Themes in American History

When the Dutch arrived in Manhattan in the early 1600s, they had envisioned it to be one of the more popular and prominent ports in America. This was always the case thru the 17th and 18th century, but with the completion of the Eerie Canal, the ports in NYC was taken into a completely different level. Trade was such an integral  and wide spreading part of NYC at that moment, that it could not restrict itself to Manhattan and soon started spreading out into Brooklyn. Merchants started building warehouses and counting houses in Brooklyn along the East River. Building of the Erie Canal reduced the prices of transportation of goods from places like Chicago by 90 percent and reduced the time by 50 percent.

Almost around this same period the Erie Canal was completed , there were a couple of canals build in Pennsylvania  as well. Canals extending the use of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers were chartered before 1815, and the Lehigh Canal was completed in 1838. But these canals did not do the same wonders that Erie Canal did for NYC. Although this system linked the east to the west, its expense made the state nearly bankrupt.

4 Comments »

(Picture from the Franklin D. Roosevelt  library, courtesy of the National Archieves and Records Administration.)

Just as prosperity was visible during 1920s in the city through construction and rapid growth of industrialization, the economic crisis in twentieth century brought the great depression  in the U.S.; causing through the Stock market crash of 1929 until 1939, and unemployment that resulted poverty throughout the nation. The working class people and upper class people were widely affected and failed them in terms of raising their life standard and led them into the depression. It was the period of both unemployment and poverty, and increased government involvement in the economy.The most serious problem was an unemployment that heavily fell on unskilled, the young, and color people. In Chudacoff’s book, he states that between 1929 and 1933, both Mayors of Detroit and New York City preferred spending available money and borrow for relief even by reducing other municipal services of the city. This decreased the expenditure on parks and recreation departments in 795 cities and towns by 50 percent. Likewise Chicago was one of the hardest hit cities in American by the Great Depression because of the city dependence on manufacturing and crisis that existed the stock market crash. An unemployment in Chicago was near 50 percent after the four years of crash which led thousands of people to move and gather for social protest.

1 Comment »

n the center of the Great Depression many families tried desperately to pull themselves together and rise above the hardship that was taking place in the city during the 1930’s. This period brought a lot of shame, embarrassment, and abandonment to many families as many people were forced to stand on bread lines and dumpster dive for food. The crisis affected everyone and there were no jobs to be had at this time. Big banks went out of business, the gap between the rich and the poor was shrinking, and resources were being depleted.

On the other side of the country, a different type of depression was taking place during the 1930’s. In many areas of Texas and surrounding states, a huge dust storm had covered a vast portion  of the residential areas. Crops belonging to farmers were ruined by mountains of dust covering them rendering them useless. Many families were affected by the storm and were forced to leave their homes to avoid starvation and malnutrition.

2 Comments »

Collection of the New York Public Library, Maps of New York City and State

One aspect of New York City development during the twentieth century to another American city was passing zoning ordinance in 1916 (Chudacoff 214).  As stated on the NYC.GOV website, “In 1915, when the 42-story Equitable Building was erected in Lower Manhattan, the need for controls on the height and form of all buildings became clear setting the stage for the nation’s first comprehensive zoning resolution”. To deal with population density and growing Skyscrapers the concept was born. According to NYC.gov, “The concept of enacting a set of laws to govern land use and bulk was revolutionary, but the time had come for the city to regulate its surging physical growth. The groundbreaking Zoning Resolution of 1916, though a relatively simple document, established height and setback controls and designated residential districts that excluded what were seen as incompatible uses”. New York was the first city to pass this ordinance and became a model for other cities in the United States. It took additional eight years for other major cities to establish zoning regulations in order to control heights of buildings and fixed density limitations (Chudacoff 214).

. [Chicago : Chicago Zoning Commission, 1922]. maps : photocopies ; on sheets 80 x 100 cm. Blue line prints.”]In 1922, for example, the Chicago Zoning Commission, in order to facilitate the creation of Chicago’s first zoning law, compiled the first land-use map of Chicago. This picture is one of the  Government Maps of Chicago in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s

Comments Off on Developmpent of the zoning in NYC vs Chicago

One of the major difference between NYC and the rest of the cities in America has always been the population, but this difference expanded in the 1900s. All throughout American History, NYC has been the land of opportunity for the “hard workers” as well as the “dreamers” – but none more so during the 1900s. In the 1920s, musicians and artists from all over the country came to NYC, to try and be successful. With the radio reaching into every American’s house, NYC was the right place to be. America was introduced to the jazz and the blues. NYC was already home to Broadway theater, but it was only in the early 1900s, that the rest of America started taking notice of it.

Music was only one reason a lot of people were driven to NYC.  Industrialization, the growth in Transportation, and the opportunities available due to the New York Stock Exchange are some of the other reasons, that a lot of people were attracted to NYC. According to the census, the population in NYC grew by more than 2 million from 1900 to 1920, and by almost 2 million from 1920 to 1940, while the second most populous city at that time – Chicago, grew by a little over 1 million from 1900 to 1920 and by merely 700,000 from 1920 to 1940. Immigration is another big reason why NYC has always had a higher population growth than the other countries. During this period, millions of immigrants entered the city from Ellis Islands, although most of them did not live in NYC.

P.S: This video was shot in July 1903 by Edison Studios

2 Comments »

found via Google Images Search.

At the start of the twentieth century there were great innovation in transportation that changed the way in which people lived across the US. This was especially clear in major cities like New York City and Boston. Both cities were able to adapt the latest changes in transportation very quickly, which allowed each city to grow its population and size.

In New York new bridges and automobiles allowed people from outside of Manhattan to commute to the city very easily. While in Boston, there were 6 neighboring communities to Boston that were combined to make Greater Boston. In New York City many people enjoyed taking trains and other various forms of public transportation from the outer boroughs into the city. While in Boston people preferred to drive. In both cases many new houses were built as developers scrambled to meet demand. Many of these houses are still in existence today and can be seen all over the outer city areas.
Today, these changes have had profound effects on each city and have allowed them both to thrive and prosper.

NYC's 5 Boroughs

Comments Off on American Living

This is an early 20th century postcard.

In the 1900s, Paris was full of wealthy people traveling in and out, artistic innovations, and jazzy music. Reflective of this freedom and movement of the city, architects built buildings with angular shapes that resembled new cruise ships. This movement was given the name, Art Deco. After World War II hit, the city adopted less flamboyant  styles with a mixture of the old and new styles. Paris experienced a housing boom where empty spaces were filled with government sponsored housing projects built of brick. The new housing was influenced by Art Deco with decorative brickworks. Paris mostly brought it’s bricks from its own limestone bedrock which is why most of their building carried the same color tone.
Similarly,  there was a residential boom in NYC in the early 1900s. The beautiful residential buildings on central park east and central park west were built then. The city also provided public housing which dramatically changed the city’s appearance. New high rise buildings were built in an effort for urban renewal. In many cases they were considered as failures due to the poor maintenance and high crime rates. One of the distinctive features of NYC that can still be seen today are the roof mounted water towers. These were built during the early 1900s with the high rise buildings that were over six floors because these buildings needed too much of a high water pressure to deliver water to the upper levels. Lastly, unlike Paris, NYC drew its stones from different quarries which allowed a variety of textures and hues of stone in the buildings.

3 Comments »

NYC has most modern subway system. In 1904, first subway was built on a route from city hall to Bronx.  After that number of extensions occurred in following years. From 1913 onwards, city signed contracts with private companies for the growth of subway lines. In1940 city got independent subway system after acquiring BRT and IRT(private companies). It was the latest and most innovative subway development of that time. Chicago “L” subway system is the second longest rapid transit system in total track mileage in United States.  After 1911 the Chicago line came under the control of president of Chicago Edison electric utility. He knew that trains were the city largest consumer of electricity. He improved the whole system including free transfers and through routings. He also bought three other Chicago electric railroads and ran them via “L” tracks.    

2 Comments »

Image depicts the idea of the quota laws set forth during the 1920's in the United States. Original Source: American Isolationism Cartoon, 1921 (Library of Congress)

During the 1920s many American cities saw quota laws that limited or completely stopped a group of people from entering into the United States. One of the cities that was affected by these quota laws was NYC which saw a great decline of immigration during the 1920s. The congressional acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929 limited greatly the amount of immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe places where the majority of immigration came from to NY (Chudacoff & Smith 206). On the other hand these laws did not limit the immigration coming from the Western Hemisphere therefore, during the 1920’s the majority of the immigrants entering the country where Mexicans. While some of them moved up to some of the northern cities like Chicago and Detroit many of them resided in southwestern cities. For example during this decade Mexicans where a little more than 50% of the population in El Paso, a little less than 50% of the population in in San Antonio and 20% of the population in Los Angeles (Chudacoff & Smith 206). This influx of Chicanos provided a large body of labor as they worked in steel mills, tanneries, meat-packing industries, automobile factories, etc. However these Chicanos were also faced issues in the United States such as segregation a negative aspect of their time here.

Image of a Mexican immigrant couple during the 1920's. Original Source: UC Berkeley Bancroft Library

1 Comment »

Boston started the riots that swept colonial America

Boston and New York were two of the most prominant cities during colonial rule. They were both port cities and they were both business oriented. Both Boston and NYC had a large number of merchants and traders as well as local citizens and skilled laborers. When England imposed the Intolerable Acts, both cities fought against them. However, when they were repealed New York City stopped most of its resistance while Boston carried on with its rioting. Chudacoff and Homberger seem to disagree on which city played the most important role in the revolution. I would have to agree with Chudacoff that Boston made the greatest difference. Boston was the center of change. It fought gainst the crown to protect the interest of its citizens. In New York city, the merchants had more control, so when the taxes were reppealed, they went right back to business. Boston remained active and eventually became one of the leading causes for revolution against the crown

Comments Off on Boston vs NYC in Pre-Revolutionary America

Pittsburg was similar to NYC in that the city was able to take advantage of its geographical location with the Pennsylvania mainline canal, earning the title “Gateway to the West”. Located on one of the world’s biggest coal deposits, the city’s economy was run by factories that manufactured steamboats and household heating. Whereas many Southern rural cities depended on Northern urban cities to import and export goods, this was a city with no such dependency. Also, while NYC’s economy revolved around their trade and commerce, Pittsburg had an additional advantage with its abundant natural resources such as natural gas and petroleum that allowed the city to not function merely as a port but as exporter. The War of 1812 further boosted Pittsburg’s economy. The British cut off their manufactured supplies to America and the country became more dependent on American manufacture, heavily depending on inland trading.  Thus, Pittsburg’s manufactured goods became even higher in demand.

2 Comments »