Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a dramatic rate. Owing most of
their population growth to the expansion of industry, U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many of those who helped account for the population growth of cities were immigrants arriving from around the world. A steady stream of people from rural America also migrated to the cities during this period. Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the townships in the United States lost population because of migration. Industrial expansion and population
growth radically changed the face of the nation's cities. Noise, traffic jams, slums, air pollution, and sanitation and health problems became commonplace. Mass transit, in the form of trolleys, cable cars, and subways, was built, and skyscrapers began to dominate city skylines. New communities, known as suburbs, began to be built just beyond the city. Commuters, those who lived in the suburbs and traveled in and out of the city for work, began to increase in number. Many of those who
resided in the city lived in rental apartments or tenement housing. Neighborhoods, especially for immigrant populations, were often the center of community life. In the enclave neighborhoods, many immigrant groups attempted to hold onto and practice precious customs and traditions. Even today, many neighborhoods or sections of some of the great cities in the United States reflect those ethnic heritages. During the final years of the 1800s, industrial cities, with all the problems brought
on by rapid population growth and lack of infrastructure to support the growth, occupied a special place in U.S. history. For all the problems, and there were many, the cities promoted a special bond between people and laid the foundation for the multiethnic, multicultural society that we cherish today. To find additional sources in Loc.gov on this general topic, use such keywords as city, neighborhood, immigration, industry, urbanization, transportation, suburbs, slums, tenements,
and skyscrapers.Documents
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journal article
Understanding Late Nineteenth-Century American CitiesGeographical Review
Vol. 71, No. 4 (Oct., 1981)
, pp. 460-471 (12 pages)
Published By: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
//doi.org/10.2307/214509
//www.jstor.org/stable/214509
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Abstract
Efforts to understand the metropolitan spatial structure of modern American cities began in the late nineteenth century. Most authorities of the time recognized three fundamental features: a central business district of unrivaled importance, a contrast between evil tenements and wholesome suburbs, and a public transportation system binding the parts together. The apparent cultural necessity of that dominant set of related images discouraged attempts to appreciate any positive attributes in high-density urban neighborhoods or to criticize either the suburbs or mass transit. Attitudes first formed in the late nineteenth century influenced the course of American urban life and thought in the following century.
Journal Information
As the oldest journal in the United States devoted exclusively to geography and the leading journal of geography for the past 150 years, the Geographical Review contains original and authoritative articles on all aspects of geography. The Geographical Review welcomes authoritative, original, ably illustrated, and well-written manuscripts on any topic of geographical importance. Specifically, submissions in the areas of human geography, physical geography, nature/society, and GIScience are welcome, especially inasmuch as they can speak to a broad spectrum of readers. We encourage empirical studies that are grounded in theory, innovative syntheses that offer a deeper understanding of a phenomenon, and research that leads to potential policy prescriptions. The writing in the Geographical Review has always been of a high quality, interesting and accessible to both specialists and nonspecialists. Authors are encouraged to write articles that they themselves would enjoy reading. The Geographical Review also includes special features, forum articles, and special review articles commissioned by the editor. Each issue includes reviews of recent books, monographs, and atlases in geography and related fields.
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Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal.
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