Age of the City, The: Strains of Urban Life
Increasing congestion places a strain on the capacity of cities to protect those who live within their boundaries. When plagues hit, like the cholera epidemic that invades cities in the 19th century, city officials are forced to implement public hea...
Age of the City, The: Urban Landscape, The
The city at the end of the 19th century is a place of remarkable contrasts. Planning and building simply cannot keep up with the pace of growth. As one reformer laments, it is a challenge to make "a great city in a few years out of nothing." City pl...
Age of the City, The: Rise of Mass Consumption, The
Urban middle-class Americans are introduced to the fine art of "shopping" during the last decades of the 19th century. From 1880 onward there is the beginning of trade catalogues, national advertising and warehousing, and the creation of franchising...
Age of the City, The: Ethnic City, The
Some cities are marked by clearly-defined ethnic neighborhoods, others are more diverse. Among immigrant families, men are usually the first to arrive, hoping to earn enough money to take back home. Historians call these immigrants "birds of passage...
Age of the City, The: Infrastructure and Political Issues
Growth forces cities to rebuild their infrastructure and reconceptualize their political systems in the late 19th century. In fact the governmental institutions and services we think of as essential to an American city are created during this time p...
Age of the City, The: Lure of the City, The
The United States is becoming urban nation in the late 19th century. The industrial revolution has made the city the center of economic life, drawing young adults from country, African Americans from South, and immigrants to the shores of the countr...