
People fled failing foreign economies
New forms of transportation facilitated the
growth of cities
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Railroads
Large, steam-powered ocean liners for both
passengers and shipping of goods
Europeans and Asians could reach the US
more easily and more cheaply
The Urbanization of America
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Americans left the declining agricultural areas
of the Eastern US
Some went to developing farmlands in the
West
But about as many moved to the cities of the
East and Midwest
The Urbanization of America
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Many women took the opportunity to leave the
farm for urban life
Farms were growing larger and more
mechanized
Clothing and household goods that were
formerly made by farm women were now
readily available for purchase ready-made
Hundreds of thousands of women moved to
the cities, in search of work and community
The Urbanization of America
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Southern blacks also began their exodus to the
cities
They sought to escape the poverty, debt,
violence and oppression of their life in the
South
But opportunities in the cities were limited
Factory jobs and professional opportunities for
blacks were virtually nonexistent
The Urbanization of America
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Urban blacks tended to work as cooks, janitors,
domestic servants, and other low-paying
service jobs
Much of it was considered “women’s work,”
and black women often outnumbered black
men in the cities
By 1900, there were over thirty cities with
100,000 or more blacks
Some in the South, and some in the North or
border states
The Urbanization of America
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10 million immigrants entered the US between
1860 and 1890
18 million more between 1890 and 1920
Most came from Europe, but many (particularly
on the West Coast) from China and Japan
After 1880, many were arriving from southern
and eastern Europe
Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Slovaks, Russian
Jews, Armenians, etc.
The Urbanization of America
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In the early stage, most of the immigrants
arrived with at least a modicum of education
and money
Especially Germans and Scandinavians
But not the Irish
Poor Irish immigrants were in much the same
situation as the Irish whom had immigrated
before the Civil War
The Urbanization of America
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Immigrants from rural parts of Europe had
difficulty adjusting to urban life in America
Many national groups formed ethnic
communities in the cities
These “immigrant ghettoes” tried to re-create
the Old World in the new
Some immigrant communities were composed
of people who had come from the same town
or region in Europe
The Urbanization of America
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Most immigrants wanted to assimilate with the
“American culture”
Their dream was to become “True Americans”
For some of them, this meant leaving behind
all vestiges of their old culture and break with
the old ways
Some even were contemptuous of parents and
grandparents who continues to preserve
traditional ethnic habits and values
The Urbanization of America
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This also put a strain on the relationships
between men and women in immigrant
communities
Traditionally, women were subordinate to men
Parents arranged every aspect of daughters’
lives from birth to marriage
But in America, young women were more free
to develop their own relationships outside the
family structure
The Urbanization of America
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Assimilation was not entirely a matter of choice
Native-born Americans encouraged
assimilation, both deliberately and
inadvertently
Public schools taught in English only
Employers often insisted that only English be
spoken on the job
The Urbanization of America
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Although there were merchants in the ethnic
communities that catered to immigrants with
traditional food, clothing, etc., most stores sold
“American” goods
Immigrants therefore adopted “American”
norms on diets, wardrobes, lifestyles, etc.
Church leaders were mostly native-born, and
liturgies were “American-style”
Reform Judaism was imported from Europe
The Urbanization of America
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Once again, nativism emerged
Culturally distinct communities were viewed
with suspicion, and even fear and prejudice
Chicago: May Day, 1886
Haymarket: striking immigrant workers,
demonstrations, bombing, riot, massacre,
anarchists, conspiracy, hangings, etc.
Major setback for American labor movement
The Urbanization of America
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Chicago Newspaper:
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“Those people . . . are not American but the
very scum and offal of Europe . . . Europe’s
human and inhuman rubbish.”
The Urbanization of America
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On the West coast, the Mexicans, Japanese,
Chinese, etc. bore the brunt of this
The “Immigration Protective Association” was
founded in 1887, based on hatred of Catholics
and foreigners
By 1894, it had 500,000 members
In 1894, the “Immigration Restriction League”
was founded with a somewhat more genteel
approach
The Urbanization of America
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In 1882, Congress passed a law restricting
immigration from China, as well as immigration
of paupers, convicts, mentally incompetent,
etc., and collected a tax of 50 cents per
immigrant
The list of “undesirables” was later expanded,
and the tax was increased
Still, there were many who supported
immigration for economic reasons
The Urban Landscape
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By the mid-19th century, reformers began
calling for a more ordered approach to urban
growth
The result was a more self-conscious creation
of public spaces and public services
Parks and other recreational facilities began to
take shape in many urban areas
The Urban Landscape
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Frederick Law
Olmstead and Calvert
Vaux were landscape
designers
They designed New
York’s Central Park in
the late 1850s
The Urban Landscape
Central Park
The Urban Landscape
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Although Central Park presents a “natural”
appearance, it is almost entirely designed and
landscaped
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Carnegie Hall
The Urban Landscape
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The Creation of Public
Space
The Back Bay of Boston –
reclaimed wetland
Chicago was also
successful at reclaiming
land from Lake Michigan
and raising street level
above marshy areas
The Urban Landscape
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Thousands of new residents were pouring into
cities every day
But anyone with a moderate income could
afford a house
Some of the richest urban residents lived in
palatial mansions in “fashionable districts” in
the heart of the city
The Urban Landscape
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Some of the wealthy, and many of the less
wealthy, took advantage of less expensive land
on the edges of cities and created suburbs
Mass Transit began to develop
Commuter trains, streetcars, improved roads
Quiet, clean, peaceful suburbs with pure air
and natural scenery
“Streetcar suburbs”
The Urbanization of America
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But most urban workers could not afford to own
a house in the city or move to the suburbs
Urban rents were as high as the traffic would
bear
Urban population density was also high
Sometimes higher than the most densely
populated cities of Europe
The Urbanization of America
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The word “tenement” originally meant “multifamily dwelling”
But it took on a connotation of crowded slums,
cheap lodgings, miserable abodes
Jacob Riis published “How the Other Half
Lives”
A written and pictorial description of slum life
Universally sunless, practically airless, and
poisoned by summer stenches
The Urban Landscape
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Sometimes governments responded to
such conditions by razing such structures
But sometimes they provided nothing to
replace them
The Urban Landscape
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Urban transportation faced difficult challenges
Old downtown streets were often too narrow to
move the increasingly heavy traffic
Most were without a hard paved surface
Instead they were either dusty or muddy,
depending on the weather
By 1890, less then 1/3 of Chicago’s streets
were paved
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The number of people who needed to move
around each day spawned the development of
mass transportation
Horse-drawn streetcars running on tracks had
been around since before the Civil War
The Urban Landscape
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More efficient modes of
transportation began to
develop
But steam-powered
trains were noisy and
filthy
Electric trolleys made
their appearance
The Urban Landscape
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Underground trains (subways) also
developed
New techniques of building bridges and
other structures came into being
Suspension bridges and steel girder
construction revolutionized urban
development
Passenger elevators were also a major
development
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Dr. D. T. Porter
Building
Memphis, 1895
The Urban Landscape
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The
“Skyscraper”
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Steel Girder
Construction
Strains of Urban Life
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Fire and Disease were serious problems
Chicago and Boston suffered “great fires” in
1881
Other cities did so as well
San Francisco, earthquake and fire, 1906
But this encouraged the development of safer,
fireproof buildings
Strains of Urban Life
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Disease was another urban problem
Inadequate sanitation brought epidemics of
contagious diseases which quickly spread
The link between improper sewage disposal
and water contamination to disease was not
well understood
Typhoid fever and cholera were especially
rampant
Strains of Urban Life
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Facilities for disposal of “human waste” were
inadequate well into the twentieth century
Flush toilets began to appear in the 1870s
But sewage continued to flow into open ditches
and streams, polluting the water supply
Strains of Urban Life
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Contrary to
widespread
misconception, the
flush toilet was NOT
invented by Thomas
Crapper
However, he did invent
the ballcock and did
much to increase the
popularity of the toilet
Strains of Urban Life
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The environmental degradation of many
American cities was visible and disturbing
Fires, disease, plague, overcrowding were
environmental costs of urbanization
The widespread presence of horses (and in
some cases, pigs, cows, etc.) also contributed
to the problem
Yellow Fever killed 5,000 people in Memphis
Strains of Urban Life
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Air quality also suffered
The burning of soft coal produced a “fog” of
airborne debris
The incidence of respiratory infections and
related diseases was much higher in the cities
than elsewhere
It accelerated rapidly in the late nineteenth
century
Strains of Urban Life
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The expansion of cities spawned
widespread and desperate urban
poverty
Very little assistance and relief was
available
Many believed that too much help
would breed a culture of dependency
The Salvation Army was founded in
London in 1878 and began operating in
the US in 1879 (Revivalism)
Strains of Urban Life
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Crime and violence were growing problems
Murder rate was increasing (to 100 per million
by 1900)
The South and the West were particularly
lawless
But the urban environment also experienced
an increase in crime
Strains of Urban Life
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Cities began to develop professional police
departments
Uniformed officers patrolled the streets,
plainclothes detectives investigated crime after
the fact
But corruption and complaints of brutality were
common
National guard (militia) groups emerged
Strains of Urban Life
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Fear of the city was common
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie chronicled
the plight of girls who moved from the
countryside to the city with no means of
support
Extreme poverty, hardship, sometimes
prostitution
Strains of Urban Life
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The Rise of the Political Machine
With the growth of the cities came demands for
more and more public services
This presented many opportunities for
dishonest politicians to use their offices for
personal gain
“The Boss” could help himself while pretending
to help others
Graft and corruption
E.H. Crump
Strains of Urban Life
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"I cannot accept your canon that we are to
judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a
favourable presumption that they did no wrong.
If there is any presumption it is the other way,
against the holders of power, increasing as the
power increases. Historic responsibility has to
make up for the want of legal responsibility . . .
Strains of Urban Life
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. . . Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely. Great men are
almost always bad men, even when they
exercise influence and not authority, still more
when you superadd the tendency or the
certainty of corruption by authority. There is no
worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the
holder of it.“ (Lord Acton)
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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During this period, just about everyone’s
income and financial status improved
The pay of white-collar workers grew by about
1/3 between 1890 and 1910
As middle-class incomes grew, so did patterns
of consumption
A new mass market emerged for consumer
goods of all kinds
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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People who once wore clothes made by
members of the family now could afford readymade clothes
Houses with closets became more common
Canned food, condensed milk, artificially
refrigerated railroad cars
Perishable goods (meat, vegetables, dairy
products) could now be shipped longer
distances
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Chain Stores and Mail-Order Houses changed
the way goods were marketed, and changed
the way Americans bought goods
A&P (The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea
Company) established a nationwide chain of
grocery stores, beginning in 1850
F. W. Woolworth started a chain of “Five and
Ten Cent” stores
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Some felt that the small “Mom and Pop” stores
would be threatened by the national chains
Much as people today are concerned about
Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Kroger, etc.
Many people wanted to support local small
businesses
But lower prices and convenience were
tempting
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Montgomery Ward and Sears & Roebuck
popularized the catalog-order business
You could buy just about anything from mailorder catalogs
The Henry J (Allstate)
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Sears is still in business
Montgomery Ward ceased operations in 2001
F. W. Woolworth ceased operations in 1997,
except for the Foot Locker division
S, H. Kress ceased operations in 1981
Kresge, Grant’s, TG&Y, several others, all
gone
Replaced by Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.
The Kress building
downtown Memphis
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Department stores made their appearance
An “enormous array” of products of all kinds
were brought together under one roof
Clothing, cosmetics, furniture, household
goods, toys, cooking utensils, stationery, etc
Previously, these had mostly been sold in
specialty shops
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Many department stores also included “tea
rooms” and restaurants
Women’s clothing styles often changed rapidly
from year to year
This encouraged more frequent purchases
New food products also changed the way
people shopped and ate
Canning and refrigeration allowed food to be
shipped and stored, for more variety in diets
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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The National Consumers League sought to
mobilize the power of women as consumers
This enabled many middle-class women to
become active in public life
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Leisure activities grew in importance
People were able to spend more time away
from work and develop personal interests
The work week went from seventy hours a
week to about sixty by 1900 (later 40, then
37.5, etc.)
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Leisure and “rest” were no longer regarded as
synonymous with sloth
Many people still worked six days a week, but
now had more time off in the evenings
“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and
eight hours for what we will”
Leisure time came to be seen as a right and as
an important contribution to an individual’s
emotional and even spiritual health
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Parks, dance halls, vaudeville houses, concert
halls, movies all attracted people
Lavish “movie palaces,” amusement parks
Saloons and some sporting events continued
to be regarded as male preserves
The Orpheum
Memphis
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Spectator sports became an important form of
leisure activity
Baseball had begun to appear in America as
early as the 1850s
By the end of the Civil War, there were more
than 200 organized teams
The first salaried team was the Cincinnati Red
Stockings in 1876
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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The first World Series was played in 1903
Intercollegiate sports also emerged
Princeton v. Rutgers, 1869
Basketball, 1891
Boxing, horse racing, sports gambling
Fixed matches, scandals
Golf, tennis, many others
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Music and Theatre
Ethnic theatre, Yiddish theatre, patriotic shows,
vaudeville
Magicians, comedians, jugglers
“The Movies” ruled until the coming of radio
and television
The Birth of a Nation, 1915, D. W. Griffith
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Working-Class Leisure
The neighborhood saloon became an
important gathering place for the working class
Many were ethnically specific, in ethnic
neighborhoods
They were also a hotbed of political discussion
and activity, as Taverns had been in preRevolutionary times
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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The Anti-Saloon League (Temperance
Movement) attacked saloons
One reason they gave was that eliminating
saloons would weaken political machines
Some saloons were in fact places of crime,
violence, prostitution, and gateways to the dark
underworld
That was another justification to eliminate them
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Boxing was particularly popular among working-class
men
John L. Sullivan
“Gentleman Jim” Corbett
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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The Fourth of July was an important holiday
Many Americans worked six days a week and
did not get regular vacations
So a full day of leisure other than Sunday was
the high point of the year
Picnics, games, parades
Celebration of “Independence,” but also of
ethnic culture
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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But in parts of the South, celebration of the
Fourth of July was problematic
It was seen as a day of celebration and selfcongratulation for the Republican/Union faction
But eventually, regional tensions lessened and
the Fourth of July was observed in the South
as well
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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“Dime novels” appeared as a form of individual
private amusement
Wild West, detective stories, scientific
adventure (Tom Swift ), “moral uplift” (Horatio
Alger), romance, animals, young children
growing up (Little Men, Little Women)
The Tom Swift books were noted for a
particular style of writing
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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Author Victor Appleton went to great trouble to
avoid repetition of the unadorned word "said“
He used quotative verbs, modifying adverbial
words or phrases
This excerpt from Tom Swift and His
Airship (1910) illustrates the style
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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"Oh, I'm not a professor," he said quickly. "I'm a professional
balloonist, parachute jumper.
"No professor?" cried Miss Perkman indignantly. "Why I
understood from Miss Nestor that she called some one
professor."
"I was referring to my friend, Mr. Swift," said Mary. "His father's
a professor, anyhow, isn't he, Tom? I mean Mr. Swift!"
"I believe he has a degree, but he never uses it," was the
lad's answer.
"Say something, Tom — I mean Mr. Swift," appealed Mary
Nestor, in a whisper, to our hero. "Can't you give some sort of
a lecture?"
"I — I don't know what to say," stammered Tom.
The Rise of Mass Consumption
This led to the creation of the “Tom Swifty,” a
parody of this style with the incorporation of a pun.
"Pass me the shellfish," said Tom crabbily.
"That's the last time I'll stick my arm in a lion's mouth,"
the lion-tamer said off-handedly.
"I might as well be dead," Tom croaked.
"We just struck oil!" Tom gushed.
"It's freezing," Tom muttered icily.
"Hurry up and get to the back of the ship," Tom said
sternly
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The Rise of Mass Consumption
 Music
was also a popular form of
leisure
 Both public performances and
opportunities to play music at home
were enjoyed
 People learned to play “parlor
instruments”
 The “Ragtime” style emerged
The Rise of Mass Consumption
After the Civil War, the number of
newspapers in America increased ninefold
 From under 3 million to more than 24 million
 The use of telegraphic press services to
supply news nationwide became standard
 William Randolph Hearst began building his
publishing empire
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The Rise of Mass Consumption
 “Highbrow”
and “Lowbrow” culture
 Later, “Longhair Music”
 Now, “Fine Arts” (as opposed to
“Coarse Arts?”)
 Mark Twain – Tom Sawyer,
Huckleberry Finn, etc.,etc.
 Social realism – Red Badge of
Courage, The Jungle, The Octopus,
etc.
The Rise of Mass Consumption
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By 1900,
American art
had begun to
develop as a
specific type
Winslow
Homer,
James
McNeil
Whistler
The Rise of Mass Consumption
High Culture in the Age of the City
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Some art was
startling and
stark in its
realism
The “Ashcan
School”
Naturalism,
expressionism,
abstraction
High Culture in the Age of the City
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The Impact of Darwinism
“Natural Selection”
“Pragmatism” (William James)
Growth of Anthropology
Economic factors vs. spiritual ideals
High Culture in the Age of the City
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Universal Schooling
Free public primary and secondary education
The number of public schools in America
doubled between 1900 and 1914
But only about 10% of students finished high
school
Rural areas and black schools lagged far
behind white urban America
Indian schools to “civilize” the Indian
High Culture in the Age of the City
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“Land Grant” institutions
Morrill Land Grant Act (1862, 1890)
Federal government donated land to states for
the establishment of colleges
(Tennessee) Agricultural and Industrial State
Normal School, 1909 (now TSU)
East Tennessee University, 1869 (now UTK)
High Culture in the Age of the City
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Universal Schooling
Free public primary and secondary education
The number of public schools in America
doubled between 1900 and 1914
But only about 10% of students finished high
school during that era
Rural areas and black schools lagged far
behind white urban America