The time period during the late 1800's and the early 1900's was a period of tremendous change, conflict, expansion and mechanical inventiveness. In the global arena, the United States was becoming a world power and on the home front, cities were taking control. New agricultural inventions were forcing laborers out of the country side, while the latest industrial machinery was bringing the needy workers into the cities. The factories were located in areas near necessary resources and transportation. Around these regions, cities grew (Blumin, 2006). Thousands of laborers and immigrants were flocking to factories to fill much needed positions. With this influx of humanity, came the secondary and tertiary arrival of skilled craftsman and architects to build their homes, street cars drivers to bring them around the city, hospitals to take care of the ill, politicians to make the laws and entertainers to bring relaxation during leisure times.
The Progressive era includes the period from 1900 through the end of World War I in 1918. The movement was an attempt to address economic and social reform. Muckraking journalists called attention to child labor, corruption in city governments, and businesses. Poor housing, sanitation, and health care in city immigrant populations were targeted for reform. Leaders of the Progressive movement organized their own assistance through churches and other private organizations.
Hull house, organized by Jane Addams in Chicago, is a prime example. The efforts of progressives began to make the cities cleaner and healthier, workplaces safer, and businesses more considerate of employees. The purpose of Hull House, in the words of Jane Addams, is to “aid in the solutions of life in a great city, to help our neighbors build responsible, self-sufficient lives for themselves and their families” (H. H. A., 2007).
In the late 1800's, cities were growing at a rapid rate and the political environment underwent tremendous change. Instead of part time, the running of large cities became a full time job for professional politicians. Cities were divided into wards containing smaller precincts. The city political machine was divided into three parts. Party bosses or a county committee ran the party and controlled the politicians. The committee was comprised of politicians and the top office holders within the county. Sometimes, a single leader would control the committee and was called the "party boss". The committee held a lot of power and usually dominated the elections and city government. They had influence with elected officials which included the mayor, judges, and other office holders. Members of the committee controlled government patronage jobs given out to reward loyal party members. They also would demand money from businesses in exchange for government favors. Businesses that cooperated received government contracts, tax relief, and prompt city services. Other firms who refused to contribute, would be harassed by county health and safety inspectors, faced increased tax assessments, and received poor city services. Individuals running illegal enterprises could pay to have police ignore their activities. District captains organized support at neighborhood levels. They directed precinct captains who were responsible for several hundred families. They often assisted with jobs and provided social services for poor constituents. Party loyalists voted and gave financial support in return for jobs and other favors from the bosses and election captains. They were expected to give ten percent of their salary to the party and participate actively in elections. Progressive reformers directed their efforts to halt corruption in city politics. By the beginning of the twentieth century, local governments changed to a civil service system.
During the Industrial revolution people were moving to cities in search of jobs. The cities became overcrowded and workers, who lived on meager salaries, lived wherever they could find shelter. Workers and their families lived in sheds, cellars, and filthy apartment buildings that were stuffed beyond their capacity. Such dwellings did not have plumbing for water or sanitation (Housing, 2009). After the Civil War, the increasing sophistication in architecture provided stunning mansions and modern housing for the wealthy and the middle class. Architects utilized different styles such as Romanesque, Italian Renaissance and16th-century French designs. American architects created their own style of housing by arranging the kitchen, bedrooms, offices, and bathrooms around a centralized living room. This was known as the American Shingle style or country house. In the cities, the design of internal metal-frame construction allowed buildings to be lighter and gave architects the abilities to built upward, creating skyscrapers (American Art and Architecture, 2009).
With industrialism, came the urbanization and modernization of cities. This attracted many newcomers and people from the rural countryside. Between 1880 and 1900, city populations exploded from 6 million to 14 million. Immigrants came from almost every country in the world. Germans and the Irish were the majority; but British, Scandinavians, Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, Russians and Poles were among the many newcomers seeking refuge from poverty, oppression, violence and dreaming of a better life (Henretta 2006 p.551). Ninety-five percent of these immigrants came to America by steamship suffering cramped quarters and near starvation during their voyage. Settling primarily in the urban cities, immigrants took the hardest and lowest paid jobs in the industries (Daniels 1999). Divided by race and ethnicity, these migrants found life in the city daunting as they were automatically placed in wards or tenements. Up to five or six families shared a floor on the tenement, with only one or two toilets. Some buildings did not have plumbing and provided little air or sunshine. During daytime hours, they stayed outdoors in the streets to escape confinement and conduct their business. Though the density in the wards was miserable, business activity flourished. Grocers, butcher shops, candy stores along with newspapers supported the labor movement. Families began to use the rooftops of their buildings as a refuge from stuffy rooms and noisy, crowded streets (Educational 2005). A series of reforms would later make tenement life bearable. Laws were enacted requiring each apartment to have at least one window and its own bathroom. Socio-economic status and pervasive discrimination brought forth social service agencies such as Hull House in Chicago. These social networks tried to acclimate new, incoming immigrant into their new life and thus they were called selltlement homes (Henretta 2006 p. 556).
Life in the city was becoming disorderly and uncertain. Mark Twain stated, the city was “a splendid desert, where a stranger is lonely in the midst of a million of his race…Every man rushes, rushes, rushes, and never has time to be companionable or to fool away on matters which do not involve dollars and duty and business” (Brody et al, 2006). Capitalizing on fellowship, institutions began to spring up to meet city dwellers needs. Going out became necessary to get away from the constraints of work and being confined at home (Henretta 2006 p.560). Music halls, such as vaudeville houses, were created, slowly giving way to Broadway musical theater. Times Square, formerly known as Long Acre Square, became the entertainment capital of America and home to many of these theaters (Educational 2005). To get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, one could go to Coney Island, home of the first carousel built by Danish woodcarver Charles I.D. Looff in 1876. With Coney Island’s easy beach access, horse racing, gambling, hot dog stands, and freak shows, inhabitants of the city could get away and have some fun for as little as a nickel (Travel 2007). Organized sports, like baseball, became a way for fans to identify with their home and acted as a bridge among strangers. It provided an escape from the drudgery and spiritual oppression of work (Dyreson 1999). In cities like New York, laws were passed to mark off certain acreage for city beautification projects. Central Park was created out of these laws. Citizens were provided another quiet refuge from city life, while maintaining the beauty of the countryside (Henretta 2006).
Modes of transportation, from the 19th Century until the end of the Progressive era, grew in leaps and bounds. When the settlers were moving westward, they were doing so in very basic covered wagons. The 1860’s marked the dawning of a new age of cross country transportation. President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 for the construction of the transcontinental railroad that will link California to the rest of the nation (Factmonster.com). Union Pacific laid its first rail in 1865. The “golden age” of railroads begins. For nearly half a century, no other mode of transportation challenged railroads. During these years, the rail network grew from 35,000 to a peak of 254,000 miles in 1916 (Factmonster.com). People were able to travel cross country, from city to city, in comfortable passenger trains. Companies and manufactures were transporting anything cross country, from produce to farm equipment and live stock. The possibilities were endless and merchants were able to provide their customers with anything that they may have requested.
In 1871, Andrew Smith patented the first cable car in San Francisco. These cars were transported from one destination to the next via an underground cable system from a main powerhouse (Inventors.about.com). Cable cars were able to carry several occupants at a time for a small fee, and they lessened the need for horses to pull or carry people along the steep streets of the city. By 1888, there was the emergence of the electric street car or trolley. These cars ran by electric cables that were suspended above them (Inventors.about.com). In some cities, the streetcars were elevated above city streets and in others, an underground subway was built.
Between the years of 1891 and 1911, the transportation era took another direction. The United States was pulling away from basic modes of transportation and evolving once again. The United States came out with the gas powered car and tractor in 1892 (Factmonster.com). The Model T made its debut in 1908 as the first car to be mass produced in an assembly line in the United States (Factmonster.com).
In the 1890’s there was yet another form of transportation emerging within the culture. There was no longer reliance upon mass transit to get from one side of town to the other, nor did there have to be the long walks across towns or cities. Welcome the bicycle. This was a form of transportation that relied entirely on human propulsion, great balance, and coordination. “Mass production of reasonably-priced bicycles allows working men to use them for transportation and leisure. Daring young women see the bicycle as a ticket to freedom. Bloomers allowed women wearing skirts to ride while maintaining their modesty”(tylerbicycleclub.com).
The generation after the civil war had a new job market with the beginning of the Industrial Era. Many male immigrants worked the dangerous jobs on the railroads or in mining. These men worked long hours and labored under dangerous circumstances for low wages. In the cities, employment in banking, engineering, and industry were possible. Male immigrants would often be seen working in the steel companies of Pittsburgh, or the Jewish would be employed in the garment business of New York City. Along with industry, came the involvement of new labor unions to battle big businesses' power. The family farm became a business venture and the farmer struggled to be part of the new technology. The women worked along side their husbands and children in the fields of the family farm or as sharecroppers. As technology replaced the need for farm workers, many migrated into the cities seeking employment. In the cities, women were working in garment factories, making buttons, packaging, fish packing and the confectionary industry. These jobs required the use of heavy machinery which brought great risk and exposure to the operators. Children were found working in textile mills and sweatshops in the cities. The children worked in dangerous factories that were unhealthy for them. They also worked long hours in terrible conditions for low wages. It was an accepted practice, of the time, for children to contribute to the family budget.
While the Industrial Revolution of the mid 19th Century radically changed the way Americans lived, worked, and played, there were also many societal issues and healthcare issues that remained. The term Progressive, in this case, means the belief that man can and is morally obligated to solve societal inequities. This can be accomplished most rapidly and equitably by governmental intervention. Healthcare during this time, can best be described as becoming more science-based, but still relying heavily on folklore and a belief that illness was caused by an imbalance between the ill human and the environment ( Dodds, p 418). Germ theory had yet to receive universal acceptance as the reason for disease. A typical hospital of the 1880’s included bedpans, beds, and little else in the way of equipment (Reagan, p 19). As you might imagine, a facility this stark was mainly for the poor. The middle class and wealthy usually were born at home and died at home. Physicians made house calls to the middle and upper classes and many of the very wealthy employed a nurse to care for the family’s ill or invalid members. By the 1910’s, healthcare had evolved into a science based profession with now mainstream belief in microorganisms as the main cause of disease. The hospitals began to attract more and more of the upper and middle class and by 1920, healthcare was becoming an expected part of life (Reagan, 32).
The transportation infrastructure started booming during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.It started with the creation of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.“ The transcontinental railroad is considered one of the greatest American technological feats of the nineteenth century,” (“First Transcontinental Railroad”). With the creation of the first automobiles occurring at the beginning of the 1900s, road and highway construction was soon to follow.Millions of dollars were set aside by local, state and federal government for the creation of roads and highways.The road system was good for the economy by allowing the trading of goods to take place.In 1904 the Army Corps of Engineers began building the Panama Canal.This would allow travel time to be cut by 8000 miles between the east and west coast to allow for the easier trading of goods.Soon after that, the United States Postal Service began to build airports throughout the country, which later became a huge building block for air travel.
While the transportation infrastructure was booming, the city sanitation services were not as successful.As a result of the large amount of immigrants coming into the United States, the city sewer and sanitation systems just could not keep up.This left many of the lower class people living in extremely overcrowded areas where the sewers would back up, and trash was unable to be collected leaving an awful odor in the air.
Cities, as we know them today, are the established and settled version of the burgeoning urban areas that formed in the United States at the turn of the century. The shifts in population at the beginning of the industrial age challenged city residents to acclimate and adapt to unique problems and concerns that developed with the rapid influx of humanity (Bender, 2000). Not only did these communities rise to the challenge, but they became diverse global leaders. These urban areas evolved into mulitfaceted and multicultural populations, maturing into hubs of employment, commerce and entertainment.
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Image source Washington Department of WorkforceEagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The state University of New Jersey. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/
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Miller, D. N. (2003). Coney Island picture by Isac Friedlander (1890-1968),
