Urbanization: Growth of Cities• Most immigrants move into city areas
– Cheapest and convenient
• Offered unskilled labor jobs in factories and mills
Mulberry St., N
ew York
Americanization Movement
• Plan to assimilate people into the dominant “American” culture
• Teach English, American history & Government, cooking & social etiquette
• Despite the plan, many ethnic communities form– Able to practice their customs, religion and speak their
native language. – become overcrowded
Housing Problems: Where to Stay?• Row Houses: single family “apartments” that
shared walls with others
• Tenements: when two or three families occupy a formerly single-family house.
• Often overcrowded and unsanitary
• Poor ventilation and plumbing
• Rats and cockroaches are common “roommates”
Mass Transit• Enabled workers to get to jobs easier & faster
• 1873: Street cars in San Francisco
• 1897: Electric subways in Boston
• Cities still struggle to keep up with demand
Clean Water Problems• Few residents of large cities have indoor
plumbing
• Deadly diseases (typhoid fever and cholera) could be transmitted in dirty water
• Filtration (1870s) and chlorination (1908) introduced
Sanitation Problems• Horse manure, human sewage, smoke from
factories, trash build up
• By 1900, many cities had developed sewer lines & sanitation departments
Police and Fire Departments• Increase in urban population = increase in crime
– 1844: NY City creates 1st salaried (paid) police dept.
• Fire Hazards:– Most buildings in cities built of wood– No electricity = flammables used– Limited water supply = fires rage!
• 1853: Cincinnati, OH creates 1st salaried Fire dept.
• 1900: most major cities have a fire dept.
Great Chicago Fire, 1871:-Fire burned over 24 hours-300 pple died-100,000 pple left homeless-3 sq. mi. + burned-$200 mill. property damage-17, 500 buildings destroyed
San Francisco Earthquake, 1906-Quake lasted 28 seconds-Fire burned for 4 days-1,000 pple died-200,000 pple left homeless-5 sq. mi. burned-$500 mill. property damage-28,000 buildings destroyed
Urban problems led to …
reformers
Social Gospel movement:
Christian-based movement that taught salvation came through service to the poor
led to establishment of “settlement houses” - community centers in slum neighborhoods
Settlement Houses
Provided:
- educational services: English, college extension courses
- cultural services: painting, music
- social services: health services (like nurse visits)
Usually staffed by middle-class, college-educated women, often living at the settlement house
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
One of the most important figures of the settlement house movement
Founded Hull House in Chicago 1889