Urbanization
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As more immigrants arrived in American cities in the late 19th century, urban populations skyrocketed. This posed major challenges for city governments, including providing adequate housing, transportation, water, sanitation, crime prevention, and fire protection for the growing populations. Common problems included overcrowded tenement housing, lack of indoor plumbing and clean water, piles of horse manure in the streets, increased crime rates, and destructive fires due to buildings being close together and made of wood. Cities struggled to establish effective police, fire, and sanitation services to address the problems that arose from rapid urban growth and industrialization.
Urbanization
- 1. Urbanization The Challenges Facing American Cities
- 2. Americanization Movement Most immigrants who streamed into the US in the late 19 th Century became city dwellers Why? -Cheap -Convenient -Jobs for Unskilled Labors (mills & factories) The movement was designed to assimilate people from a wide range of cultures into the dominant culture
- 3. Problems With Assimilation Immigrants did not want to abandon their traditions Cities hosted ethnic communities providing social support for new immigrants from the same countries Examples? -China Town(SF) -Japan Town(SF) -Brooklyn(NY) -Queens(NY)
- 4. Migration: Country to City Improvements in farming technology was both good news and bad news for farmers Inventions? -McCormick Reaper -Steel Plow More efficient farming but fewer laborers needed Southern farmers lost their livelihoods to African Americans Between 1890 and 1910 about 200,000 African Americans moved north and west to escape racial violence, economic hardship, and political oppression
- 5. Urban Problems Urban population skyrocketed, city governments faced problems of how to provide residents with needed services and safe living conditions There are six main problems every urban city in American found themselves facing Housing Transportation Water Sanitation Crime Fire (Earthquake SF)
- 6. Housing Two housing options at the start of the industrial revolution Buy a House on the outskirts of town Rent cramped room in one of the many boarding houses in the center of the city But as the population increased, the housing options planed to house single families now housed two & three at a time This housing situation is known as tenements
- 7. Transportation Mass transit was designed to move large numbers of people on fixed routes Examples? -Street Car(SF) -Electric Subway(Boston) Urban areas now were linked with city neighborhoods
- 8. Water Cities failed to supply safe drinking water Cities like NY and Cleveland built public waterworks to handle the increased demand Homes did not have indoor plumbing Residents had to collect water in pails from faucets on the street and heat for bathing Unsafe water lead to diseases like cholera and typhoid fever
- 9. Sanitation Horse manure piled on the streets Sewage flowed through open gutters Factories spewed foul smoke into the air No dependable trash collection People dumped their garbage into the streets
- 10. Crime As city population increased, pickpockets and thieves flourished New York organized a full time police force in 1844 No other city in America had the means to handle the crime
- 11. Fire (Earthquake SF) Major fires occurred in almost every large city in America largely due to the lack to reliable water City buildings had been built out of wood Buildings we close together Candles and Kerosene heater were used for lighting and heating and posed as a fire hazard Firefighters for the most part were volunteers and were not always available then they were needed 1853 Cincinnati established the first paid fire department