Themes in American History

NYC and Chicago’s subway system are two of the oldest transit systems in America.  Compared to NYC’s subway system, the Chicago ‘L’ is less complex, composed of eight lines and connecting the outer counties to the commercial center of downtown Chicago.  NYC in the 20th century utilized technology and innovation to create a massive underground network that connects all five boroughs, while Chicago limited it’s transit system to eight lines, an elevated rail, and one connecting center called The Loop. The first Chicago ‘L’ s  first locomotive operated on June 6, 1892 when it departed 39th Street Station and arrived at Congress St. Terminal.  It’s drawback during the early years of operation was that none of the lines entered the city center but instead dropped everyone off at a subterminal where the majority of workers still had to walk to their jobs.  State regulations impeded the expansion of the subway system because property owners had to approve the expansion of elevated rails directing going into their neighborhood and over public streets.  After the development of the Loop (a center that connected the eight lines) and the introduction of an express line in the 1940’s, ridership and the efficiency of the rail increased.

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The 1920s was a great period of change for Americans. The post-war prosperity and Government policies lead to an economic boom. Immigrants fled into the country to escape Europe’s post-war poverty and with the nineteenth amendment giving women the right to vote, American society was going under a big change. Like all change, these changes which took place in such a short space of time attracted the growth of many opposing parties. Such groups were the anti-flirt league, who opposed revolutionary young women, known as ‘flappers’. Perhaps the most recognized opposing group at the time was the Ku Klux Klan, which had been revived recently and gained immense membership throughout the early twenties when it reached five million members. The Ku Klux Klan is a violent hate group who opposed Blacks, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, unionists, and bootleggers in the 1920s to name a few. The reason for the Ku Klux Klan’s uprising in the 1920s is that people feared the change that was taking place in America, and they wanted to band together to try and uphold ‘American White Supremacy’.

In Chudacoff’s book, the author mentions the historian Kenneth T. Jackson estimated that half the Klan’s membership “lived in cities of over fifty thousand people”. Also he states that Chicago, with an estimated fifty thousand Klansmen, “contained the largest operation in the country.”(Chudacoff 235).  Moreover, Jackson states : “At the time, the “Invisible Empire” was known for anti-Catholicism as much as for white supremacy and anti-Semitism, and Chicago had an abundance of all three targets. The Chicago Klan drew its primary support from lower-echelon white-collar workers, small businessmen, and semiskilled laborers, all of whom resented the growing influence of persons who did not meet the Klan’s definition of “one hundred percent American.” (encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org)

On the other hand, in New York City, the Klan was not as violent as cities in the south and in rural places: “In cities, Klansmen often turned to politics rather than using violence and display to achieve their goals.” (Chudacoff 235). One example of the ways of the Klan to try to achieve its goals was in the Democratic National Convention: “The Klan issue played a significant role at the bitterly divisive 1924 Democratic National Convention in New York City. The leading candidates were Protestant William Gibbs McAdoo, with a base in areas where the Klan was strong, and Catholic New York Governor Al Smith, with a base in the large cities.” (Wiki)

Bibliography

Jackson, Kenneth T. The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930. 1967.

Encyclopedia Chicago History.org

Cover of sheet music for the song "We Are All Loyal Klansmen"-It is copyright 1923 by William Davis, William M. Hart, Charles E. Downey, and E. M. McMahon

Ku Klux Klan parade in New York State, 1924

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In the 20th century, suburban domesticity became the idealized life for Americans. Many servicemen returning from World War II had difficulties finding a home in the cities. The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the GI Bill, made home loans available to these military veterans; this act, along with mortgage insurance allowed the suburban real estate development to increase. Populations of the suburbs grew ten times faster than the city populations. Since 1950, Chicago and New York City had lost population while their suburban rings grew by 117 percent and 195 percent respectively (Chudacoff & Smith, pg 223).

Suburban Legend

Levittown, NY, gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by William Levitt. William Levitt is considered the father of modern suburbia. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country (Wikipedia).

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Starting from the mid nineteenth century, the populations of New York and Chicago were growing exponentially. Consistent with such urban development there has been a widespread increase in wealth and the desire to improve living conditions. It had become obvious that the formless growth of the city is neither economical or desirable, and that overcrowding and traffic congestion had paralyzed the every day functions of both cities. Chicago, in common with New York, realized that it was time to bring order out of the chaotic growth that its diversified populations brought. As a result, in 1906 the Commercial Club of Chicago along with Daniel Burnham, a gifted architect and an American planner, came up with the Plan of Chicago. The plan included the building of the park system, lakes, beaches, gardens and public squares as well as expanding transportation and areas available for public recreation.

The video attached shows that Burnham has also designed some of the most famous buildings in New York city. Among them is the flatiron building, located on 23rd street and Broadway, which is only a few blocks away from Baruch college. However, the biggest project in his career was the Chicago’s world fair.

Thus, one of the similarities of urban development in 20th century between New York and Chicago was the city planning and architecture; which sometimes involved the same people working on the projects of each city. Perhaps no other metropolis was more immediately affected by the influence of New York regional planning efforts than Chicago, where civic leaders initiated designs of the best plans for architectural and infrastructural improvement, of which Daniel Burnham was a leading example.

Source: The film is produced by The Archimedia Workshop in consultation with Kartemquin Educational Films, 2007

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CREDIT: Gottscho, Samuel H., photographer. "The Empire State Building. From south," 1934.

Courtesy of "Chicago and Its Makers" (Chicago: Felix Mendelsohn, 1929).

Skyscrapers offered visual proof of progress in twentieth-centuries cities, skyscrapers. Corporate offices, along with banks, law offices, and advertising agencies that served them, now towered over downtown streets. Chicago’s 36-story Tribune Tower, and New York’s 102-story Empire State Building represented the reorientation of downtown space in the transition from industrial to corporate city. Chicago tribune tower construction started in 1923 and completed in 1925 is 462 feet tall.  When the Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, it was the tallest building in the world – standing at 1,250 feet tall. This building not only became an icon of New York City, it became a symbol of twentieth century man’s attempts to achieve the impossible.

Source: New York Documentary directed by Ric Burns

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As we saw in the Scortsese’s movie, gangs and history of crime is dated way before 1920’s. Figures like “Bill the Butcher” successfully run “Five Points,” making New York a violent place to live. But at that time, the crime was not yet organized and gangs didn’t have “specialties.” The idea of having a family that will look after you began in 1920’s and was innate by most famous mobsters – the Italian Mafia.

I would like to distinctive two cities, well known from organized crime networks: New York and Chicago. The gangsters started to play an important role in cities life after January 16, 1920, when the selling alcohol was banned through the United States. Illegal liquor distribution became very popular in both cities, because gangsters were able bribe the police, judges and politicians. Later on: crime, illegal gambling, drugs trafficking, infiltrating the construction businesses began to dominate ordinary city life. Very important aspect that differentiates Chicago and New York City mafia was a structure. In Chicago there was only one criminal organization called “The Chicago Outfit” which at certain point (between 1925 and 1932) was controlled by famous All Capone who had a monopoly on the crime world. He was suspected of ordering hundreds of murders and his income in 1927 was estimated at $105,000,000. The Outfit controlled not only Chicago, but also Iowa, Wisconsin and other areas in Mid West. The gang had 300-400 members and 1000 associates. In contrary, New York was ruled by “Five Families” who compete with each other to control New York. What’s more “The Outfit” was more diverse and had had other ethnic groups, while Five Families were strictly Italian. What is interesting, the mafia established national Commission, which was a governing body of American Mafia, and each of the five New York families received a vote on the Commission, while the heads of the families in Chicago revived only one vote.

I found very interesting movie about New York Mafia on You Tube which includes interviews with former mobs members with covered faced because of witness protective program.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AWQpVMY1a0&feature=player_embedded#at=74

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Chicago’s first generation of movie theaters, most of which opened in the early 1910s, were mostly small establishments located wherever a vacant storefront could be had. By the late 1910s and early 1920s, increasingly large theaters were constructed throughout Chicago. Every neighborhood had one or more movie houses to call its own. As profits from existing theaters soared, promoters opened ever-grander theaters which entertain the masses of movie-goers. These so-called movie palaces were distinct from their predecessors in a number of ways. The city’s theater circuits, the most notable of which was Balaban & Katz, expected their movie palaces to draw audiences from across the city, not just the immediate neighborhood. Also, by incorporating classical architectural details in the new palaces, they hoped to allay middle-class fears that movie theaters were corrupting the minds and morals of the city’s youth. Their efforts worked. By the end of the 1920s, movie-going was one of the city’s most popular leisure activities, due in large part by the increased willingness of middle-class Chicagoans to go out and see a show.



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Chicago, one of America’s greatest cities, saw a drastic change during post civil war era. One of the reasons for this major change was both geographical and economical. Since the war ended and the South had lost the war, many business entrepreneurs and investors saw a great deal of potential in Midwestern cities like St. Louis and Chicago. According to Chudacoff, “Chicago grew with the aid of railroads, and as a web of tracks extended in all directions towards Chicago, the trains began cutting into St Louis’s commercial hinterland (Pg 81).” Chicago certainly had an advantage that was crucial for transportation of trade through an east-west route making it more accessible and convenient for farmers to ship grain and livestock to New York. Chicago also grew in population in 1840, becoming the ninth most populous city in America.  The greatest change that occurred in comparison to New York however, was the construction of railroads that had entered into the city through thirty different lines. Having a reliable source of transportation allows the city to quickly and thoroughly move people and goods from one place to another. The city was able to flourish with the railroads but as well with the geographical spread of the city as well. The city was harboring by the Great lakes and with the State of Illinois pinpointing on the canals, Chicago emerged as the City by the Lake. New York was now able to reach Chicago by both land and water. Both cities emerged as the major cities of modern day with many cultural and economical factors that are driving the force of America today.

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