The Age of the City

The Age of the City

Chapter 18

The Urbanization of America The Lure of the City

population 1865-1910 urban population increases x 7 1920 consensus: first time a majority of Americans

were living in urban areas (2,500+) New York: 1 million in 1860... 3 million 1900 Chicago: 100,000 in 1860... 1 million 1900

urban families high infant mortality rate declining fertility rate high death rate from disease

why go? conveniences entertainment jobs experiences unavailable in rural communities transportation: trains and ocean liners

The Urbanization of America Cont’d

Migrations women

opportunities on farm limited results in fewer family units on farms than before influence of mail-order catalogs

blacks poverty, debt, oppression in rural areas factory jobs rare... professional jobs non-existent 10,000+ communities in major cities by turn of 20th

Century immigrants

10 million between 1860-1890 / 18 million 1890-1920 Greatest number came from Eastern Europe Early immigrants (Germans, not Irish) well educated and

financed = buy land, start business... not the case with these immigrants... settled into urban areas to work unskilled jobs

The Urbanization of America Cont’d The Ethnic City

1890 foreign-born population and their children dominate urban centers

87% of the population of Chicago (more Polish people than in Warsaw)

80% of the population of New York (more Irish than in Dublin / more Germans than Hamburg)

84% of the population of Milwaukee and Detroit huge diversity transition from native country to America

rural life to urban “immigrant ghettos” staying together

fraternal organizations native foods newspapers and theaters voting blocks

different values leading to different levels of advancement: solidarity v. integration

impact of racism: Africans Americans, Asians and Mexicans treated the worst

The Urbanization of America Cont’d

Assimilation ethnic ties often “competed” against

desire/need to assimilate women: from arranged marriages to

the workforce Factors

English taught in schools English only on the job large stores selling American food and

clothing Church leaders encouraging parishioners

to adopt to American ways

The Urbanization of America Cont’d

Exclusion Haymarket reaction Native workers animosity

towards people willing to work for less

Henry Bowers 1887: American Protective Association (Anti-Catholic)

Immigration Restriction League: more sophisticated nativism

Few laws passed by Congress because many powerful Native-born Americans welcomed Immigration... business interests

The Urban Landscape The Creation of Public

Space urban parks: one of

the most important innovations of the Industrial Era

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux teamed up to design Central Park

public buildings: libraries, art galleries, natural history museums, theatres, concert opera halls

rebuilding cities... European competition

The Urban Landscape Cont’d

Housing the Well-to-do fashionable districts suburbs and the rise of “clean air” and front

lawns Housing Workers and the Poor

space scarce + demand high = little bargaining power for renters = bad living conditions

1894 Manhattan =143 people per acre “Miserable Abodes”

South (Charleston, New Orleans, Richmond) = former slave quarters

Boston = wooden “triple deckers” Baltimore and Philadelphia = brick houses New York (like most cities) = tenements

The Urban Landscape Cont’d

Housing Workers and the Poor Cont’d

Tenement originally meant “multiple family rental building”, but by late 19th century the word had become synonymous with “slum” windowless rooms little/no heating little/no plumbing very crowded... three/four

people into each room Jacob Riis How the Other

Half Lives ... solution = raze the slum dwellings without replacing

The Urban Landscape Cont’d

Urban Transportation paved roads (blocks, bricks or

asphalt) Streetcars drawn on tracks by

horses... not fast enough Cable Cars (New York, Chicago, San

Francisco) New York: filthy steam powered train Boston: first American subway 1897 1880s: Brooklyn Bridge

The Urban Landscape Cont’d

The “Skyscraper” no building taller than

five stories stairs building techniques

Elevator and steel beams / 1850s and 1870s

1870 The Equitable Building in New York = seven stories

steel girder construction Louis Sullivan: large

windows, sheer lines, limited ornamentation... emphasis on height

Strains of Urban Life

Fire and Disease “Great Fires”

poor building planning lack of public services... i.e. fire departments 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco* Great Chicago Fire

Disease little understanding of the connection between

poor sewage disposal and water contamination with outbreaks of diseases such as typhoid fever and cholera

flush toilets and sewer systems did not appear in cities until the 1870s... but the sewage went into streams and open ditches....

Strains of Urban Life Cont’d

Urban Poverty private philanthropic

organizations focus on “deserving poor” Salvation Army in

America (1879) concentrated

more on religious revivalism than on relief

Protestants v. Catholics

poor starving children “street arabs”... focus of reformers, but no lasting solutions to problems

Strains of Urban Life Cont’d

Crime and Violence Poverty and overcrowding = increase in crime 25 murders per million in 1880 / 100 murders

per million in 1900... West and South... Native born Americans likely to commit crimes

as immigrants Public officials recognize need for larger police

force rise of detectives corruption and brutality

“Urban National Guard” build armories (?!)

Strains of Urban Life Cont’d The Machine and the Boss

large/chaotic immigrant growth created a large, powerful political base

“The Boss” was chief organizer and ensured loyalty through many different means

Graft and corruption abundant William M. Tweed (notorious boss/mayor) and

Tammany Hall (New York machine) corrupt... but accomplished How it worked

power of organized, immigrant voters connection to the wealthy who profited from their

dealings with the bosses structural weakness of government “invisible government” provided an alternative to the

inadequacy of the regular government Turn of the century people began to call for structural

changes in the nature of the city government

The Rise of Mass Consumption Patterns of Income and Consumption

growth of middle class “white collar” workers... sharp increase in salary

working class incomes rose... but from a lower base and more slowly male dominated labor (steel) salaries rose 1/3 from

1890 to 1900 female, Mexican and Black dominated areas saw

very little increases supplemental incomes and boarders

ready made clothes = rise in personal style and fashion

improved diets = better health = life expectancy rose six years from 1900-1920 tin cans and food refrigerated railroad cars iceboxes

The Rise of Mass Consumption Cont’d

Chains Stores and Mail-Order Houses

Chain Stores Woolworths and A&P able to sell

manufactured goods at lower prices than the local, independent stores with which they competed

many feared they would jeopardize the character of their communities

Mail-Order Houses Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck isolated people now on the cutting edge of

fashion and technology

The Rise of Mass Consumption Cont’d

Department Stores Marshall Field in

Chicago... Macy’s in New York... Jordan Marsh in Boston... etc...

transformed the concept of shopping brought together

under one roof and enormous array of products

stove to create and atmosphere of wonder and excitement and to make it social

economics of scale to lower costs against the individual shops they competed with

The Rise of Mass Consumption Cont’d

Women as Consumers more job opportunities for women...

retail clerks, waitresses... Florence Kelly & The National

Consumes League... took the stance that women as consumers should be entitled to more rights

wages and working conditions public life

Leisure and the Consumer Society

Redefining Leisure Leisure previously scorned in America (Puritan

culture) connection to laziness and sloth Middle Class, Laborers and Farmers all found

themselves with more time in the weekends and/or evenings (8 + 8 + 8)

Simon Patten goal of economy “should be an abundance of goods and the pursuit of pleasure”

intensely public character and the importance of “going out”

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Spectator Sports Baseball ... Alexander

Cartwright v. Abner Doubleday by the end of the Civil War

200 amateur teams existed first salaried team was the

Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869

1903 First World Series... Boston Red Sox defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates

important business attracted crowds as large as

50,000 (men) most baseball players were

laborers... almost all teams were in industrial cities where they could draw an audience from workers

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Spectator Sports Cont’d

Football originated in

college scene first game was

between Princeton and Rutgers 1869

similar to Rugby use of “ringers”

leads to establishment of Big Ten in 1896

18 College Students died and over 100 seriously hurt... NCAA formed 1910

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Spectator Sports Cont’d Basketball

Canadian Dr. James Naismith 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts

Boxing long been a disreputable activity adoption of Marquis of Queensberry rules (gloves and three

minute rounds) John L. Sullivan... heavyweight champion of the world in 1882

Horse Racing (Kentucky Derby) Gambling

“throwing” of 1919 World Series by the Chicago “Black” Sox “fixed” boxing horse racing

Women in Sports limited early: tennis, golf, croquet later: track, crew, swimming... challenged notion that vigorous

exercise was dangerous to women

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Music and Theater many ethnic communities

maintained their own theaters

distinctive American entertainment: the musical comedy

George Cohen, an Irish entertainer wrote songs such as “You’re a Grand Old Flag”

Irving Berlin, an Yiddish entertainer wrote songs such as “God Bless America”

Vaudeville entertainment... inexpensive variety show... could be shown in saloons

“blackface” performers

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

The Movies Thomas Edison and

others create technology of motion pictures in 1880s

Early movies plotless D.W. Griffith (MGM)

started silent epics such as The Birth of a Nation

audiences overwhelmingly white

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Working-Class Leisure street camaraderie ethnically specific saloons bare knuckle boxing... *opportunity to show strength and

courage... something that the working world did not always provide them with

The Fourth of July one of the few full days of leisure for working-class

Americans day of celebrating not just US independence, but the

culture of individual groups wealthy middle class stayed away from festivals In the South

post-Civil War 4th celebrations were held by blacks in Charleston celebrating the Union

Once Reconstruction efforts failed, laws passed restricting blacks celebration redefining the meaning of the day to the Southern cause

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Private Pursuits Reading

dime novels (fiction... Wild West, scientific adventure)

novels of “moral uplift” (Horatio Alger)

women: romance, animals and children growing up (Little Women)

Music middle class families

placed high value on learning to play an instrument

sales of sheet music soared

classical v. ragtime

Leisure and the Consumer Society Cont’d

Mass Communication newspapers become and important business

1870 to 1910 the circulation of newspapers increased nearly nine fold... from under 3 million to more than 24 million...a rate 3x times as great as the pop. increase

reporters salaries increase opinion separated from fact

telegraph and the national press service yellow journalism

William Randolph Hearst controls 9 newspapers and two magazines

Joseph Pulitzer deliberately sensationalized information in an

effort to reach a mass audience

High Culture in the Age of the City

Separation into wealthy “high-brow” and working-class “low-brow” cultures

The Literature of Urban America Mark Twain Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn...

evoked an older more natural world Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage and

Maggie: A Girl of The Streets... powerful portrayal of the plight of the working class

Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie exposed hardships of single women struggling in the city

details of hard labor and prostitution Upton Sinclair The Jungle reveal the horrors of

industrial capitalism Kate Chopin The Awakening explored the

oppressive features of traditional marriage

High Culture in the Age of the City Cont’d

Art in the Age of the City Winslow Homer... vigorously American Neil Whistler... one of the first Western

Artists to incorporate Oriental concepts into American and European art

Ashcan school – captured realistic struggle of American life John Singer Sargent - portraits John Sloan – dreariness of American slums George Bellows – vigor and violence of prize

fights Armory Show in New York City...

“controversial”

High Culture in the Age of the City Cont’d

The Impact of Darwinism Natural Selection as a challenge to the biblical story

of Creation... attested that history was not the working out of some divine plan, but rather it was a random process dominated by the fiercest or luckiest competitors

Lead to two major divisions in American culture Urban education vs. Christian (Protestant)

Fundamentalists Rich vs. Poor (Social Darwinism)

Lead to other major theories Pragmatism: no idea or institution was valid unless

it worked and unless it stood the test of experience Edward Ross and Frank Ward urged applying the

scientific method to the solution of social and political problems

growth of anthropology (and preservation of American Indians)

High Culture in the Age of the City Cont’d

Toward Universal Schooling late 19th century was a time of rapid reform and change in

American schools and universities spread of free public primary and secondary education

1860 there were only 100 public high schools in all of the USA 1900 the number had reached 6,000 1914 12,000

Rural Areas and the South (blacks) lagged far behind Morrill Land Grant of the Civil War Era: federal gov. donated

land to states for the establishment of colleges 1865 states in the South and the West took advantage of the

law 69 “land grant” institutions were established in the last

decades of the century California (UC), Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Other Universities benefited from millions of dollars contributed by business tycoons Columbia, Chicago, Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton and Yale

Other Philanthropists founded Universities in their name Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Duke, Tulane, Stanford,

Creighton

High Culture in the Age of the City Cont’d

The Education of Women public high schools accepted women... but opportunities for higher

education were rare proponents of women’s colleges saw the

institutions as places where female students would not be treated as “second-class” citizens, by predominantly male student bodies and faculties

women’s college = emergence of women’s community

education as liberating college-aged women married later continued professional carriers after marriage

and motherhood