Causes of UrbanizationCauses of Urbanization  Urbanization: taking the characteristics of a city, the increasing number of people living in cities  Technological boom contributed to growing industrial strength  Demand for workers due to industrialization  Companies offered jobs to unskilled laborers  NY Advantages: location of it’s ports, growing capital market

Continued…  Discovery of oil  Railroad expansion connected many territories: national railway net supported urban growth, especially Chicago  Construction: cities began to spread outward and upward  Better transportation  Immigration

Extent & DegreeExtent & Degree  U.S. received more migrants than the rest of the world- near 60%  (NY) : population increased from 1.2 million to 3.4 million  Chicago was the fastest growing city during this period  (Chi) : population increased from.5 million to 1.7 million  Chicago became known as the skyscraper craze (10-story Home insurance building)

Immigration  Many moved into US for better opportunities and a promise of a better life  Many left to escape bad conditions (famine, land shortages, religious prosecution)  Birds of Passage: people who intended to migrate temporarily to make money  Higher wages than in Europe, price of living and conditions were often the same

Continued…  Ellis Island: immigrants feared not being admitted to the U.S.  About 20% of the immigrants at Ellis Island were detained for over a day to be inspected  2% of immigrants were denied entry

Continued…  Process: -Had to pass a physical examination by a doctor; if you had a serious health problem, you were sent home -Reported to government inspector; checked documents and made sure they made legal requirements -Legal Requirements: not convicted of a felony, able to work, and show they had some amount of money

Continued…  1890: twice as many Irish residents in NYC as in Dublin, Ireland  (NY) 1900: 480,000 Germans and 425,000 Irish in city  (Chi) 1900: 332,000 Germans and 129,000 Scandinavians in city  Many African-Americans also migrated into these cities

Continued…  Americanization movement: designed to assimilate people of wide ranging cultures into dominant culture  English classes & American History classes  Navitism: favoring the interests of native-born people over foreign-born people  People feared immigrants would overwhelm white American population

Housing  Could either buy a house on outskirts of town, or they could rent cramped rooms in boarding houses  Immigrants often took over old housings, 2-3 families in a one family house  Tenements: Urban dwellings  Tenement House Act: NYC passed a law that set minimum standards for plumbing and ventilation in apartments  Jacob Riis (1890): published “ How the other half lives”

Water  Faced problem of supplying safe drinking water  NY built public waterworks to handle increasing demand  Showering wasn’t a daily thing, especially if in a tenement  Disease Spread: Cholera & Typhoid Fever  1870’s: Filtration introduced  1880’s: Chlorination - disinfect water with chlorine

Sanitation  NY: horse manure piled on streets, sewage overflew, factories released a lot of smoke  People dumped garbage on street  Scavengers: people hired to sweep streets, collect garbage, didn’t do job properly  By 1900: many cities, including NY and Chicago developed sewer lines and sanitation departments

Fire  The Great Chicago Fire: burned over 24 hours, killed around 300 people, more than 3 square miles of city destroyed, property damage of $20 million, buildings gone  1874: wood replaced with bricks, stone, and concrete

Crime  Black Hand extortion: criminal tactic, black hand was a precursor to a planned crime  Gangs of young boys and men made Chicago a dangerous place (North Side Gang)  6 month period in 1906: burglary every 3 hours, a hold up every 6 hours, and a murder each day

Continued…  “Hunting women and hitting them on the head with a piece of pipe seems to be the favorite sport of Chicago men.”  “a reign of terror is upon the city…..No city in time of peace ever held so high a place in the category of crime- ridden, terrorized murder-breeding cities as held by Chicago.”  Chicago Tribune

Corruption  Corruption in NYC was prominent  Boss Tweed: known as most corrupt politician in American History  3 rd largest land owner in NYC  Stole over $50 million by faking leases, paying for unnecessary repairs, and buying over priced goods  Tammany Hall: helped Irish and German immigrants by providing shelter and jobs and helped them rise up in American Politics (Democratic)  Chicago had similar issues; creation of parks and majestic buildings was solution

Settlement House ActSettlement House Act  Social Gospel Movement: preached salvation through service to the poor  Settlement houses created; community centers in poor neighborhoods, mainly helped immigrants  Ran by middle class, educated women  Settlement houses provided educational, cultural, and social services  Charles Stover and Stanton Coit found first settlement house in NYC (1886)  Jane Addams and Ellen Gates found Chicago’s Hull House in 1889  settlement houses in US