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URBANIZATION
America’s Cities in the 1900s
AMERICANS MIGRATE TO THE CITIES
 Immigrants flooding into the
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countries tended to settle in the
nation’s urban centers.
Some farmers began to move b/c
cities offered more opportunities.
Steel framed structures
called skyscrapers began to
dominate the landscape.
The invention of the electric
elevator, cable cars, and
electric trolleys made cities
more efficient.
Elevated trains and New
York’s subway system helped
to eliminate traffic
congestion.
HIGH SOCIETY AND MIDDLE-CLASS
GENTILITY
 The wealthiest families
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established fashionable
districts in the heart of a city.
Their homes were lavish, and
they commanded an army of
servants, cooks, butlers, etc…
The rising middle class
included doctors, bankers,
lawyers, engineers, teachers,
etc…
Many moved away from the
business of the cities and
chose to live in the suburbs.
Middle class homes usually had at
least one or two servants. As a
result women’s clubs that focused
on reform or charitable work
became very popular.
POTTER PALMER’S HOME IN CHICAGO
(REAL ESTATE TYCOON)
TYPICAL MIDDLE CLASS HOME AND
FAMILY
THE WORKING CLASS AND FAMILY
ECONOMY
 The urban working class were
generally crowded into filthy
tenement apartments.
 Sometimes these apartments
would be filled to capacity, or
they would rent a space to a
boarder to help supplement the
family’s income.
 White, native-born men always
earned more than women,
African-Americans, or
immigrants.
 Sometimes the whole family
worked including children as
young as 5.
THE NEW IMMIGRANTS
 A new type of immigrants were
flooding into large cities. Most
of these were born in
Southern or Eastern Europe.
 There was a great deal of
discrimination and mis-trust of
these people b/c they spoke
different languages, practiced
different religions, and held
different cultural practices.
 On the East coast these
immigrants entered the U.S.
through Ellis Island in NYC.
ELLIS ISLAND AND IMMIGRATION
TYPICAL TENEMENT LIFESTYLE
REACTION TO THE TENEMENT LIFE
CRIME AND POLLUTION
 Crime was a growing
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problem in urban America.
Alcohol contributed to
violent crime both inside and
outside the home.
Saloons were accused of
“breeding poverty” and
corrupting the youth by selling
beer to children.
Disease and pollution were
huge threats b/c of improper
sewage disposal.
Epidemics of cholera and typhus
were a result of these filthy
conditions.
THE POLITICAL MACHINE
 The political machine was an
informal political group
designed to gain and keep
power.
 This formed because cities had
grown much faster than their
governments.
 New city dwellers needed jobs,
housing, food, heat, and police
protection.
 In exchange for votes,
political machines and the
party bosses who ran them
provided these services.
THE POLITICAL MACHINE LEADS TO
CORRUPTION
 Fraud, bribes, and the graft
caused much corruption
within the network of the
political machine.
 Powerful party bosses made
an incredible amount of
money while the people
they served worked for
next to nothing and lived in
filthy tenements.
 William “Boss” Tweed was
probably the most infamous and
corrupt party boss at the time.