Themes in American History

Until the 1850’s many American cities were called “walking cities”. Boston and New York were called “walking cities” because of its size.  Those cities extended about 2 miles from the city’s core. A regular person could walk 2 miles in 30 minutes and that’s why New York and Boston were called walking cities. People in those cities walked to work, shops and schools. Walking was the most common mode of transportation back then. (  Chudacoff, pg. 57-58)

One difference between New York and Boston was their number of people per acre. New York had almost double population than Boston by 1850. In New York there were 135.6 persons per acre and in Boston 82.7 persons per acre. People from all over the world were coming to New Nation trying to find a better job or living. New York draw in much more people than Boston did. Over the time density of people was much higher in New York than in Boston and more families or single people occupied a single apartment or house. (Chudacoff, pg. 59)

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