AMERICAN URBANIZATION & NEW YORK CITY HIST 141

Summer 2011By: Le Thi My Ho

Sunshine and Shadow1865-1898

New York Years To Remember: The “Gilded Age” - Era of Rapid Economic And Population

Growth In The United States During The Post-Civil War and Post-Reconstruction Eras of The Late 19th Century

Greater New York: Combined Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island into a Single Massive Metropolis

New York Was Considered Both At The Same Time Concentration of Wealth – Sunshine Concentration of Poverty – Shadow

Central Park Skyscrapers Telegraph, Steel, Oil, Railroad Wall Street Brooklyn Bridge – Took 7 Years To Build

Sunshine And Shadow William “Boss” Tweed

April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878 The "Boss" of Tammany Hall, The Democratic Party Political

Machine That Played a Major Role In The Politics Of 19th Century New York City And State

Third-largest Landowner in New York City, Director Of The Erie Railway, The Tenth National Bank, and the New-York Printing Company, as well as Proprietor Of The Metropolitan Hotel

Elected To The United States House Of Representatives in 1852, The New York County Board Of Supervisors In 1858, the Year He Became The "Grand Sachem" Of Tammany Hall and To The New York State Senate In 1867

Convicted For Stealing An Amount Estimated By An Aldermen's Committee In 1877 Between $25 Million and $45 Million From New York City Taxpayers Through Political Corruption, Later Estimated Range As High As $200 Million

Got Attacked And Exposed To The Public By Thomas Nast

Sunshine And ShadowJacob A. Riis

Born In Ribe, Denmark, On May 3rd , 1849 Emigrated To The United States In 1870 1877 Became A Police Reporter For The New York Tribune And Set Out On

A Career Of Chronicling Crime And Poverty Believed That The "Poor Were The Victims Rather Than The Makers Of

Their Fate” Wrote “How The Other Half Lives” - A Landmark In The Annals Of

Social Reform Documents The Filth, Disease, Exploitation, And Overcrowding That

Characterized The Experience Of More Than One Million Immigrants Among The Tenements Of NY

He Had Exposed The Desperate Condition Of The Tenements In Articles, Books, and Public Speeches, Which Resulted In The Wiping Out Of Whole Blocks Of Rookeries, The Making Of Small Parks, and The Regulation Of The Tenements

Theodore Roosevelt Called Him "The Most Useful Citizen Of New York"

Died In Barrie, Massachusetts, On May 26th, 1914

Cosmopolis

1920s Second Industrial Revolution Modern American Culture Has Been Born The Focal Point Of An Extraordinary Array Of Human And Cultural

Energies, Reaching Its Highest Levels Of Urban Excitement and Glamour The Stock Market Crash On October 29, 1929 (Known As Black

Tuesday); From There, It Quickly Spread To Almost Every Country In The World

New Media Industries Of Advertising, Radio Networks, Marketing, Public Relations, and Magazines Originated in New York

Recording Industry Started In New York Jazz Started – Best Music The Country Has Ever Produced; European

Composer Says “This Is The Most Exciting Music Being Made Today” “Melting Pot” Everyone Can Buy Cars and Stocks On Credit Wealth Of Country Bound To Increase Due To The Increase On

Consumption Harlem Emerged As The Undisputed Capital Of The African- American

Cosmopolis“World’s Tallest Building”

Chrysler 77 Stories; 1,048 Ft

High; Total Floor Area of 1,195,000 Sq Ft; 32 Elevators; 3,862 Windows

One Of The Finest Building In NYC

Headquarters Of The Chrysler Corporation From 1930 Until The Mid-1950s

At The Intersection Of 42nd Street And Lexington Avenue

Completed - May 20, 1930 $20,000,000 To Build

Empire State Building 102-Stories; 1,453 Ft – 8 9/16 In High;

85 Stories Of Commercial And Office Space, An Indoor And Outdoor Observation Deck On The 86th Floor; The Remaining 16th Stories Represent The ART DECO Tower; Capped By A 102nd Floor Observatory; Atop With A 203ft Pinnacle With A Lightning Rod At The Very Top

It Has 6,500 Windows; 73 Elevators; 1,860 Steps From Street Level To The 102nd Floor; Total Floor Area of 2,768,591 Sq Ft (257,211 M2); The Base Of The Empire State Building Is About 2 Acres (8,094 M2); Houses 1,000 Businesses and Has Its Own Zip Code, 10118

At The Intersection Of 5th Ave. And W. 34th St.

Completed – May 1, 1931 $40,948,900 To Build

CosmopolisF. Scott Fitzgerald

September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940 American Author Of Novels and Short Stories, Whose

Works Are The Paradigm Writings Of The Jazz Age Wrote The Famous Novel “The Great Gatsby” Married To Zelda Sayre And Had One Child, Frances Scott

“Scottie” Fitzgerald Fitzgerald Had Been An Alcoholic Since His College Days,

And Became Notorious During The 1920s For His Extraordinarily Heavy Drinking, Leaving Him In Poor Health By The Late 1930s

Fitzgerald Had Died Of A Massive Heart Attack

“A Merger That Puts New York On Top”

The Merger Of The World's Leading Internet Company With The World's Leading Media-entertainment Company - AOL Time Warner

New York Had Two Advantages: The Location Of Its Port And Its Growing Capital Markets Erie Canal, Which Positioned New York To Control The Exports Of

The U.S. Hinterland To Europe “Triangle Trade," Which Allowed New York's Commercial Interests

To Control The Cotton Trade Between The South And England In The Late 19th And Early 20th Centuries, The Discovery Of

Electricity, The Invention Of The Telephone, Motion Pictures, Wireless Radio And Television Solidified New York's Economic Hegemony

New York's Most Remarkable Qualities Has Been Its Ability To Capture Economic Gains From Commercial Developments That Began In Other Regions All Three Of New York's Great Philanthropic Foundations: The Ford

Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation And The Carnegie Corp. Were Created With Money From Fortunes Made Outside New York

The Great Transatlantic Migration Between 1870 To 1920, The United States Was Transformed From

An Agrarian Society Into An Urban One With Over 23 Million Transatlantic Immigrants

The Mechanization Of Agriculture, The Creation Of A National Transportation System, And The Growth Of Industry Laid The Foundation For Big Cities; The Arrival Of Millions Of Immigrants Provided Much Of Their Population

What Eventually Emerged, However, Was A Blend Of Native Traditions And Foreign Influences That Gave America's Urban Landscape And Its People Their Distinctive Stamp

Transatlantic Migration Was Simply The Extension Of An Old Practice Of Traveling Within Europe In Search Of Economic Opportunity

For Every Three Immigrants Coming To The Americas, At Least One Returned, Either Unable To Find Satisfactory Work Or Else Bringing Earnings Home To Sustain The Family Or To Invest In Land Or A Business

The Great Transatlantic Migration

From The Early Nineteenth Century To World War II, The United States Received Over Three-fifths Of All The Immigrants Europe Sent Overseas, More People Than All Other Nations Combined

The Origin Of The American "Melting Pot," For Without One Group Dominating The Immigrant Ranks, Immigrants Were More Likely To Mix With Other Groups And With The Native-born Population, And To Contribute To A Common American Culture

Anti-immigrant Agitation Led To A Harshly Restrictive Quota Law Of 1924, Which, Along With The Great Depression, Slowed The Flow Of European Newcomers

The Great Transatlantic Migration

Migration Can Be Seen As The "Central Theme For A History Of The American People . . . More Lasting, For Settlers Were Emigrants Before They Settled And Migration Has More Than The Wilderness To Do With American Character And Institutions."

Components Of Transatlantic Migration: Traveled For Various Timespans

A Harvest Season Or Construction Job, A Year Or Two, Or A Lifetime

Over Various Distances The Neighborhood, The Home

Province, Within Their Country, Across National Boundaries But Within Europe, Or Across The Oceans

Various Reasons New Land, New Jobs, New Freedoms,

And So On