For Professor Anthony

Infrastructure Development and the Growth of Chicago

Transport infrastructure is a sign of growth and development of a town or city. Chicago is such city that focused on transport infrastructure to ensure the growth of the city. Before transport infrastructure improvement, Judge Jesse B. Thomas complained that Chicago was “merely the center of local retail trade of a few hundred miles of extent” (Cronon, 2009 p.63). The government through it planners and other professionals speculated that the provision of proper infrastructure would improve economic growth and break the banks guarding economic hinterland of Chicago. The government had to request loans from European creditors to fund its infrastructure development. Sure enough, the canal connecting Chicago to Illinois became busy, farmers opted for water transport rather than using the muddy roads. Chicago thrived because the farmers bought more urban manufactured goods and brought corn to the city. Chicago grew geographically expanding it southward towards River Mississippi just above St. Louis.

In 1936, the state government contracted a company that started the construction of the Chicago-Galena railroad. Galena was the center of the northwest Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin lead mining district. The railroad would go deeper into the hinterlands compared to the Illinois canal. The distances that the farmers would move their produce to get to the transport corridor would reduce. Therefore, this would reduce the distance covered on the muddy roads that lengthen the time used to get the farm produce to the market. The project was speculative, and the government was not very sure about it. Businesspersons finance the project with support from the rural and small-town communities along the line (Cronon, 2009, 66). During the construction of the railroad project, there was an assumption that Chicago was where the users of the railroad wanted to end their trip. The assumption was not according to nature but the investors of the project who proclaimed the assumption.

The railroad quickly achieved the speculative goals. Soon the Chicagoans realized that the supply of wheat to the town had grown drastically. By the beginning of 1850, a system of rails was expanding over Galena, serving Elgin, forty miles west of Chicago. Two years later the rails reached Rockford, and the western terminus is Freeport an extra year later. Branch rails were constructed to increase the access between Chicago and the agricultural fields to the northwest. Chicago had grown its system of rails and all the roads led to Chicago from all over the already expanded hinterlands. By 1860, Chicago had imposed to itself a new geographical superiority over the region because of the grown coverage of the rails. The rise of railroads allowed the growth of Chicago and the decline of the Michigan and Illinois canal (Cronon, 2009). Chicago had benefitted from the canal but the railroad just took over like a storm.

The construction of railroads as transport system exhibited more innovations compare to the previous modes that included lakes, rivers canals, and rural roads. This system of transport broke the geographical barriers. The railroads did not have to follow existing river valleys and did not have to end in existing harbors. One of the most welcome advantage the railroads brought with it, the rails were able to alleviate the problems associated with winter. During the winter when the snow covered the land, and the waters turned to ice, it meant that traveling on waterways was halted (Cronon, 2009). However, the railroads averted this problem, as the winter cold season did not affect the rails in any way. The farmers and the

The railroads had improved the urban planning of Chicago. The system of railroads ensured that there were fewer funds used in the construction on long stretches of roads. Rather, road construction was to connect the hinterlands to the railroads that helped move people and goods over long distances. It became easier for the farmers and the urban people to do business. The railroads were quicker than to any other modes of transport. The rails could also carry more goods and people over long distances. The reliability of the transport system improved significantly. The idea that the trains could be delayed to meet the time demands of the users brought and effectiveness to the transport sector (Cronon, 2009). The transport sector also allowed Chicago to be able to collect and dispose waste product easily. The reliable transportation also helped to decongest the city as the people moved out of the city center because they knew they could get to the city whenever they wanted.

Overall comment: Introduction needs a better and more clear thesis. Railroods need introduction in the first paragraph. Give some information about the canal before you mention it. You have to use Mass Flow Analysis (MFA) and urban metabolism throughout the essay because they are the concepts that covered in the class. The red highlited sentences need re-wording or more clear way of saying.

Reference

Cronon, W. (2009). Nature's metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. WW Norton & Company.