15-2 The Problems of Urbanization

The People Why was the group drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest? 1. Immigrants Cities were cheaper and more convenient; Ethnic neighbors & cultural opportunities existed to help make the transition easier 2. Farmers Fewer farm laborers were needed because of new farm technology. Farmers moved to the cities where they believed that jobs could be found 3. African Americans Moved to the cities in hope of less racial violence and discrimination O

Problem: Lack of Housing Solution: Construction of homes that take up less space Apartments Row houses (like today’s townhouses that share side walls) Dumbbell tenements The roof of a "dumbbell" tenement building. Most immigrants arrived and stayed in New York, where pressures on available housing led to the construction of "dumb-bell" tenements. Built on lots 25 by 100 feet, long narrow walk-up buildings seven stories high, with an indented middle to allow for an air shaft, tenements constituted half of the dwellings in New York City in 1890, and housed more than 75% of Manhattan's 1.4 million people.

Problem: Lack of safe and efficient transportation Solution: Construction of mass- transit networks: Cable cars Electric street cars Subway systems Digging the subway at Union Square in New York City, near the time that subway construction began in The first passenger segment of the NYC subway system opened in 1904.

Problem: Unsafe drinking water Solution: Chlorination filtration

Problem: Lack of Sanitation Solution: Construct sewer lines Establish sanitation departments The "bathroom" in a New York City cold-water tenement flat. As many as 150 people and two shops on the bottom level filled each building. Toilets like this, four per floor, were communal, and were located near and vented into the air shaft that served the inner apartments as their only source of light and air photo.

Problem: fire hazards Solution: Full-time professional fire departments (After the Shirtwaist Triangle Factory Fire, some cities established fire codes requiring fire escapes etc.) Aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire of The tall building at center-right is the Continental Trust Building, Baltimore's tallest building at the time. It was badly damaged, but the steel frame survived and it was rebuilt.

Problem: Crime Solution: Full-time professional police departments were established Jacob Riis, photo: Bandit's Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry St., (5 Points district) c. 1888

Terms to know Social Gospel Movement: Movement that urged people to help the poor as the way to salvation in the after-life. (example: The Salvation Army) Settlement House: Community center that addressed problems in slum neighborhoods (example: teach immigrants English, help them find jobs and housing, etc.)

Jane Addams, ( ) social reformer, was born of wealthy Chicago parents and educated in a select Illinois women's college, she became appalled at the plight of immigrant women, and she was intrigued by the settlement houses which had been founded in the slums of East London. In 1889 she opened Hull House, the first settlement house in the U.S. in Chicago. Hull House offered classes in nutrition, health, child care and English to immigrant women in the crowded slums.