ONE AMERICAN’S STORY Carl Jensen came to the United States from Denmark in

1906. Like most of the millions of immigrants who

came to America around the turn of the century, he

immediately began to look for work.

A VOICE FROM THE PAST

I wandered in search of work . . . waiting through rainand sleet and snow with gangs of longshoremen[dockworkers] to reach the boss before he finished pickingthe men he wanted. . . . Strong men crushed each other tothe ground in their passion for work.

Carl Jensen, quoted in A Sunday Between Wars

At the turn of the century, the promise of work drew millions of people

like Carl Jensen from around the world to American cities. In this section,

you will read about the rapid growth of American cities.

Industrialization Expands CitiesThe Industrial Revolution, which had been changing how people worked,also changed where people worked. Since colonial days, most Americanshad lived and worked in rural areas. But in the late 1800s, that began tochange as more and more people moved to cities to find jobs.

Industries were drawn to cities because cities offered good transporta-tion and plentiful workers. Increasing numbers of factory jobs appearedin America’s cities, followed by more workers to fill those jobs. Thegrowth of cities that resulted from these changes is called urbanization.

Many of the people who moved to American cities were immigrantslike Carl Jensen. People also migrated from America’s farms to the cities.Once there, even workers with few skills could usually find steady work.

Shipyards in growing citiesprovided jobs for manyAmericans.

Changes in American Life 609

Cities Grow and Change

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

11

Changes in American Life

Industrialization and immigration

caused American cities to grow

rapidly.

Modern American city life first

emerged during this period.

urbanization

tenement

slum

social gospel

Jane Addams

Hull House

political machine

Tammany Hall

Taking Notes

Use your chart totake notes about changes in technol-ogy and politics.

Technology Changes City LifeNew technologies helped cities absorb the millions of people whoflocked there. For example, new technologies made possible the con-struction of skyscrapers, buildings that looked tall enough to scrape thesky. Skyscrapers helped cities grow and made modern city life possible.

The elevator was a key invention for constructing tall buildings thatcould hold greater numbers of people. Before the 1860s, buildingsrarely rose higher than four stories because it was hard for people toclimb to the top. In 1889, the Otis Elevator Company installed the firstelectric elevator. Now buildings could be more than a few stories tallbecause people no longer had to walk up to the higher floors. As aresult, buildings could hold more people.

The use of steel also helped to increase the height of buildings. In1885, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago boasted an iron andsteel skeleton that could hold the immense weight of the skyscraper’sfloors and walls. The building climbed to ten stories. Skyscraperschanged city skylines forever.

The Streetcar CityAs electricity helped change the way people traveled inside buildings, italso changed how people traveled around cities. Before industrialization,people walked or used horse-drawn vehicles to travel over land. But by1900, electric streetcars in American cities were carrying more than 5 billion passengers a year. Streetcars and trains changed the walkingcity into the streetcar city.

610 CHAPTER 21

A. AnswerIndustries thatrequired newworkers sprangup in cities.Industrializationattracted morepeople to thecities. New tech-nologies helpedcities supportgrowing urbanpopulations.

A. RecognizingEffects How didindustry andtechnology helpcities grow?

BackgroundStreetcars are alsocalled trolleys.

STEEL FRAMES Steel beams cancarry much more weight thanbrick or stone walls. The strengthof the steel allows architects todesign extremely tall buildings.

WINDOWS In skyscrapers, theouter walls do not support theweight of the building; the steelbeams do. As a result, manyskyscrapers have outer walls madeof glass to allow sunlight inside.

ELEVATOR Tall buildings wouldbe useless if people could notreach all of the floors. Elevatorspowered by electricity make suchtall buildings practical.

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2

3

CONNECTIONS TO SCIENCE

Building a Skyscraper

1 2

3

Modern cities depend on skyscrapersto increase the space for people tolive and work. Steel, electricity, andelevators make skyscrapers possible.

In 1888, Richmond, Virginia, became the first American city to havea transportation system powered by electricity. Other cities sooninstalled their own electric streetcars. The streetcars could quickly carrypeople to work and play all over the city. Some cities, such as Chicago,moved their electric streetcars above the street level, creating elevated,or “el,” lines. Other cities, like New York, placed their city rail lines inunderground tunnels, making subways.

The streetcar city spread outward from the city’s center in ways thewalking city never could. The ability to live farther away from work helpednew suburbs to develop around cities. Some people in the suburbs wantedto become part of the city they bordered. That way they also could beserved by the city’s transportation system. Largely due to public trans-portation, cities expanded. For example, in 1889, Chicago annexed severalsuburbs and more than doubled its population as well as its area.

Urban Disasters and SlumsThe concentration of people in cities increased the dangerof disasters because people and buildings were packedclosely together. For example, in 1906, a powerful earth-quake rocked San Francisco. The tremors caused large firesto tear through the city. The central business district wasdestroyed. About 700 people died, and nearly $400 millionin property was damaged. But natural disasters were not theonly source of danger for the people of the cities. Povertyand disease also threatened their lives.

As people flocked to cities, overcrowding became a seriousproblem. It was especially serious for families who could notafford to buy a house. Such familiesusually lived in rented apartments or tenements. A tenement is an apart-ment house that is usually run-downand overcrowded.

Old buildings, landlord neglect,poor design, and little governmentcontrol led to dangerous conditions inmany tenements. Poor families whocould not afford to rent a place of theirown often needed to move in withother families. This resulted in severelyovercrowded tenements. Inadequategarbage pick-up also caused problems.Tenants sometimes dumped theirgarbage into the narrow air shaftsbetween tenements. There was littlefresh air, and the smell was awful.

Many tenements had no runningwater. Residents had to collect water

Vocabularyannex: to add

B. PossibleResponse It wasunpleasant.Tenements wereovercrowded,smelly, and noisy.There was poorventilation andlittle sanitation.

B. SummarizingWhat was it liketo live in a turn-of-the-centurytenement?

This photograph by Lewis Hineshows a family of Italian immi-grants in their cramped, decay-ing tenement in New York Cityin 1912. Often photographers,such as Hine, had their subjectspose for their pictures to createthe strongest effect.

What effect do you thinkHine wanted this photo-graph to have?

611

Community ServiceSince the United States began, citizens have shared concernsabout their communities. Many citizens, such as Jane Addams in1889, have identified problems and proposed solutions to them.

In 1993, sixth-grader David Levitt asked his principal if the leftover food from the school cafeteria could be sent to a program to feed needy people. David was told that many restrictions prevented giving away the food.

Determined to get food to people who needed it, David talked to the school board, the state health department,and private companies to convincethem to back his program. Today, more than 500,000 pounds of food from schools has been given to hungry people in the Seminole, Florida, area.

How Do You Participatein Your Community?1. In a small group, think

about problems within yourcommunity. Make a list of those problems.

2. Choose one problem to work on.

3. Gather information about theproblem. Keep a log of your sources to use again.

4. After you gather information,brainstorm solutions to theproblem. Create a plan to carryout one solution.

5. Present the problem and your plan to the class.

See the Citizenship Handbook, page 286.

For more about community service . . .

RESEARCH LINKSCLASSZONE .COM

David Levitt carries supplies for his food pantry program.

from a faucet on the street. The water could be heated for bathing. Butit was often unsafe for drinking. Sewage flowed in open gutters andthreatened to spread disease among tenement dwellers.

A neighborhood with such overcrowded, dangerous housing wascalled a slum. The most famous example was New York City’s LowerEast Side. But every city had slums. After visiting Chicago’s slums, theBritish writer Rudyard Kipling wrote in disgust, “Having seen it[Chicago], I urgently desire never to see it again.”

Reformers Attack Urban ProblemsMany Americans were also disgusted by poverty and slums. Some peo-ple fought to reform, or create changes, that would solve these problems.They were known as urban reformers.

The social gospel movement provided one basis for these beliefs. Thesocial gospel movement aimed to improve the lives of the poor. Led byProtestant ministers, the ideas of the movement were based onChristian values. The most important concerns of the social gospelmovement were labor reforms, such as abolishing child labor. Somereformers inspired by the movement opened settlement houses. Theyhelped the poor and immigrants improve their lives. Settlement housesoffered services such as daycare, education, and health care to needypeople in slum neighborhoods.

612 CHAPTER 21

C. AnswerChristian valuesinspired manyreformers to helpthe poor.

C. MakingInferences Howdid Christian values supportthe social gospelmovement?

Many settlement house founders were educatedmiddle-class women. Jane Addams founded Chicago’sHull House in 1889 with Ellen Gates Starr. HullHouse soon became a model for other settlementhouses, including New York’s Henry Street SettlementHouse, which Lillian D. Wald established in 1889.

Political Machines Run CitiesPolitical machines were another type of organizationthat addressed the problems of the city. A politicalmachine is an organization that influences enoughvotes to control a local government.

Political machines gained support by trading favorsfor votes. For example, machine bosses gave jobs or foodto supporters. In return, supporters worked and votedfor the machine. Political machines also did many ille-gal things. They broke rules to win elections. Theyaccepted bribes to affect government actions.

The most famous political machine was TammanyHall in New York City. It was led by William MarcyTweed. Along with his greedy friends, “Boss” Tweedstole enormous amounts of money from the city.

Despite such corruption, political machines did anumber of good things for cities. They built parks, sew-ers, schools, roads, and orphanages in many cities. Inaddition, machine politicians often helped immigrantsget settled in the United States by helping them findjobs or homes. Many immigrants gratefully supportedthe political machine after this kind of help. In the nextsection, you will learn more about immigration.

Changes in American Life 613

2. Using GraphicsUse a chart like the onebelow to show the causesand effects of urban growth.

3. Main Ideasa. Why did immigrants andfarmers settle in big cities atthe end of the 19th century?

b. What are two inventionsthat made modern city lifepossible?

c. What urban problems didreformers try to solve?

4. Critical ThinkingEvaluating What weresome of the advantages and disadvantages ofmachine politics?

THINK ABOUT• the problems faced by

immigrants and cities• Tammany Hall and

“Boss” Tweed

1. Terms & NamesExplain the

significance of:• urbanization• tenement• slum• social gospel• Jane Addams• Hull House• political machine• Tammany Hall

Section Assessment

ACTIVITY OPTIONS

LANGUAGE ARTSART

It is 1900, and you have just moved to an American city. Write a letter to friendsback home or draw a picture that describes your new home.

1

Cause

Steel

Elevators

Streetcars

Immigration

Effect

D. Answer Theywere similar inthat they tried tosolve urban prob-lems and helpimmigrants. Theywere different inthat the politicalmachines werecorrupt.

D. Comparing andContrasting Howwere settlementhouses and politi-cal machines simi-lar? How werethey different?

JANE ADDAMS

1860–1935

Jane Addams founded Hull Houseas an “effort to aid in the solu-tion of the social and industrialproblems which are [caused] bythe modern conditions of life in a great city.”

In addition to Hull House,Addams was active in manyother areas. She fought for thepassage of laws to protectwomen workers and outlawchild labor. She also worked toimprove housing and publichealth. In 1931, she was awardeda share of the Nobel Peace Prizefor her efforts.

Why did Jane Addams foundHull House?