The Influx of Changes in Chicago During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprise, and industrial worker and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic

The Progressive Era began in the year 1890 through 1920; During this time many things in the country were evolving such as Social Justice, Government Efficiency, Suffrage Movements, Prohibition, and the list continues. Jane Adams being a fighter and standing up for what she believed in was described as being “bold as a lion” (20 yr) growing up and, through her adult years when initiating change in the way the government and society assist with the impoverished. Adams established the Hull House with Ellen Gates Star “on the 18th of September, 1889”(20 yr.). This started the movement that is know as the Settlement House Movement. “The purpose of the Hull House as stated in its character was “to provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago”(Addams, 1910, p. 89)”(Jane addams and social reform a role model for the 1990s). Although Jane Adams was mainly known for her work in the Hull House and being the 'mother of social work ', she also caused many reforms that affected the entity of the way the United States went about reforming.

Factories enabled a large number of people to be supervised together and replaced hand tools with power-driven machinery. The availability of factory jobs in the north caused a great influx of workers to the region during this era. One group of people, immigrants, particularly met the demand for labor in the north. Between 1840 and 1860, over 4 million people entered the United States. About 90 percent of these immigrants headed for the northern states where job opportunities were abundant. The new advancements in railroads and steamboats, the increase in commercial farming, and the development of large factories triggered the relocation of multitudes to northern cities. Each one building upon another, the events that took place in the north during the 1800s instigated an extreme growth of cities and urban societies, proving population growth to be a key effect of the industrialization in the United States north.

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

The American economy boomed to a greater extent during the period of 1865-1900 due to transportation developments that were so modernistic, we still use them today to great effect. Along with faster transportation methods, this called for an increase in production rate, quickly leading to an industrial revolution. America had recently gotten out of its civil war, and with the compromise of 1877 came the end of the failed attempt at reconstruction. The only reason transportation developments were successful was because goods and people needed transporting for several various reasons. Among these reasons were a few that were quite generalized among the population such as manifest destiny, (the need to expand the frontier) Irish and German

The Second American Industrial Revolution was a time of great social improvements and advances in technology. It was also a time of great turmoil for the workforce and the lower class. Industrialization allowed the growth in gross national product of the United States, which helped improve the economy (doc 1). The period of advancements that dramatically aided in the growth of America occurred between 1780 and 1860. This growth included movement from rural areas to urban areas. In 1870, 70% of the population lived in rural areas, but by 1910, only 54% lived in rural areas (doc 1). The flight from the farmland and the immigration movement overpopulated the cities. It affected both rich and poor, both natives and immigrants. The Industrial Revolution

From the Gilded Age into the twentieth century marked the beginning of Industrialization, later transforming the future of United States. This era began to develop step-by-step with developing industries, factories and railroads. Expanding westward established an opportunity for Americans to improve their way of life, according to Manifest Destiny. One industry that highly affected the economy was steel, thriving its way to the top. The rise of steel factories brought an influx of immigrants into the country.

During the turn of the 19th century, the second industrial revolution was taking place in America, which shifted society from agricultural to industrial. Innovations and new technology were the driving vehicle for burgeoning businesses in the city. With this shift, populations swelled in large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Pittsburg by job seeking immigrants from countries including Ireland, Germany, and Lithuania who were attracted to the United States wanting to be a part of a so called “American dream” and economic opportunity. These immigrants longed for a chance to start over again and wanted nothing more than an opportunity to make a better life for themselves, and the generations

The beginning of the second industrialization era, sparked the migration of people from rural communities to the new for of urban society. In the United States people were attracted by the big cities due to new jobs created .For example Chicago “symbolized the growing urbanization: In 1860, the city 's population was barely 109,000; thirty years later, it swelled to 1.1 million”. (Text) With the construction of a vast railroad system moving goods,cattle and people was a lot easier than ever. After 1880 American cities boomed, power cable cars replaced the horse car, and after the invention of electricity they were replaced too with streetcars and trolleys. Subways were constructed in New York Boston and Philadelphia, in order to prevent traffic jams. People with similar racial or ethnic backgrounds clustered together in the center of the cities. Suburbs were incorporated and formed large metropolis. Railroads companies built terminals gas and electricity were a new source of power for the city dwellers. By the 1920’s “Electricity drove technology in 1920s America, and technology helped drive prosperity. By 1928, two-thirds of the families in towns and cities had electricity in their homes, stimulating a huge demand for new appliances such as irons, vacuum cleaners, and the era 's great economic engine: radio.” (Text) Immigration was another big challenge for the big cities. The one way ticket immigration began, immigrants were defined as males , in search of a good life in a

Nineteenth Century Chicago had numerous flaws within the city compared to the city in present time. Larson’s ideal perception of Chicago in the past was known as the “Black City” (Larson 11). The death rate was increasing rapidly due to the murders and disappearances of people. All across the country, residents of other states knew how disgusting Chicago truly was, and had been judgmental towards their city. Anyone could notice the trembling fear of the construction workers when they had to show up to their profession. “Of the 352 men who worked on the bridge’s notorious east caisson, pressured-related illness, killed twelve, left two crippled for life, and injured sixty-six others, a casualty rate of over 20 percent.” (24). Laborers would go into the harmful work environments every single day; they would never know if the probability of making it out alive. The fowl smelling odors of nineteenth Chicago were so horrendous because of the public health process, which was not produced. “In any street not paved with macadam oozed a fragrant muck of horse manure, mud, and garbage that swelled between granite blocks like pus from a wound.” (28). The civilians of Chicago had not taken care of the hygiene within the city. This led to outbreaks of deadly ailments that killed a mass number of individuals. During the night hours, intolerable noises screeched out to the city’s residents. Means of transportation, such as, trains, trolleys, and hearses strolled down the pavement during

At the culmination of the nineteenth century in the United States, industrialization was transforming cities at a lightning pace. With a flurry of immigration and expansion, urban populations were multiplying by the decade, at a rate twice the speed of the total American population. In 1860, the city of Chicago had a mere 100,000 residents but by 1890 had exploded to harbor over one million people. Immigration from southern and eastern Europe had skyrocketed over these few decades, bringing a new working class and a new backbone for the American industrial economy. This burgeoning industrial system proved to be very attractive for immigrants across the globe, drawing in

The relationship between immigration, urbanization, and industrialization became dominantly significant by the launch of the Progressive Era between the years 1890 and 1920. Immigration increased at a staggering rate in which millions of immigrants from Western Europe, Southern Europe, and Eastern Asia sough economic opportunities. The United States, in the era, experienced large portions of its lands altered into massive cities with expanding industrial infrastructures. Despite these factors having greatly transformed American life, the nation’s inhabitants have only begun to realize the consequences for such an inevitable step of progress.

The United States was undergoing great changes in the mid 1800's. Populations in both the North and the south grew tremendously. The main increase from the North was largely due to the many immigrants that flooded the coastal cities. Around 2.8 million immigrants came into the United States between 1850 and 1860. This great increase in immigrants further fueled the industrialization of the Northern states. The new source of labor

The changes resulting in a more modern America were: emergence of big business and industrial systems, immigration, urbanization, and the challenge to faith and confidence. First of all, many immigrants traveled to America, the land of opportunity, with their hearts and minds set on finding work to support their families and to start anew. The growth of railroads created towns and cities, which then grew as big businesses sprung up, and finally expanded further as immigrants invaded these cities in search of cheap jobs. The inflow of foreigners caused Americans to be resentful and move to the suburbs. Many middle class people did not want to live near the new ethnic neighborhoods as they feared the varying races and religious affiliations. This growth in modernity resulted in a positive growth in technological devices such as telephones and street cars. On the other hand, the negative aspects, such as how cities were becoming overcrowded, unsanitary, filled with disease, and politically corrupted, may have outweighed the good parts of the city. The most important aspects, revolved around Europeans opening saloons and Madams and pimps opening brothels, both of which contributed to revolutions with churches, temperance activists, anti-cigarette reformers and more. The importance of immigration in this situation results from the excessive number of immigrants compared to American’s

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 1840s until the beginning of World War I in 1914, immigration dramatically and rapidly increased at the U.S economy flourished, contributing to the increase in urbanization (Foner, 547). Increased employment along with an increase in labor was not necessarily considered a good thing. Immigrants worked primarily in low-wage, unskilled jobs, without much opportunities to increase their economic position (Foner, 548).