Why did cities grow so quickly in the late 1800's and early 1900's?
More immigrants started coming over to the United States
What problems did cities fact due to the rapid increase in population?
Housing, Transportation, Water, Crime, Fire, and Sanitation
What did some people do to try to help the bad situation in the cities?
They used the settlement house movement
**Urban Opportunities**
-cities are cheap
-steady jobs
-support traditions
**Why They Migrated**
-new technologies came out and less jobs were needed
-escape racial violence
-economic hardship
-political oppression
**Urbanization Problems**
-housing
-transportation
-water
-crime
-fire
-sanitation
Housing-either buy a house on the outskirts of town or rent cramped rooms in a boarding house. After working-class families left the city, immigants over took the old housing.
Transportation-easier for people to get to their jobs.
Water-not safe for drinking; very few people had water in their houses like plumbing, soon filteration was introduced and the water was now safe
Sanitation-streets were filled with animal manure, sewage and smoke. People were hired to sweep and clean the streets cause it was so filthy.
Crime-when the cities increased, crime started to increase, so they hired full-time police to watch over the cities.
Fire-with the scarcity of water supply, fires were starting, candles and kerosene heaters posed the fires. It was hard to put the fires out with no water, so the fires spread.
Great Chicago Fire- October 8-10, 1871
* Fire burned for over 24 hours
* Around 300 people died
* 100,000 were left homeless
* 3 square miles of the city center was destoyed
* Property loss was around $200 million
*17,500 buildings were destoyed
The San Francisco Earthquake- April 18, 1906
* Quake lasted 28 seconds; fires burned for four days
* Around 1,000 people died
* Over 200,000 were left homeless
* Fire swept through 5 square miles of the city
* Property loss was around $500 million
* 28,000 buildings were destroyed
Immigrants Settle In Cities-
* cities were the cheapest
* offered unskilled laborers steady jobs in mills and factories
* by 1910, immigrant families made up more than half the population of 18 major cities
* schools
* could speak their own language
* practice traditions and customs
* religion
Migration From Country To City-
* new technologies came out, which made farmers loose their jobs
* came to cities for jobs since of technology
* african americans came to escape racial violence, economic hardship, and politcal oppression
* segragation and discrimination were often the reality in northern cities
* job competition between black and white immgrants caused racial tension
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