History
darkness65
The1920sTheModernCityTakesShape2.pptm
An Urban NaTion: The Modern City Takes Shape in the 1920s
Let’s Review!
Why were more people, but especially young, single women in cities taking part in more recreational activities in the early twentieth century?
What kinds of leisure activities were young, single women taking part in? What concerns did social reformers like the YWCA have about them?
Terms to Know
1920 U.S. Census
IRT/BRT/Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company
Los Angeles
Metropolitan District
Chicago’s Wacker Drive (as one example of larger efforts to regulate traffic in cities)
Skyscraper/”First Chicago School” (you should know some examples of skyscrapers in Chicago and NYC)
Art Deco/Chrysler Building/Empire State Building
Questions to Consider
What were some of the reactions to the 1920 census that determined the U.S. was a predominantly urban nation for the first time?
In what ways did transportation methods shape the growth of cities by the 1920s? What difficulties did increasing usage of automobiles cause in center cities?
What do I mean when I say cities began to grow vertically, especially by the 1920s? What were some famous examples of this and what were some of the problems that came along with it?
Urbanization Rates in the U.S., 1790 - 2010
20 Largest Cities 1820-1920
“The Drift to Cities,” Atlantic Monthly, 1913
“There is a more serious consequence, however, than scarcity of food; it is lowering of character. Governor Eberhart of Minnesota tells of a visit he made to Minneapolis in a harvest emergency, for laborers to gather wheat…The farmers were at their wits' ends to save their crops. It was said that the city was full of the unemployed who were looking everywhere for jobs. He found them, as he says, 'seated on the park benches in all sections of the city and overflowing to the curb stones. Work, it seemed, could not be found. Some of the men were on the verge of starvation, and the charitable organizations of the city were taxed to their utmost capacity to provide for them.' It looked as if his task would be an easy one and he could take back as many men as he wished. He picked out his men and told them he wanted their help. They were eager for the chance and said they could do anything. He spoke of the service he had in mind in the country and on the farms, when instantly their faces fell and they were as glum as they had been before. Their answer was: 'We don't want to go to the country, boss. We don't want to live on a farm. There's nothin' for us there, -- no life, no entertainment, no lights, -- nothin' but monotony and work. We'd rather stay in the city and starve than go to the country an' have nothing to do but work. No, sir we stay right here.' And stay they did. He couldn't get one of them to go with him, and the farmers had to harvest their wheat as best they could while the city held in its grasp, unemployed, enough men to garner all the crops of the state.”
“The Drift to Cities,” Atlantic Monthly, 1913
“People flock to the cities for the advantages there offered, and find disadvantages. Parents sell their wholesome country homes because of their children, and go where there are grand churches, superior schools, and attractive libraries, to find themselves in close proximity to drinking saloons, dance-halls, gambling dens, and indescribable allurements to vice. Is that better for their boys and girls, or is the new atmosphere heavy with influences that are a peril? There are fifty churches in a city and a thousand saloons. The churches are open one day and two or three evenings in each week. The saloons are open every week-day all day long and far into the night. Boys and young men are not attracted to the churches. The saloons hold out all sorts of attractions to beguile them within their doors. What wonder that so many city boys grow up with disordered appetites and depraved tastes!”
“City and Country,” New York Times, 1921
“Great progress has already been made in the substitution of machinery for muscle in raising food products. The harvester is an old story, but it is no longer necessary for six or seven men to follow each one to bind the sheaves. The self-binder released five of the seven…The present novelty is the tractor, which supplies motive power for all uses, and does not eat food like horses, oxen and mules. The usual allowance of land to support a farm beast is five acres. Each animal displaced by a machine gives a gain for human food. If the men were not released from the farms, we could not have the factory products which make American standards of living the world’s envy. If our factory workers raised their own food, we should have less of both foods and goods.”
Los Angeles, 1921
Chicago’s Wacker Drive
Chicago’s Wacker Drive
Masonic Temple Building, Chicago around 1900
1910 Post Card showing Monadnock Building, Chicago
Woolworth Building
Flatiron Building
Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building detail – note ornamentation
Empire State Building, 1930s
Empire State Building Today
Questions to Consider
What were some of the reactions to the 1920 census that determined the U.S. was a predominantly urban nation for the first time?
In what ways did transportation methods shape the growth of cities by the 1920s? What difficulties did increasing usage of automobiles cause in center cities?
What do I mean when I say cities began to grow vertically, especially by the 1920s? What were some famous examples of this and what were some of the problems that came along with it?
