Museum EntranceC

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City Life

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The New American City The New American City Circa 1900Circa 1900

Curator’s Offices

NYC

Curator’s Office

Contact me at my desk in Room 209.

Curator: Ms. Royse

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Room 1

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Changing CitiesChanging Cities

Room 2

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Popular CulturePopular Culture

Room 3

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City LifeCity Life

Room 4

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Making Changes Making Changes

With so many people moving to urban areas, cities quickly ran out of building space in downtown areas. One solution would be to build taller buildings. However, this wasn’t possible in the early 1800s because building materials were too weak or too heavy.

This changed with the rise of the American STEEL industry. Soon architects, like Louis Sullivan of Chicago, began designing multistory buildings called skyscrapers. Architects used steel beams to mark study frames that could support the weight of tall buildings. This allowed builders to use limited city space more efficiently. Return to

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Skycrapers

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The Safety Elevator

The safety elevator, patented by Elisha Otis in the 1850s, helped make skyscrapers practical. Previous elevators had been unsafe because they would crash to the ground if the elevator cable snapped. Otis’s elevator included a device to hold the elevator in place if the cable broke.

Bigger cities increased the need for mass transit—or public transportation. Some cities, like NYC, built elevated trains on tracks running above the streets, like this one.

Some cities built underground railroads, known as subways.

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New York City Subway

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Electric Trolley

Bigger cities increased the need for mass transit—or public transportation. Cable cars or electric trolley became common. These streetcars cheaply and quickly carried people in the cities to and from work. This trolley car is in San Francisco.

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Central Park

As cities grew, people became aware of the need for open public space. Frederick Law Olmstead designed Central Park to serve as a place where New York City residents could relax, exercise, and enjoy nature. Olmstead included areas for horseback riding, ice skating, boating and baseball.

World’s First Ferris Wheel

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World Fairs

World fairs were a fun example of popular culture. Fairs brought merchants together which sometimes resulted in new ideas and products. For example, a Syrian food vendor began making cones for a nearby ice cream vendor who had run out of dishes. Ice cream cones became popular throughout the nation.

Loop the Loop

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Coney Island

The demand for public entertainment also led to the creation of amusement parks, such as New York’s Coney Island. The cheap entry tickets made Coney Island a favorite destination for children and families. For a nickel, visitors could ride a new invention called the Switchback Railway or the Loop the Loop---the first roller coasters.

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The Modern Newspaper

Big cities often had many newspapers so publishers had to compete for readers. In 1896, Joseph Pulitzer added a color comic to his New York World newspaper. William Randolph Hearst saw that comics helped sell newspapers so he added one to his newspaper as well. Soon, newspapers across the country were adding comic strips.

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Tenement Housing

Tenements are poorly built, unsafe apartment buildings that many urban dwellers had to live in. Landlords were not required to maintain safety standards. Fires could start in one room and easily spread to the whole building. Fire escapes were often blocked or nonexistent.

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City Children

Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, influenza, and tuberculosis spread quickly in tenement neighborhoods. Children were the most vulnerable to these diseases. For example, babies born in Chicago in 1870 had only a 50% chance of living to age 5.

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Overcrowding

Tenement rooms had few or no windows to let in fresh air or sunshine. Comfort was also rare, with so many people crowded into small spaces. Running water and indoor plumbing were NOT common. Disease-causing bacteria grew easily in such conditions. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, influenza, and tuberculosis spread quickly.

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City Streets

Overcrowding caused sanitation problems since most cities had no system for collecting trash. City streets were often filled with garbage and human and animal waste. Air pollution was also a serious problem. In addition, a lack of police office and firefighters made cities dangerous.

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Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis was a journalist and photographer who became famous for exposing the horrible conditions of New York City tenements. His book, How the Other Half Lives, shocked and horrified Americans. This led to massive efforts to clean up the cities.

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NYC Sanitation

New York City was notoriously the filthiest and stinkiest city in America. This changed in 1894, when the city hired Colonel George Waring, a well-known sanitation engineer. His workers started in some of the poorest neighborhoods. The sanitation workers transformed New York, and the people who did that work were seen as heroes.

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Hull House

The Hull House was the most famous settlement house of the time. It was founded by Jane Addams. The Hull House focused on the needs of immigrant families and by 1893, was serving 2000 people a week. It provided services like English classes, day care, and cooking and sewing classes. Children and adults took part in the art classes, plays and sports.

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Jane Addams

Jane Addams became famous for starting the settlement house movement. Settlement houses were neighborhood in poor areas that offered education, recreation, and other social activities. She also worked for reforms. Along with her colleagues, she studied problems facing immigrants and urban poor and searched for ways to improve their conditions.

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Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty was given to the U.S. from France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Lady Liberty has since been a great American symbol and was often the first thing immigrants saw as they approached the American shore.