Life In Cities Will Change
• Apartment buildings
begin to spring up all
over cities
– Hot water, heat,
kitchens, flushing
toilets, telephones
– 1880s: electric
lighting & appliances)
– Elevators invented
Building Boom
– Cities begin to run out of room for expansion
– Building up versus building out
Building
Up
Skyscrapers: tall building with many
floors supported by a lightweight steel
frame
- 1st: Chicago 1885: nine stories tall
Elevators make a skyscraper
convenient & intriguing
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=XvhP2CJac-Ev
Moving People
Traffic begins to become a problem in cities
• Trolleys from center of cities outward
– This creates the first suburbs
Suburbs: residential area on or
near the outskirts of a city
• Steam-driven passenger trains on overhead tracks
• Subways
• Bridges
Public Parks
– Parks could offer open
land to calm busy,
crowded city dwellers
(Central Park)
– Zoos & gardens
(green grass and trees)
Department Stores
Department stores: large retail store offering a variety of
goods organized in separate departments
• Macy’s: 9 story department store – clothes, furniture, jewelry,
window-shopping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=C6aYPVaHOy8
Sports
– A way to escape the pressures of work & city life
– Baseball: most popular sport in nation (first played in NY)
• 1870s: many cities have pro teams
• Gives rise to a whole new pastime! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIIj5AQC9k
– Football: Grew out of European soccer
• U.S. played since 1700s
• No helmets, little skill
• 1908 = 33 college player died from injuries
– Basketball: 1890s starts at the YMCA
YMCA: Young Men’s Christian
Association
• Wanted a sport that could be played indoors in winter
– 2 bushel baskets to gym walls
– Soccer ball thrown into baskets
Theaters & Music
– Music: different cultures sang the same songs – sense of
new community
– Theater: spreads “American” culture (Wild West) & builds
sense of new community as well
– Circuses: family fun entertainment
Shows
– Symphonies, operas – usually reserved for the wealthy
– Vaudeville: variety show that included comedians, song &
dance routines, acrobats – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg
– Provided “breakout” opportunities to immigrants/ talent
(think American Idol or X-Factor)
Ragtime
– New kind of music with a lively, rhythmic sound
• Scott Joplin – “Maple Leaf Rag” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dI6BZt06U
• John Philip Sousa – “Stars & Stripes Forever” – 4th of July
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl17svmZKso
Looking to the Future…
NOW we’ve set the scene for…
- Cleaner cities & better living conditions
- Recreational activities
- An educational awareness of other classes
- An improved schooling system
- A platform for women’s rights