Fertilized by Fuel to Grow Iron
During
the industrial time period there was, what seemed to be, an explosion of new
cities emerging left and right. How did this happen? How were so many cities
popping up in different parts of the United States? One word, transportation. The
railroad systems played a huge role on where cities started to spring up. Having
a new quick way to move building materials allowed the production speed of new
houses and businesses to increase dramatically. Because railroads acted as
enablers to new cities, most “railroad entrepreneurs such as Leland Stanford
were also city builders.” (The New Urban Sociology, pg. 112). This mass
production of railroads across the United States almost became a race across
the country. Whoever could reach the other side of the country would be able to
produce important trading routes which would greatly benefit their overall
profit. The increase in transportation, not only on land but between water
channels too, allowed cities that were close to them (Detroit, Cleveland,
Chicago, etc.) expand at a higher rate than other cities that didn’t have
access to this advantage.
The rapid growth of cities
emerging all over the United States increased the amount of materials needed to
expand the cities and the speed in which they were needed. The solution to this
demand was a switch in the manufacturing methods that were being used. Factories
were a huge part in assisting the growth of not only the cities they were in,
but the surrounding areas as well. Factories made it possible to produce goods
at an alarming rate and was able to cheaply employ individuals with little or
no job experience. This finally gave enough supply to the public, solving the
peoples demand for materials to expand the cities. Depending on what was made
in each factory also had an influence on how fast the city grew both in size
and population. For example, when Detroit created the first automobile and
started mass producing the product, population and growth in the city was
growing at an exponential rate.
As factories created
more job openings, people from all over moved to these cities looking to take
those spots in the factory. This amount of people is such a small area gave James Bogardus the idea to
use cast iron beams in order to start expanding vertically instead of
horizontally. This revolutionized how we started building and creating
businesses along with housing and other types of buildings. A short while after
we started to build upward, Elisha Otis created the elevator. This invention
enabled the ability to build even higher than just a few stories. With the
invention of the elevator, William L. Jenny was able to create the nation’s
first skyscraper and from then on, was a model for how we started to blue print
new up-and-coming cities. In today’s modern heavily populated city, it is rare
to see a one story business in the center of the area. Because of the evolution
of transportation in the 1800’s until now, we were able to grow and expand as a
nation.
Overall, I would have to say this was a well written and thought out blog post. It covered various important aspects that were brought up in Chapter 5. You began off by explaining the importance of railroads and how this new technological advancement impacted the way in which cities were constructed in such a huge way. I really thought that was a smart way to begin talking about the growth of cities after this new technology was developed. After discussing the railroad system and its effect of growing cities, you moved onto manufacturing methods, such as the factories.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there was one concern or question that I had after reading your blog. I was unsure if you wanted to focus on just the evolution of transportation and how it affected the growth of cities. Or if your goal was to cover different advancements that contributed to the growth of the cities, because you briefly touched on the first automobile as well as when the elevator was created. Both of which would be advancements of this time period. The only reason that this question arose for me was because your links show us information on when and who created new technological advancements. If your goal was the first point I said to only discuss transportation, then what I’ve said above does not apply to you. But, if your goal was to talk multiple advancements. Then you could have elaborated on them a bit more, as well as touched on tall building construction, electrical power, etc. But, all and all this was a great blog, with good relatable links, that gave a lot of good incite to Chapter 5.