Skyler Eastin
US History
Urban Infrastructure
1880
through 1920 saw a huge development in the size and population of cities across
the country. This development created a huge demand for technology to create
better cites. People needed better quality of life in the cities, better transportation within the cities, and more room for people to live and work in cities.
Urban electrification, building of bridges, installation of subways systems,
and the introduction of skyscrapers were all developed as ways to use newly
available resources and technology to create better cities for people to live
in.
Many of the
marvels of cities were dependent on the use of electricity to function properly.
So it stands to reason that the development of electric plants across the
country were vital in creating better quality of life for a cities citizens.
Urban electrification was made possible in America by Samuel Insull. Insull was
the owner of the Commonwealth-Edison Company that produced electricity in Chicago.
When Insull started, very few people were using electricity and there were many
suppliers. In Chicago alone, there were approximately 5000 people using electricity
provided form 20 different companies. Insull made an important discovery, “…that
profits depended not upon load, but upon what came to be known as load factor –
not, that is, upon the total amount of energy sold but on the percentage of the
time one’s investment plant was in active use.” (Insull: The Rise and Fall of a
Billionaire Utility Tycoon, Forest McDonald) Before, people who used
electricity used it primarily in the evening for lighting, whereas, during the
day, very few people used electricity at all. Because a plat was designed to
supply electricity at peak demand, most of the plant was inactive during the
day. Insull, after buying out most of his competitors, encouraged people to use
electricity more throughout the day through the sale of other electronic appliances.
“In 1894 three fourths of the electricity Chicago Edison sent out was used for
lighting; five years later almost half of it was used for small power
appliances. (Insull: The Rise and Fall of a Billionaire Utility Tycoon, Forest
McDonald) As a result of Insull’s consolidating of electricity supply under one
plant in the city, he was able to sell electricity to the entire city for a
cheap rate. This model allowed electricity to be converted from a luxury
resource to a common amenity. This change drastically increased quality of life
in cities, and enabled other forms of technology to emerge.
One of the
most vital factors of urbanization was the ability for architects to use steel.
Previously, wood, brick, and masonry were the only ways to build thing effectively.
The introduction of steel as a building material made architectural feats that
seemed impossible a reality. One example of this was the Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn, being one of the most prosperous ports in the country, and Manhattan,
the financial capital of the country, had desired a way to connect themselves
for decades. Until this era, a bridge seemed like an impossible solution due to
the huge gap between the two burrows. However, John Roebling would be assigned
chief engineer of the bridge in 1867 when he presented a design that used his patented
steel wire rope as a suspension bridge. The use of the wires meant that the
bridge could stand in the wind and still support its weight. The first step in
building the bridge was to lay the foundation, which was made much easier by
the newly build pneumatic caisson. These were, essentially, boxes that could be
lowered in to the water, have any water in the box pumped out with air pressure,
and then allow men down to lay foundations and build the towers. After the
towers were built, the road was laid across and then supported by hundreds of
the steel wire cables. This bridge was at the time the longest suspension bridge
in the world and was only possible because of the use of steel.
With the
huge influx of people in cities, streets were getting crowded. Many people
walked everywhere, which created huge congestion on streets. Those who could
afford not to walk used carriages, which were also not ideal because they often
added to traffic and were difficult to drive on the then cobblestone streets. The
introduction of cable street cars helped slightly, but was still on the roads
which were in many cases dangerous. The solution to street congestion was to
move people underground. The implementation of subway systems in America first
happened in Boston, followed closely by New York. Neither of these were
particularly new because they were both loosely based on systems already in
place in London. However, these were different in on very important aspect, they
were shallower. London’s subway system was initially 100-200 ft. below ground. Boston’s
was only 50. This meant that new subways could be built relatively simply and
quickly. First they would dig the trench and brace the excavation site with
steel or wooden columns. Then the street would be covered with a scaffolding to
allow street traffic to continue. Then the walls were built and waterproofed, a
foundation was put in place and the tracks were laid. Lastly steel columns were
put in and a roof was attached to them. This process was much simpler and
quicker than Europe’s and allowed systems to be built quickly after it was decide
where they would be. In 1897 Boston would open 1.5 miles of subway. New York
would follow in 7 years with 21 miles. This dramatically reduced street
congestion and enabled people to travel throughout the city cheaply and efficiently.
Skyscrapers
were a result of a combination of all the other forms of innovation produced in
this era. They required electricity to operate the newly invented elevators
(elevators were previously raised and lowered by a hydraulic wheel on the top
floor of a building. A wheel like that to lift an elevator as high as a
skyscraper would be too large to fit in any of the building. Electrically
powered wheels would let designer incorporate elevators into larger
buildings.), the required steel as the framework for the structure, and were designed
to remove congestion from cities. Before the creation of the skyscraper, it had
been decided among architects the 12 stories was as high as any structure could
be before the brick gave under their own weight. However, the creation of the
steel frame allowed buildings to support their own weight when they went
upwards of 12 stories. The first building that supported its own weight with a
metal frame was the Home Life Insurance Building. However, later buildings
would start to incorporate additional necessities of a skyscraper, like
fireproofing, pressurized plumbing, and central heating. As skyscraper began to
line the cities’ skylines, they started to be seen as symbols of ingenuity and
technology of the Gilded Age.
The
development of urban infrastructure was a vital part of American cities during
this time period. It was a combination of new technologies and business innovations
enabled cities to support the capacity they did and were a vital foundation of
all other aspects of urbanization.
PBS’s
page on Samuel Insull
Told be the basics about who Samuel Insull was and what he did.
Told be the basics about who Samuel Insull was and what he did.
A book that gave me a better understanding of why and how Insull did what he did.
Gave a timeline of how ans when the Brooklyn Bridge was built.
Gave me more information about the role of John Roebling in the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge.
gave some historical context on the Boston subway system and how it was built.
Gave analysis of the building process of American subway systems.
The
Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built
America’s First Subway
A book about the development and building process of the subway systems in Boston and New York
DigitalHistory.edu’s
page on skyscrapers
Provided context on what skyscrapers are and how they came to be through technology.
Provided context on what skyscrapers are and how they came to be through technology.
