Impact Of Urbanization In The Gilded Age

During the Gilded Age, there was rapid economic growth in the United States. Some may disagree that transportation did not spark economic growth, because technology couldn’t keep up with the growth of the nation, and there was the creation of monopolies. However, transportation developments led to an increase in trade and production rates, urbanization, and social changes that all positively affected the economy . Therefore, the expansion of transportation developments was key to the growth of the economy between the years 1860-1900.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, bodies of water were the primary mode to travel and trade. As the outcome, most of the population lived near the coasts or rivers. However, during the 1860s, there

Traveling from long, previously thought of as daunting places was made cheaper, quicker, and simple through railroads.There was a creation of a highly competitive shipping industry due to advancements of steam powered machines. The use of steamboats had increased. Europeans and Asians were now able to cross the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America because of the development of large, steam-powered ocean liners. Because immigrants are capable of moving to their new country in faster and larger numbers, the population quickly surged. Many people were promptly moving to the cities of the east and midwest. There was progress in the diversity of the labor force in the economy. These immigrants fulfilled the demand of the dramatic rise for factory labor. The expansion of the urban population due to the development and access to transportation helped stimulate new technological and industrial developments. By the mid-nineteenth century, reformers and architects began to call for a safer, ordered city than what was previously before (little central planning of a city). Some may say that there were many problems because of rapid urbanization. Some situations in the list of problems in the city include housing shortages, the environmental conditions, and crime. However, efforts and solutions were made to fix these complications. To fix problems of urbanization, there were early reforms to provide

An innovation in public transport was the cable car, first introduced to the United States in 1868 in New York City. Another innovation that revolutionized public transport was the streetcar which is also known the tram or the trolley. Streetcar system were built in most of the major cities by the eighteen-eighties. They allowed people who lived in suburban areas to commute into the city for work. An invention by the 1890s were the first motor buses. There were also elevated trains and underground railways by that time. The elevated train system established in chicago was known as the “L” in 1895; it was the first rapid transit system in the United States. Boston, Massachusetts had the first public underground rail tunnel and subway system opened in America. They were built to get street cars off of crowded streets. Cities were also coming up with new techniques of road and bridge building at the same time. Without the creation and spread of these transportational innovations, the United States of America would have progressed differently. Workers were now able to travel to business centers more efficiently and faster paced as well. Businesses are able to expand even more, because they can now hire people from a larger area. This increases the amount and quality of workers that