The New American Culture: 1880-1910

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The New American Culture1880-1910

• What technologies allowed for the development of
  the modern city?
• How did immigrants play a role in building
  America?
• What were important parts of the new American
  culture?

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SCIENCE AND URBAN LIFE

• By the turn of the 20th century, four out of ten
  Americans lived in cities
• In response to urbanization, technological
  advances began to meet communication,
  transportation, and space demands

Artist Annie Bandez
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1. SKYSCRAPERS

• Skyscrapers emerged after two critical
  inventions elevators (Elisha Otis) steel
  skeletons that bear weight (William Jenney)
• Skyscrapers were actually born in Chicagonot New
  York!
• Famous architects
• Daniel Burnham
• Louis Sullivan
• The skyscraper was Americas greatest
  contribution to architecture and solved the issue
  of how to best use limited and expensive space

Flatiron Building - 1902
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2. ELECTRIC TRANSIT

• Changes in transportation allowed cities to
  spread outward
• By the turn of the century, intricate networks of
  electric streetcars (trolley) ran from outlying
  neighborhoods to downtown offices stores
• A few large cities like Chicago moved their
  streetcars far above street level, creating
  elevated or el trains
• Other cities built subways by moving their rail
  lines underground (subways)

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3. BRIDGES PARKS

• Steel-cable suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn
  Bridge, also brought cities sections closer
• Some urban planners sought to include landscaped
  areas parks
• Frederick Law Olmsted was instrumental in drawing
  up plans for Central Park and the 1893 Worlds
  Fair

Central Park is an oasis among Manhattans
skyscrapers
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AIRPLANES

• In the early 20th century, brothers Orville and
  Wilbur Wright, experimented with engines and
  aircrafts
• Originally owned bicycle shops
• They built a biplane December 17, 1903 they flew
  their plane for 12 seconds covering 120 feet
• Within two years the brothers were making 30
  minute flights
• By 1920, the U.S. was using airmail flights
  regularly

Actual photo of Wright Brothers first flight
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EXPANDING PUBLIC EDUCATION

• Unlike African Americans, immigrants were
  encouraged to go to school
• Most immigrants sent their children to public
  schools
• Many adult immigrants attended night schools to
  learn English
• Between 1880-1920 college enrollments more than
  quadrupled
• Professional schools were established for law and
  medicine

• Between 1865-1895, states required 3-4 months of
  annual education
• curriculum was poor and the teachers were usually
  not qualified
• High schools expanded their curriculum to include
  science, civics and social studies
• By 1900 500,000 teen-agers were enrolled in high
  schools

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DAWN OF A MASS CULTURE

• The new middle class could escape city
  congestion and dull industrial work with their
  higher wages
• Birth of leisure activities
• To meet the recreational needs of city dwellers,
  Chicago, NYC and other cities began setting aside
  land for parks
• Central Park
• Amusement parks were constructed on the outskirts
  of cities
• Coney Island was Americas most famous amusement
  park

• After the introduction of the safety bike in
  1885, Americans increasingly enjoyed biking
• By 1890, 312 companies made over 10,000,000 bikes

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SPECTATOR SPORTS

• Americans not only participated in new sports,
  but became avid fans of spectator sports
• Baseball and boxing became profitable businesses
• Mark Twain called baseball, the very symbol of
  the booming 19th century
• Famous baseball players
• Candy Cummings
• George Bradley
• Famous boxers
• John Sullivan
• Gentleman Jim Corbett
• Jack Dempsey

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PROMOTING FINE ARTS

• By 1900, free circulating Public libraries
  numbered in the thousands
• Major philanthropy by CarnegieNY Library
• By 1900, most major cities had art galleries
• In the early 20th century, the Ashcan School of
  American Art painted urban life
• Famous artists
• Robert Henri
• George Wesley Bellows
• Edward Hopper

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MAGAZINES and NEWSPAPERS

• By 1890, the literacy rate in the U.S. was nearly
  90
• Advances in printing, aviation, and photography
  helped speed the transfer of information
• Mills produce huge quantities of cheap paper from
  wood pulp
• Electric presses printed on both sides of paper
  at the same time
• Mass production made newspapers and magazines
  more affordable (most papers sold for 1 cent)
• led to the publication of millions of books,
  magazines, and newspapers
• Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
  leading publishers and created Yellow
  Journalism to gain attention
• Yellow Journalism included huge, sensational,
  exaggerated headlines

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POPULAR FICTION

• Dime novels were popular inexpensive
• Most of these focused on adventure tales and
  heroes of the west
• Some readers preferred a more realistic portrayal
  of the American West and South
• Famous authors
• Mark Twain
• Jack London
• Willa Cather

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PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLOSION

• Before 1880, photography was a professional
  activity
• Expensive to produce pictures
• Usually set/developed on metal (tintypes)
• Subjects could not move and the film had to be
  developed immediately
• Most newspapers used drawings (lithographs) to
  illustrate
• George Eastman invented lighter weight equipment
  and more versatile film
• In 1888, Eastman introduced his Kodak Camera
• The 25 camera came with 100-picture roll of film
  

1888 Kodak
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GROWING CONSUMERISM

• The turn of the century witnessed the beginnings
  of the shopping center, department and chain
  stores, and the birth of modern advertising

• CHAIN STORES 1870s F.W. Woolworth found that if
  he offered an item at a low price, the consumer
  would purchase it on the spur of the moment
• By 1911, the Woolworth chain had 596 stores and
  sold 1,000,000 per week
• Marshall Field of Chicago brought the first
  department store to America
• Field also pioneered the bargain basement
  concept

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ADVERTISING

• Ads appeared in newspapers, magazines and on
  billboards
• Expenditures for advertising increased to 95
  mil. in 1900
• Montgomery Ward and Sears were two pioneers in
  catalog sales
• By 1910, 10 million Americans shopped by mail
• In 1896 the Post Office introduced a rural free
  delivery (RFD) system that brought packages
  directly to every home