Suburban Cities In The Late Nineteenth Century

The Gilded Age saw the United States shift from an agricultural to an urban, industrial society, as millions of Americans flocked to cities in the post, Civil War time zone. Nearly 40 percent of Americans lived in urbanized areas by 1900, as opposed to 20 percent in 1800s. Industrialization and the rush to the cities led to the development of consumerism and a middle class. The rich had many advantages to the new age.

In American industrial cities, late 1800s, Poor neighborhood were not the best place to live. With poor living conditions, poor sanitation and crowded housing, many epidemics of infectious disease spread into the poor population and touched even the wealthy class. Cities such as New York were crowded and workers were living in tenements, which were often cramped, poorly lit and poorly aerated. Moreover, these tenements lacked of adequate plumbing, therefore waste was flooding in the public streets. Streets was crowded of waste and garbage. Population was poorly nourished and has a poor life hygiene like water pollution and poisoned food and milk. Accordingly, infectious disease was the common death reason. Big cities had known outbreaks of

The rural depression was a primary component in the Great Depression, as bank advances turned sour, credit became scarce, and banks across the nation shut down. All through the 1930s, more than a million acres of land were influenced in the Dust Bowl, a large number of agriculturists lost their jobs and property, and mass relocation patterns started to arise as ranchers left rustic America looking for work in urban areas. This relocation, or migration, added to Great Depression unemployment hardships, stressed alleviation and advantages programs, and made in many vast American urban areas (The Great Depression Causes).

One of the most notable times during the late 19th century was the Gilded Age. This is a term often used to describe this time period since from the outside looking in urban life in America seemed perfect, but in reality, many citizens did not like the changes that were occurring. Since the verb gild means to cover with or as if with a thin coating of gold[1], historians often refer to this time period as “the Gilded Age”. New ideals about poverty, social reforms, different political approaches, and a new women’s culture brought forth political, economic, social, and cultural changes in urban growth during the

Between the periods of the Civil War and the Great War, economy and culture development led to the urbanization and industrialization in America. The most remarkable development of American history was the immigration of foreigners from outside countries to the United States, causing quick growth in urban populations and a transformation of American union. In the early 19th century, thirteen million immigrants came from the United States, most from Italy and Russia, and the Progressive Era immigration forming the process of migration set by the expansion and the industrial revolution. Immigrants coming to the United States came for the American dream of freedom, and the desire to escape poverty and seek for jobs. The urbanization and growth

J. Paul Getty describes the 1920s as “ … the period of that Great American Prosperity which was built on shaky foundations.” The 1920s was an age that consisted of many social and political changes throughout America. The changes occured dramatically in these three different topics: economics, racism, and women’s suffrage. It created more jobs and more opportunities for the American people, fixed the major problems of racism against African Americans, and changed women's norms by making the “housewife” perspective less common, and driving more women towards a rebellious era. These three changes of the 1920s made it to become famously known as “The Roaring ‘20s.”

Urbanizing and making the United States more modernized descries the goal circulating the Gilded Age. This goal was accomplished but had consequences that came along with it. The Gilded Age was a time of up and coming innovations and corruption following. When it comes to there are, “winners” and losers” of the economy, American society, and politics.

With this development came many land speculators. It was widely known that with transportation comes a greater demand for the land being developed. Developers built rows of luxury

Due to house shortages on the inner city, a massive pop up of suburban housing grew on the edge of the city limits. increase d vehicle production, federal highway system expansions, and veteran mortgage programs encouraged the newly created middle to buy larger family homes on the outskirts of the city.

The Great Depression was a major effect on the economy, and it affected the supply and demand of the United States. Before the Great Depression hit, people were building a large amount of things,and once the Great Depression hit people had all of the supplies with nobody to buy them. Businesses went out of business, and people lost their jobs because their employer could no longer afford to pay them. Some homeless people, known as ‘hobos’, would gather together and make homes of whatever scraps they could find. Soon, so many people lost their houses and were resorted to living in “Hoovervilles”, Hoovervilles were a interpretation of regular towns, that were just made of scraps that they were able to find. The prices for farm grown food were low, so the farmers thought if they planted more food that they would make their money back. Doing that only made the prices drop even more due to farmers having such a large supply, and not enough

Early in the days of Levittown there was a clause in the lease that stated: “the tenant agrees not to permit the premises to be sued or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race.” The clause was later ruled unconstitutional in a court of law however, Bill Levitt continued with his racial biases and kept denying people of color and minorities the option to buy a house. Not only was the family who built and sold the houses racist against non-whites but so were the people who bought and formed the communities. An African American couple with children, the Myers, bought one of the houses through a secondary sale by the original owner in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The couple then went on to face brutal racism from the other residents in the community. Residents threatened them with violence, formed angry mobs outside their home day and night, the Myers received very little help from the

By the 1960s many of these urban areas, with the loss of capital, jobs, and so on; began to deteriorate, and property values fell. Currently with the higher costs of property in the suburbs and other communities, there are fewer and fewer opportunities to invest small and gain a big profit; thus, making the once "undesirable" urban properties with their low property values and costs, more "desirable."

One of the reasons for sprawling is because of the Industrialization, cars let people to move toward farther place. When cars became affordable, more people moved to rural area to live. Additionally, the federal government policies which helping the middle class to buy the house in suburban area facilitated people to live outside the city.

After World War II, the United States of America became a much wealthier nation. As America gained wealth and the populations in urban cities and transportation technology increased, many Americans spread out, away from the urban cities, to fulfill the common dream of having a piece of land to call their own. The landscape constructed became known as the suburbs, exclusive residential areas within commuting distance of a city. The popularity and success of the suburban landscape caused suburbs to sprawl across the United States, from the east coast to the west coast and along the borders between Canada and Mexico. By the 1990s, many suburbs surrounding major urban cities developed into being more than merely exclusive residential areas.

Burgess’s concentric zone theory was presented in 1924. He presented a descriptive urban land use model that divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from downtown to the suburbs. His representation came from Burgess’ observations of various American cities, especially Chicago. Burgess model assumes a relationship between the socio-economic status of households and the distance from the Central Business District. The further from the district, the better the quality of housing, but the longer the commuting time. Making this Accessing better housing is done at the expense of longer commuting times and costs as well. According to Burgess, urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land uses, with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the outer zone. According to Burgess’ theory, a large city is divided in six concentric zones, Burgess’s model has its cons according to critics. It is said to be a product of its time. That is, it won’t work the same with present cities. The model was developed when American cities were growing very fast and when motorized transportation was still uncommon as most people used public transit. Thus the concept cannot be applied to those from the second half to the twentieth century where highways have enabled urban development to escape the reconversion process and to take place directly in the suburbs. The model in this case was developed for American cities and is limited elsewhere.