The Growth of Cities Between 1880 and 1920, millions of people moved to America’s Cities…

Three Main Groups Immigrants Farmers in the West Southern African Americans Businesses What are the Push Factors for these groups? Cities

The Cycle of City Growth Businesses are attracted to labor, so they locate in major cities People are attracted to cities because of economic opportunity.

How did Cities grow? Expanding Outward… –Before the Civil War, cities were small extending no more than a few miles across… Why? = TRANSPORTATION! What is the farthest you can walk in a half hour? –As cities slowly grew, these small areas became densely populated. New technologies introduced allowed cities to expand: 1.Street Cars 2.Elevated Trains 3.Cable Cars 4.Subways 5.Automobile

How did Cities Grow? (Cont’d) Concentric Zone Theory = As cities expanded outward, different zones were created. “Old City” Becomes CBD Expansion because of street cars Expansion because of Cable Cars/RR Wealthy move out, becomes heavy industry area, or “slum.” Expansion because of automobile Suburbs =Residential Communities surrounding cities.

Expanding Upwards As Urban space became more of a premium, cities expanded upwards as well. Elisha Graves Otis –Invents elevator, 1852 Chicago’s Home Insurance Company Building –First ‘sky scraper’, 1885

Urban Living Conditions Tenements –Low cost apartment buildings designed to hold as many families as possible. –Problems? –Dumbbell Tenement Designed to allow for ventilation and sunlight

Politics in a Growing City Rapidly growing cities were hard to govern. As cities raised taxes to provide necessary services (police, fire protection, garbage disposal, sewage disposal, etc), corruption in city politics grew… Graft –The use of one’s job to gain profit Political Machine –Unofficial city organization, usually run by a “boss,” designed to keep one group on power. Tammany Hall, NY Richard Daley, Chicago (modern day)

Urban Reform Reformers during the Gilded Age began to document the horrors of the city to encourage reform… Jacob Riis –How the Other Half Lives Used photographs to show reform the tenement system