In the mid-nineteenth century, the north central United ...

In the mid-nineteenth century, the north central United States was producing crops and livestock that fed much of the country, and most people in the region lived on farms or in small towns. The region had only a few larger cities, which were located on the region’s web of rivers and provided transportation hubs. Within a few decades, a network of sixty-three cities with populations of at least ten thousand had developed in the area now known as the American Midwest.

In this pioneering study, Larsen and Cottrell use census records, city and local histories, and government reports to illuminate the rise of the urban Midwest during the Gilded Age, speeded by the expansion of railroads and contests for supremacy, and shaped by industry and city promoters. Larsen and Cottrell show how all of these elements worked together to determine the characteristics of the cities that today dominate the urban Midwest.

This path-breaking study splendidly describes the massive shift from an essentially rural, agrarian society to a predominantly urban, industrial one, which was more transformative and far-reaching in the Middle West than in any other part of the United States. Covering all aspects of economic development, population characteristics, basic institutions, municipal government, urban amenities, and urban culture, this broad-ranging study will be an essential reference for students of regional and American history and readers of all ages.

—John Miller, South Dakota State University; author of Small-Town Dreams: Stories of Midwestern Boys Who Shaped America

This monograph successfully provides for the reader an extremely lucid and analytical examination of the urbanization process in the Midwest during the Gilded Age. Sixty-three cities, led by Chicago, organized the section into a well-coordinated agrarian and industrial complex. Transportation was the key characteristic of this sectional development, and the evolving maturity of railroad technology, financing, and organization made this possible. This well-conceived study explains the dynamics of the national economy on the eve of the twentieth century.

—Patrick McClear, professor emeritus of American history, Missouri Western State University

Prospects of Greatness COVER.indd 1 5/19/17 1:25 PM

American MidwestTruman State University Press

Kirksville, Missouri

Prospects of Greatness.indb 3 5/19/17 3:41 PM

Copyright © 2017 Lawrence H. Larsen and Barbara J. Cottrell/Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri 63501All rights reservedtsup.truman.edu

Cover art: Indiana, Lafayette County Courthouse at Tippecanoe County, ca. 1890–1900. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC-USZ62–28381); .Cover design: Lisa Ahrens

Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data

Names: Larsen, Lawrence H. (Lawrence Harold), 1931–2017 author. | Cottrell, Barbara J., 1936 – author.Title: Prospects of greatness : the rise of Midwestern cities during the Gilded Age / by Lawrence H. Larsen and Barbara J. Cottrell.Description: Kirksville, Missouri : Truman State University Press, [2017] | Series: American Midwest series | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016048480 (print) | LCCN 2017007875 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612481814 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781612481821Subjects: LCSH: Urbanization—Middle West—History—19th century. | Cities and towns—Middle West—Growth—History—19th century. | Mid-dle West—History—19th century.Classification: LCC HT123.5.M53 L37 2017 (print) | LCC HT123.5.M53 (ebook) | DDC 307.760977/09034—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048480

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher.

The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48– 1992.


S v V

Contents

List of Figures and Illustrations ..........................................vii

Acknowledgments ............................................................... xi

Prologue ...............................................................................1

Chapter 1: The Role of the Great Cities ................................7

Chapter 2: The Development of the New Cities .................35

Chapter 3: Urbanization and Industry .................................88

Chapter 4: The Characteristics of the Population .............116

Chapter 5: The Shape of Basic Institutions .......................138

Chapter 6: The Quest for Urban Amenities ......................166

Chapter 7: Urbanization and Culture ................................201

Epilogue ...........................................................................227

Notes on Sources ..............................................................234

Works Cited ......................................................................237

Index ................................................................................279

About the Authors ............................................................291


S vii V

Figures and Illustrations

Fig. 1: Cincinnati bridge. Engraving by Jos. A. Williams, 1868. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- pga- 08543). | 12

Fig. 2: “Our City (St. Louis, MO).” Lithograph by A. Janicke & Co., St. Louis, 1859. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division (LC- USZC4– 3168). | 14

Fig. 3: “Chicago, As It Was.” Lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1856? (LC- DIG- ppmsca- 09545). | 15

Fig. 4: “Map showing the position of Chicago in connection with the North West & the principal lines of rail roads, canals, navigable streams and lakes . . .” by Edward Mendel, Chicago, 185- . Library of Congress, Geography & Map Division (#98688388). | 33

Fig. 5: Map of Ohio, 1870– 1890, showing canals and cities with popula-tions more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 40

Fig. 6: Map of Indiana, 1870– 1890, showing canals and cities with popula-tions more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 49

Fig. 7: Map of Illinois, 1870– 1890, showing canals and cities with popula-tions more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 55

Fig. 8: Map of Missouri, 1870– 1890, showing cities with populations more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 63

Fig. 9: Map of Iowa, 1870– 1890, showing cities with populations more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 66


S viii Figures and Illustrations

Fig. 10: Map of Minnesota, 1870– 1890, showing cities with populations more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 71

Fig. 11: Map of Wisconsin, 1870– 1890, showing canals and cities with populations more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 76

Fig. 12: Map of Michigan, 1870– 1890, showing cities with populations more than ten thousand. Created by Lisa Ahrens. | 82

Fig. 13: Colton’s railroad map of part of the United States north of the 37th parallel embracing the country between the Atlantic Ocean and the 96th meridian of longitude. New York: G. W. & C. B. Colton & Co., 1883. Library of Congress, Geography & Maps Division (#98688370). | 89

Fig. 14: Poe Lock, Sault Ste. Marie. Detroit Publishing Co., 1890. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- det- 4a07083). | 92

Fig. 15: Workmen’s houses, Pullman Ill. Detroit Publishing Co., 1890. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- det- 4a08075). | 111

Fig. 16: “Attention workingmen! . . .” Broadside, Chicago, 1886. Library of Congress, Printed Ephemera Collection (#97165220). | 113

Fig. 17: “Racine, Wis. County seat of Racine Co., 1883.” Madison, WI, 1883. Library of Congress, Geography & Maps Division (75693018). | 122

Fig. 18: The Great Fire of Chicago Octr. 8th, 1871. Lithograph. New York: Currier & Ives, 1871. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- pga- 00762). | 144

Fig. 19: Number Twelve Engine, ca. 1870. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- ds- 06709). | 150

Fig. 20: Cholera warning broadsheet, 1832. | 161

Fig. 21: View from the dome of city hall, looking northeast, by John Car-butt, 1865– 1880?. New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building/Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Divi-sion of Art, Prints, and Photographs (G90F168_002F). | 167


Figures and Illustrations ix V

Fig. 22: The Public School Library, Dayton, Ohio. Chicago: [Inland Pub-lishing Co., 1889]. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Divi-sion (LC- DIG- ds- 06532). | 168

Fig. 23: The Chicago Building of The Home Insurance Co., of New York. Lithograph. Boston: L. Prang & Co., 1885. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- ppmsca 41005). | 169

Fig. 24: Water Works Park, Detroit, lake with fountain. Detroit Publishing Co., 1880. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- det- 4a05280). | 190

Fig. 25: Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit Publishing Co., 1880. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- det- 4a03650). | 216

Fig. 26: Roller coaster, Euclid Beach, Cleveland, Ohio. Library of Con-gress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- DIG- det- 4a17726). | 218

Fig. 27: Max Liebermann, Munich Beer Garden. Oil on panel, 1884. Neue Pinakothek, room 17. Photo by Yelkrokoyade, retrieved from Wikime-dia Commons/Creative Commons License. | 220

Fig. 28: Chicago National League base ball team, 1885– 86. Photo by William B. Fariss, 1886. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division (LC- USZ62– 37429). | 222

Fig. 29: General View— Looking towards Colonnade. From Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition by C. D. Arnold and H. D. Higin-botham. | 232

Fig. 30: Bird’s Eye View Looking Northwest from Liberal Arts Building. From Official Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition by C. D. Arnold and H. D. Higinbotham. | 233


S xi V

Acknowledgments

For us, this lengthy project was very complex and time- consuming. So many people helped over the years that it is impossible to cite them all. We do especially want to mention the help of the Honorable Howard F. Sachs, senior U.S. district judge; Harl A. Dalstrom; and the late Fredrick M. Spletstoser.


S 1 V

Prologue

The rapid settlement of the north central United States, the nation’s greatest agricultural region, continued throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction. It was as if, during that time, the northern frontier sim-ply jumped from the Appalachian Mountains to the Great Plains; as if the nation’s greatest agricultural region, rich in fertile soil, timber, and minerals, rose overnight from wilderness. Pioneering professional historians, many of whom grew up on midwestern farms, have stud-ied the section’s agricultural heritage in considerable detail, along with the impact of transportation, the role of mining, the rise of the timber industry, and the saga of the immigrants. Cities appeared singularly and in isolation to each other. Only a few cities, notably Chicago and St. Louis, received consideration in a broader context. Other midwestern cities received attention as adjuncts and satellites of Chicago and St. Louis, worth studying only as local history. In reality, the establishment of cities in the region and how they came together to form sectional networks that cut across state lines make for a complex and compelling story, a significant but neglected part of the American experience.

By the end of Reconstruction in 1877, the area now known as the Midwest had fairly easily defined geographic boundaries. The several- hundred- thousand- square- mile region featured thick woods and mineral lands in the north and broken prairies, ideal for cultivation, in the south. The region was bordered on the north by the Great Lakes basin, on the east by the Allegheny Mountains of the Appalachian Mountain chain, on the west by the Great Plains, and on the south by the Ohio River and the Missouri- Arkansas border. At that time, the states in the region consisted of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota (which all bordered the Great Lakes); Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (which touched the Great


S 2 Prologue

Lakes on the north and the Ohio River on the south); and Missouri and Iowa (which were both west of the Mississippi River). The Mississippi River, with its source in northern Minnesota, also formed the western boundaries of Wisconsin and Illinois. Toward the end of the Gilded Age, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota, all Missouri River and Great Plains states (or future states) began to be considered part of the region, although the original eight states remained the most developed.1

All eight states had originally been part of or had a close relation-ship with the old Northwest Territory,2 where the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery. Of the three states that were part of the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri had for a short time been governed by the laws of Indiana Territory, Iowa had first been part of the Michigan Ter-ritory and then of the Wisconsin Territory, and Minnesota had broken away from Wisconsin. Only Missouri, as a result of the Missouri Com-promise of 1820 (which prohibited slavery above latitude 36’ 30” except in Missouri), had entered the Union as a slave state. The manner of the formation of the states afforded all of them common political origins, very orderly except in the case of Missouri.

By the start of the Civil War, in 1861, the farms of the north central region were producing great quantities of grain and diversified crops. The livestock industry flourished. Lumbering and mining opera-tions had started, especially in the Upper Mississippi River valley and the North Woods. A large domestic and overseas trade flourished. Though most people lived on farms, in hamlets, and in villages, cities developed and significant urbanization occurred.3

Urbanization

Urbanization happens when a community achieves a range of urban characteristics. The characteristics of the urbanization process are

1. The best overview of the development and characteristics of the region is Madison, Heart-land. See Shortridge, “Vernacular Middle West”; Clayton and Onuf, Midwest and the Nation; Jensen, Regionalism in America; Kohlmeier, Old Northwest.

2. See Horsman, “Northwest Ordinance”; Rohrbaugh, Trans- Appalachian Frontier; Buley, Old Northwest.

3. U.S. Dept. of Treasury and Andrews, Report . . . .on the Trade and Commerce of the British North American Colonies.


Prologue 3 V

detailed and statistical; all of the over forty thousand histories of Amer-ican cities validate that reality. The characteristics of urbanization may include such urban staples as organized fire and police departments, transit lines, regularly swept streets, and systems of sewage. For the purpose of this study, it is unnecessary to explain how the character-istics evolved and changed over time; it is only relevant that a place obtained the urban characteristics. Urbanization is sometimes consid-ered an “independent variable”4 that cuts across customary historical periods of study, such as the Civil War and Reconstruction. During the Gilded Age (the 1870s and 1880s, a hundred years after the birth of the United States), a number of developments coincided. These included the inventions of the telephone and the incandescent light, along with the end of Reconstruction and the continuation of the rise of industry, enough change to mark the time as a “breaking point” between an older and newer, more modern American city.5

Urbanization history, no matter how difficult and time- consuming to research and write, does not lend itself to flamboyant writing or sensa-tional conclusions. Unlike most important subjects, urbanization history is seldom controversial. Urbanization historians use traditional historical methods and are not sociologists, urbanologists, or philosophers of city building. Even so, the work of urbanization historians can be useful in pro-viding concrete foundations for supporting broad assumptions of scholars in related fields,6 and even to public officials interested in past practices.7

4. Glaab and Brown, History of Urban America, pref.5. Wiebe, Search for Order. Urbanization history— a subfield of the much larger field of urban

history— stands alone and is not a component of other formal scholarly fields, such as social, architectural, ethnic, labor, and cultural history. In addition, urbanization is sometimes viewed in literary, even poetic, terms, and as the study of “everyday life,” which is different for each person. Equating urbanization history with economic history has gone out of fashion, despite that almost all the roughly forty thousand to fifty thousand incorporated places in the United States have business underpinnings.

6. The French Annales School, no matter how admirable its neo- Marxist “holistic” concep-tion, with its concentration on “everyday life” and the “mentalities” of people and playing down of historical events, has not proved useful in studying the rapidly changing cities of the Gilded Age north central United States. See Braudel, Structures of Everyday Life; Ladurie, Territory of the Historian; Breisach, Historiography. Since the 1960s, a number of historians have contributed general works on American urbanization. They include Mohl, New City; Glaab and Brown, History of Urban America; Goldfield and Brownell, Urban America; Chudacoff and Smith, Evolution of American Urban Society; McKelvey, American Urbanization; Mohl and Richardson, Urban Experience; Green, American Cities; Green, Rise of Urban America; Miller and Melvin, Urbanization of Modern America; Warner, Urban Wilder-ness; Monkkonen, America Becomes Urban; Mohl and Biles, Making of Urban America.

7. Pioneering urban historians worked to define the field of urbanization studies, failing to


S 4 Prologue

Inflating population statistics was common all across America, undertaken as a matter of course. Given that many investors studied pop-ulation statistics in determining where to place their money, only the most gullible of persons trusted population estimates of town promoters. Despite charges at every census enumeration of undercounts and overcounts, the decennial census, a constitutional requirement, was the most reliable and accurate source of population statistics for all kinds of urban sites.

An important consideration is that the census, taken by “Census Tract,” did not entirely conform to city limits. The tally included people in “coterminous” (similar in scope) annexed and unconsolidated “points” in the outskirts of significant cities and surrounding townships. The methodology provided what the Census Office claimed was an accurate count of city people. But the methodology caused uninformed or biased observers using city limits to charge either overcounts or undercounts, depending on their purpose.

The benchmark 1880 enumeration took several years to complete. The 1880 census, which covered the balance of the very short Gilded Age, was much more than simply a head count or a snapshot of a single year. Rather, it was more on the order of an old Domesday Book— a comprehensive survey of society.

Congressional leader and future president James Garfield wanted a greatly expanded Tenth Census to show the “Progress of the Nation” since 1776, explaining to Congress,

Till recently the historian studied nations in aggregate, and gave us only the story of princes, dynasties, sieges, and bat-tles. Of the people themselves— the great social body, with life, growth, forces, elements, and laws of its own— he told us noth-ing. Now, statistical inquiry leads him into the hovels, homes, workshops, mines, fields, prisons, hospitals, and all other places where human nature displays its weaknesses and its strength. In the exploitations he discovers the seeds of national growth and decay, and thus becomes the prophet of his generation.8

reach any consensus. The fragmented nature of “urban history” is illustrated by Ebner, “Urban History”; Frisch, “American Urban History”; Sharpless and Warner, “Urban History”; Glaab and Brown, History of Urban America, 310– 11.

8. Peskin, “James A. Garfield, Historian.” See Anderson, American Census, 2– 3. The decennial


Prologue 5 V

The 1880 census, using a breaking point that harked back to medie-val Europe, considered places of more than ten thousand people (called “new cities” in this study) as the most important cities in the United States. New cities with populations of over one hundred thousand were also called “great cities.”9 The Gilded Age cities, many small and rela-tively unimportant by later standards, collectively represented the urban America of the time.

The Urban Network

The 1880 census divided the United States into four sections. Two, the New England States and the Middle States, were commonly referred to as the Northeastern States, Northeast States, Atlantic Coast States, or simply the Northeast. The other two sections were the Southern States and the Western States.10 The area now known as the Midwest was officially part of the Western States. At that time, the area was not considered a separate region; some observers called the area the Great West, the Northwest, or Great Northwest. For the purposes of this study, the eight states under discussion will be referred to as the north central United States or the future Midwest.

In 1880, the nation contained 226 cities of more than ten thou-sand people— 103 in the Northeast (59 in New England and 43 in the Middle States), 38 in the South, 23 in the West, and 63 in the north central region. Of twenty great cities in the United States, nine were in the Northeast, four in the South, one in the West, and six in the future Midwest.11 In a word of caution, American sections have never strictly conformed to geographic and political lines.

A series of hubs and subhubs, connected by a great transpor-tation network, was the backbone of a budding national economic system. In the Gilded Age, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia

census, always a tremendous intellectual undertaking, is fundamental to the political, social, and economic well- being of the United States.

9. Weber, Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century. Weber, a leading American demographer, summed up his findings about nineteenth- century worldwide urban growth in an influential 1899 study.

10. See Larsen, Urban South; Larsen, Urban West. Neither of these studies or the present story is part of a series; rather, they are independent studies.

11. See Hart, Regions of the United States; Zelinsky, Cultural Geography; Gastil, Cultural Regions.


S 6 Prologue

dominated the Northeast. Their financial institutions, New York’s in particular, were the country’s main source of investment capital. The federal government, deeply in debt from the Civil War, acquiesced and even encouraged the situation. The closest the South, still recovering from the ravages of war, had for a hub was the Atlantic Coast great city of Baltimore. With its border state location in Maryland plus sig-nificant overseas and western transportation links, Baltimore, despite the depressed condition of its old Southern markets, appeared poised at the start of the Gilded Age for a new round of prosperity. New Orleans, hurt severely by the Civil War and the Northern occupation compounded by numerous yellow fever epidemics, sought to com-pensate for the steady decline of Mississippi River trade through new northward and westward railroads. The old subhubs of Charleston and Savannah experienced relative declines. Atlanta and Louisville, both railroad centers, prospered under adverse conditions. In the two million square miles of the trans– Mississippi River West, the only true hub was San Francisco. Following the gold rush, San Francisco had emerged as the banking center of the Pacific Coast.12

The two cities that originally aspired to hub status in the north cen-tral United States were both river cities— Cincinnati on the Ohio River and St. Louis on the Mississippi River. By the Gilded Age, both trailed the Lake Michigan city of Chicago in population. Despite continuing to have high hopes, the two cities had— only temporarily in the eyes of St. Louis leaders— to content themselves with something less than primary hub status. The spectacular growth of Chicago tended to obscure the rise in number in the Gilded Age of other cities of ten thousand people or more in the north central United States.

In summary, having a wide range of urban characteristics is a solid indication that a community has passed through the early stage of urbanization. The chapters in this study consider the role of the great cities, the expansion of the other new cities, the growth of industry, the progress of the population, the building of basic institutions, the quest for amenities, the cultural mix, and, in the epilogue, the extent of the urban network in the new 1890s Midwest.

12. Barth, Instant Cities, is a standard work on nineteenth- century western urbanization.


S 7 V

Chapter 1

The Role of the Great Cities

Chicago was a product of the Gilded Age in America, a deceptively attractive time following the Civil War and Reconstruction (about 1870 to 1890). Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner defined and caught the free- wheeling spirit of the period in their novel The Gilded Age.1 Chi-cago, located in northeastern Illinois on the western shore at the south end of Lake Michigan, lay on low prairie land intersected by the mouth of the short, unnavigable Chicago River. Chicago weathered the Panic of 1873, to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of a great conflagration in 1871. A combination of natural advantages and entrepreneurial lead-ership built Chicago. The skillful use of a newly perfected technological innovation, the railroad, afforded Chicago a means of ascent. “What-ever Chicago is called, she is in truth the artificial hub of the Northwest, and as such of the Republic,” Chicago promoter John S. Wright wrote in 1868. “Her railroad spokes fashion her felloes to her so securely that no wheel can pull them away; the wheel resolving with restless power so that no interposing wheel can come into existence.”2

Day and night, in weather foul and fair, winter and summer, every twenty- four hours, hundreds of trains steamed to and from Chicago. On the North Side, broken semi- wooded prairie marked the departure route. On the South Side, trains negotiated a huge embankment through the sandy marshes of the Calumet basin. On the West Side, locomotives

1. Twain and Warner, Gilded Age. In this serial novel, a woman from Missouri attempts to make a fortune by manipulating a railroad bill through a corrupt Congress.

2. Wright, Chicago: Past, Present, Future, 102.


S 8 Chapter 1

and cars swept along the banks of the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers.3 Chicago’s flat surface, only a few feet above Lake Michigan and the countryside beyond, was ideally suited for the needs of the “iron horse.” Tracks could be laid quickly, efficiently, and at a reasonable cost— a far cry from the high expenses incurred from building through the bayous of Louisiana or the mountains of Colorado.4

The railroad passenger stations of Chicago ringed the downtown.5 Inside the soot- blackened edifices, travelers pressed against each other, shoving and, all the while, closely watching their luggage as they moved slowly toward the gates and platforms. There was no spirit of neighbor-liness or friendship; the waiting rooms and ticket counters were unpleas-ant places. Particularly exasperating was the lot of passengers changing stations. Wayfarers, too rushed to take public transfer vehicles, were left to their own devices, at the mercy of cabbies who routinely overcharged and took the long way around between depots.

Except when their passenger trains crept through the massive rail-road yards, few people saw the other side of Chicago railroading. Small switch engines, the sergeants of Chicago’s railroad army, went about their duties, marshaling and shuttling cars and locomotives from one track to another. A journalist for an eastern magazine wrote in 1880, “This writer saw the cars at a large Chicago factory, loading not only for Denver, Leadville, Santa Fe, and Salt Lake City but— tell it not in New England— for Connecticut as well.”6

On a cold, still night, with a touch of snow in the air, the little switch steam engines ruled Chicago. The intense headlight beams, the glow of swinging lanterns, the brightly colored signals, and the sparks from locomotive chimneys reflected in the snowflakes, contributing to a kaleidoscope of ever changing light patterns. Roaring locomotives, shrill whistles, grinding wheels, and banging cars created a crescendo of sounds. On a smaller scale, from division points to hamlets having only a single switch track and water tower, similar scenes took place with clocklike reg-ularity all across the north central United States during the Gilded Age.

3. From the early days of midwestern railroading, it seemed as if all railroads led to Chicago; Hayes, Historical Atlas of North American Railroads, 38– 40.

4. “Chicago,” in U.S. Census Office [1880], Social Statistics: Southern and Western States, 492– 533.5. Abbott, “Location of Railroad Passenger Depots in Chicago and St. Louis.”6. Quoted in Hayes, “Metropolis of the Prairies,” 730.


The Role of the Great Cities 9 V

Frontier Days

Before the railroads, in 1810, fewer than 300,000 white pioneers, 231,000 of them in Ohio, lived in the future Midwest, then considered simply part of the Upper Ohio River valley or a very broadly defined “New West.” A sharp increase in settlement pushed the population of the undefined region to 800,000 in 1820 and to over 1.6 million in 1830. Hundreds of thousands of white pioneers had moved into the north cen-tral United States following the breaking of Native power in the War of 1812 and the gradual extinguishing of tribal land claims. In general, the white migration was east to west, with Ohio settled first and Minnesota last. Many of the earliest pioneers used the Ohio River for at least part of their westward passage. After the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the Great Lakes emerged as the primary migration route. In addition, a considerable number of men, women, and children migrated up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Between 1810 and 1830, the pop-ulation of the nation rose from seven million to twelve million, counting three million African American slaves, almost all south of the Mason- Dixon Line.

In 1830, Cincinnati, Ohio, had 24,831 people and St. Louis, Missouri, had 14,125. Only eight other places in the vast wilderness north of the Ohio River had more than a thousand inhabitants. Seven of those cities were in Ohio: Cleveland (1,876), Columbus (2,435), Dayton (2,950), Portsmouth (1,063), Springfield (1,080), Steubenville (2,937), and Zanesville (3,094). The other place was New Albany (2,079) in Indiana.

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the northern fron-tier had progressed in much the way historian of the American West Frederick Jackson Turner later said a frontier should develop. Explor-ers, missionaries, and fur traders formed the vanguard, followed by the military to subdue the Native people. After that came miners and other adventurous individuals. Finally farmers and town builders arrived, heralding the coming of civilization. The whole process, according to Turner, was repeated all across the country and fostered innovation and democracy, creating an American identity.7 On the lead mining frontier

7. Turner, Frontier in American History.


S 10 Chapter 1

in the Illini country (Indian territory in the Upper Mississippi River valley), places like Galena, Dubuque, Dodgeville, Mineral Point, and Prairie du Chien were earlier counterparts of subsequent California gold rush camps and Kansas cattle towns. The American victory in the Black Hawk War of 1832 ended appreciable opposition to white settlement east of the Mississippi River. The fur traders, explorers, and missionaries had long since moved on. The military withdrew and the lead market weakened and collapsed. An influx of farmers provided markets for new cities. All went according to Turner’s theory until rail-roads, which Turner downplayed, changed everything, although the evolving situation was not immediately apparent in the river cities of Cincinnati and St. Louis.

The Rise of Cincinnati and St. Louis

Both Cincinnati and St. Louis, very much products of the steamboat age, had business leaders who, while recognizing the possibilities of railroads, assumed locations on “natural channels” of commerce guar-anteed success. Prevailing economic theories postulated that trade inev-itably followed navigable rivers and that once established could not be altered by “artificial channels.” Roads, canals, and railroads would aug-ment rather than compete, feeding into or paralleling important rivers. The Rhine, Volga, Nile, and Amazon Rivers served as classic examples. Internal improvements, including railroads, would inevitably work to the advantage of established cities on natural channels. Prior to much in the way of progress— when large cities were only dreams— some city builders concocted elaborate theories in attempts to “prove” this or that frontier town would inevitably become a great metropolis.

As early as 1815, Cincinnati speculator and prominent physi-cian Daniel Drake narrowed the race for dominance along the Ohio River down to Cincinnati and two other growing towns, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky. “Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louisville are the places which at present have the fairest prospects of future greatness,” Drake claimed. After comparing their natural advantages, he concluded on faith, “Still, there are reasons for believ-ing that CINCINNATI IS TO BE THE FUTURE METROPOLIS


The Role of the Great Cities 11 V

OF THE OHIO.”8 A decade later, his brother, Benjamin Drake, with coauthor E. D. Mansfield, wrote glowingly about Cincinnati’s natural channels: “A reference to its geographical features, will at once indicate Cincinnati as possessing greater local advantages than any other site within the region.”9 Several hundred miles from Cincinnati, St. Louis supporters expressed confidence in the prospects of their city, predict-ing its destiny was to become the “Memphis of the American Nile,” the “Lion of the Great Central Valley of North America.”10

Cincinnati and St. Louis both enjoyed what their boosters con-sidered excellent locations. A Cincinnati geologist, Florian Gianque, proclaimed that Cincinnati had many outstanding features: “A per-son on the Kentucky highlands, south of Cincinnati, viewing that city, would see before him an almost circular and amphitheater- like valley, somewhat more than 3 miles in diameter, surrounded by steeply sloping hills.”11 Gianque proclaimed that like Rome, Cincinnati had seven hills to go along with a fine river harbor. The Little Miami River entered the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The river junction, while significant, hardly compared with the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, twenty miles north of St. Louis. The Missouri city was on a low, rela-tively level limestone bluff, safe from flooding, above an impressive river landing.12

Cincinnati, originally a tiny village founded in 1788, had started to grow as a military supply depot during the War of 1812.13 The small village easily surpassed three neighboring hamlets, Columbia, Cum-munsville, and North Bend. Cincinnati, hit hard by the Panic of 1819 and the depression that followed, recovered in the last half of the 1820s as the pace of development quickened in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. Punishing floods, serious fires, cholera epidemics, and the

8. Drake, Natural and Statistical View, quoted in Glaab, American City, 45– 47. See also Stradling, “Cincinnati a Queen City?”

9. Drake and Mansfield, Cincinnati in 1826.10. Primm, Lion of the Valley.11. “Cincinnati,” in U.S. Census Office [1880], Social Statistics: Southern and Western States, 360.12. “St. Louis,” in ibid., 579– 80.13. “Cincinnati,” in ibid., 344– 58 (historical account by Robert Luce). The rise of the city

up to 1830 is covered in the appropriate sections of Wade, Urban Frontier. See also Caldwell, Cincin-nati Pioneer, 1:16– 17; Ford and Ford, History of Cincinnati; Leonard, Greater Cincinnati; de Chambrun, Cincinnati: Story of the Queen City; Aaron, Cincinnati: Queen City of the West; Cist, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1851; Kenny, Illustrated Cincinnati; Greve, Centennial History of Cincinnati.


S 279 V

IndexItalics indicates an illustration.

AAfrican Americans, 9, 116, 118, 132Akron (OH), 40, 44, 192

drinking water, 189economy, 141epidemics, 160fires, 148parks, 199population figures, 44telephones, 196sanitation, 182, 183

Alton (IL), 21amusement places, 217– 19, 220Ann Arbor (MI), 85Appalachian Mountains, 1, 78, 201Appleton (WI), 77, 78architectural styles, 171– 73art museums, galleries, and schools,

215– 17artistic movements, 172, 212– 13, 215Ashtabula (OH), 95Atchison (KS), 65Atlanta (GA), 6, 133Aurora (IL), 55, 56– 57, 198

health, 163foreign- born in, 123industry in, 56– 57police, 156population figures, 56, 57, 58sanitation, 184

BBaltimore, 6, 12banks, in cities, 85– 86baseball, 221– 23Bay City (MI), 62, 167

education, 202

foreign- born in, 125health, 163lumber industry, 8, 110population figures, 82sanitation, 183, 184strikes, 112waterworks, 141

Bay View (WI), 108, 112beer gardens, 219– 21Belle Isle (MI), 200Belleville (IL), 55, 58, 189, 198

arts and culture, 218, 219education in, 204economy, 142foreign born in, 123police, 156population figures, 58public health, 164sanitation, 179, 180

Benton Harbor (MI), 16, 17Bettendorf (IA), 59Black Hawk War of 1832, 10, 76, 80Black River, 80Bloomington (IL), 55, 57, 167

fires, 148population, 57street cleaning, 178

boosters and boosterism, 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 26, 56

Boston (MA), 5, 12, 128, 162, 172, 201, 221

breweries/brewing industry, 101, 119, 136

Buffalo (NY), 97, 133building materials and methods, 170– 73Burlington (IA), 66, 67

arts and culture, 219population figures, 66police and fire departments, 152


S 280 Index

Burlington (IA), continuedstreets and sidewalks, 176industrial pollution, 183

CCairo (IL), 20, 56Camp Randall (Madison, WI), 79Canada

emigrants from, 68, 129forest fires in, 144temporary workers from, 82, 113,

123canals, 39– 40, 86, 93, 230

in Illinois, 55, 57, 60in Indiana, 48– 49, 49, 50, 52, 53in Ohio, 39– 40, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46in Wisconsin, 76, 78Erie Canal, 9, 22, 97Fox- Wisconsin Waterway, 78Illinois and Michigan Canal, 18, 19,

22, 57, 60, 93, 96Miami and Erie Canal, 36, 39, 40,

93, 220Miami and Ohio Canal, 46Ohio and Erie Canal, 31, 39, 44, 45Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, 44Saint Marys Falls Ship Canal/Sault

St. Marie Canal; the Soo, 93Wabash & Erie Canal, 48–49, 51,

55, 93Canton (OH), 40, 47, 209Cedar Rapids (IA), 66, 69, 167

police, 158population figures, 65, 69public transportation, 193saloons, 224sanitation, 179, 183waterworks, 189

Cedar River, 69, 179, 183, 189census, 4, 133, 228, 229

1880 Census, 4– 5, 117– 18, 142– 43population data in. See specific citiesregions used in census, 5, 228standard metropolitan areas (SMAs),

229– 30charitable organizations, 147Charleston (GA), 6, 133, 162, 173Chicago, 6, 7, 15– 21, 32, 55, 55– 56, 104,

168African Americans in, 132arts and culture, 201, 215, 217– 18birthplace of residents, 131

building construction, 170, 171, 173canal strategy, 18– 19city government, 139Columbian Exposition, 232death rates and life expectancy, 162,

163economy, 24– 25, 141education, 203, 204, 206entertainment and recreation, 198,

199, 221– 23fire department, 149– 50, 151, 165fire of 1871, 143– 48foreign- born in, 125, 126, 128, 129,

130, 134, 135gasworks, 195industry and industrial pollution,

102, 103– 4, 183literature about, 232livestock market, 104– 5Native Americans in, 130neighborhoods of, 7, 146, 147, 195,

218, 227newspapers, 213, 214occupations, 136parks, 198, 199police, 151, 152, 154, 156, 157, 158,

159population density, 173population figures, 13, 18, 28, 32,

55, 127, 228, 230prostitution, 224public health, 162, 163, 165public transportation, 192, 193railroads 7– 8, 19– 21, 30, 32, 87, 90,

227religion, 208, 209, 210sanitation, 177, 179, 180, 185– 88strikes, 112, 115trade, 96, 99water (drinking) and waterworks,

189, 191– 92Chicago River, 146, 186, 187Chillicothe (OH), 40, 44, 212– 13, 167

foreign- born in, 126police, 158, 159sidewalks, 176sanitation, 182– 83

Chippewa River, 80churches, 208, 210, 211Cincinnati (OH), 6, 10– 12, 40, 90, 92,

141, 184African Americans in, 132


Index 281 V

arts and culture, 201, 216, 217, 218birthplace of residents, 131city leaders, 140economy and value, 14, 15, 141, 142entertainment and recreation, 199,

219– 20, 221fires, 149foreign- born, 125, 126, 127, 128,

134, 135gasworks, 195grain trade, 96, 99industry and industrial pollution, 12,

102, 106, 183police, 153– 154, 156, 158, 159population density, 173population figures, 9, 12, 32, 126, 228prostitution, 224public health, 160, 162, 163, 164public transportation, 193– 194sanitation, 178, 182water (drinking) and waterworks,

188, 191City Beautiful movement, 197– 200cities, midwestern, 166– 70,

“bosses” and political leaders, 17– 18, 79, 139, 140– 41, 214

gender breakdown of population, 132– 33

“great” and “new” defined, 5investment in, 4, 12, 17, 20, 25, 36,

39, 67, 74, 85, 110, 163living conditions, 173– 74value of businesses, 102– 8

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1, 3, 7, 23, 24, 25

Cleveland (OH), 30, 40, 167building construction, 170economy and value, 141entertainment and recreation, 200,

218, 221fire and police departments, 150,

152, 154fires, 148foreign- born in, 126, 128, 130, 134,

135industry in, 102, 108population figures, 9, 30, 31, 127, 228public health, 162, 164public transportation, 192, 193sanitation, 181, 182, 183, 185streets and sidewalks, 175– 76

water (drinking) and waterworks, 188, 191

Clinton (IA), 65Columbia, (OH), 11Columbus (OH), 40, 42– 43, 229

birthplace of residents, 131drinking water, 189foreign- born in, 128, 135industries in, 43, 108police, 154population figures, 9, 39, 43, 127prostitution, 224public health, 42– 43, 160public transportation, 193sanitation, 42– 43, 182, 184

Council Bluffs/Kanesville (IA), 65, 66, 70education, 203, 204fires, 148parks, 199police, 154population figures, 65, 70public transportation, 193sanitation, 182, 184

Council Bluffs (subregion), 70, 227crime, 158– 59Cudahy (WI), 108Cummunsville (OH), 11Cuyahoga River, 30, 31, 108, 185

DDavenport (IA), 59, 66, 68, 167

education, 203, 204foreign- born in, 124lumber industry, 110population density, 173population figures, 66streets, 176sanitation, 177, 178, 182waterworks, 189

Dayton (OH), 40, 43– 44, 54birthplace of residents, 131foreign- born in, 128, 130, 135industries and industrial pollution,

108, 183parks and trees, 197, 198police, 159population figures, 9, 35, 39, 127prostitution, 224public transportation, 193sanitation, 182, 183, 184 water, drinking, 189


S 282 Index

Decatur (IL), 56Des Moines (IA), 66, 69, 142

fires, 149foreign- born in, 116– 18, 123– 124gasworks, 195police and fire, 152population figures, 66, 69printing industry, 110religion, 210streets, 175, 178

Des Moines River, 16, 18, 30, 65, 67, 69Des Plaines River, 8, 57, 188Detroit (MI), 30, 31, 43, 82, 229

arts and recreation, 200, 218, 219, 220economy, 141fires, 148foreign- born in, 118, 125, 126, 129,

130, 134, 135industry and industrial pollution,

107, 183Native Americans in, 130police and fire departments, 151, 158population figures, 30, 31, 127, 228public health, 160public transportation, 193sanitation, 178, 179, 180, 183waterworks, 191

Detroit River, 183, 191, 200Douglas, Stephen A. (senator, IL), 20Dubuque (IA), 66, 68– 69, 167

industry, 110parks, 199population figures, 66power generation, 195public transportation, 193religion, 210streets, 176, 177

Duluth (MN), 75, 209, 229Duluth- Superior (MN/WI), 71, 75, 93,

94, 229

EEads Bridge, 28East Moline (IL), 59East Saginaw (MI), 76, 82, 167, 198, 229

amenities, 176, 197, 198foreign- born in, 123, 125lumber industry, 82police, 152population figures, 82prostitution, 224sanitation, 179, 182

East St. Louis (IL), 56. See also St. LouisEau Claire (WI), 76, 77, 80, 167

foreign- born in, 118, 125lumber industry, 80population figures, 80railroads, 80

Eau Claire River, 80education

colleges and universities, 53, 58, 204– 7

public schools, 42, 58, 202– 4emigrant trails to western U.S., 64, 70employment data, 133– 35employee- employer relations, 110– 15

factory systems, 99– 100, 114– 15epidemics, 160– 62Evansville (IN), 49, 53– 54, 139, 171

fine arts, 216foreign- born in, 123manufacturing, 109parks and trees, 197, 199police, 159population figures, 53sanitation, 182waterworks, 190

Exoduster movement, 132

FFall River (MA), 133Fargo (ND), 230Findlay (OH), 229fine arts, 215– 17fire protection, 149– 52fires, 143– 45, 148– 49

Great Chicago Fire, 143– 49, 144Flint (MI), 85flour mills, 57, 73, 74, 78, 100n25, 103,

105, 107– 8, 109, 110, 148, 149Fond du Lac (WI), 76, 77, 80, 171

African Americans in, 132foreign- born in, 123population figures, 78fire department, 151police, 155sanitation, 184sidewalks, 176

foreign- bornin 1880 Census, 116, 120population in various cities, 120– 30number in work force, 134

Fort Dearborn, 16. See also ChicagoFort Snelling (MN), 72


Index 283 V

Fort Wayne (IN), 49, 51– 52, 198education, 202, 206fine arts, 216manufacturing, 109newspaper, 214police, 155, 158population figures, 51public transportation, 192religion, 210telephones, 196water, drinking, 189

Four Lakes, 77, 79Fox River, 32, 77, 78, 213

Lower Fox River, 77Upper Fox River, 78

Freeport (IL), 20Front Range, 168frontier, concept of, 1, 9– 10

GGalena (IL), 19, 56Galesburg (IL), 55, 57– 58, 193, 231

foreign born in, 123higher education, 58, 206police, 154population figures, 58public health, 164theater, 218

garbage and garbage removal, 174, 180– 81

Garfield, James, 4– 5gender

of cities residents, 132– 33of employees, 133– 34

Germans, 120, 127– 28, 134, 219– 20and brewing industry, 210– 20

Gilded Age, 7, 54, 88– 91, 114grain trade, 18, 25, 29, 74, 75, 95– 98. See

also flour millingGrand Rapids (MI), 81, 82, 84, 167

amenities and recreation, 197, 213, 219

education, 204electricity, 196fires, 148foreign- born in, 123, 125furniture making and sawmills, 110population figures, 84prostitution, 224streets and sidewalks, 175, 176, 178waterworks and drinking water, 189,

190

Grand River, 81, 84Granger movement, 98Great Chicago Fire of 1871, 85, 143– 48,

172Great Lakes, 1, 93

shipping on, 93– 94grain trade, 1, 9, 17, 97

Great Miami River, 43, 46Green Bay (WI), 77, 78

HHamilton (OH), 40, 46– 47, 167

population figures, 46, 78saloons, 224

Hannibal (MO), 24, 27, 62– 63, 63, 87, 167

African Americans, 132education, 204fires, 148foreign- born in, 125, 126parks, 198police, 156population figures, 62, 63sanitation, 179, 180, 182, 184

Harmar’s Defeat (battle, 1790), 12n14Harrison, William Henry, 12Hoboken (NJ), 119, 173, 227horse railroads, 192– 94Hudson River, 119

IIllinois, 54– 56, 55, 62, 109

canals in, 55, 57, 60cities in, 56– 62mining in, 60railroads in, 54– 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,

60, 61, 62Illinois River, 16, 18, 60, 185illumination, 194– 96immigration

from Asia, 130from Canada, 113, 122, 129, 136from Europe, 118– 19, 122– 23, 130,

136, 213from Germany, 120, 122, 123, 125,

127– 28, 136from Great Britain, 119, 121, 128,

129, 135, 136from Scandinavia, 117, 119, 122– 23,

129– 30, 135, 136opposition to, 126, 209


S 284 Index

immigration, continuedports of embarkation and entry, 119See also migration to Midwest;

foreign- bornindebtedness, 141– 42Indiana, 48– 54, 49, 109, 203, 212

canals in, 48–49, 49, 50, 52, 53cities in, 51– 54higher education, 53transportation systems, 48– 50railroads, 50, 51– 52, 53, 54waterpowers, 51

Indianapolis (IN), 49, 50– 51, 90, 167, 171, 197, 228, 229

African Americans in, 132birthplace of residents, 131economy, 142foreign- born in, 126, 128, 135literature, 212manufacturing, 109police, 152– 53population figures, 48, 50, 51, 127,

228public health, 162water, drinking, 189

industries, 98– 110. See also employer- employee relations

industrial pollution, 183Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, 38Iowa, 65– 70, 66, 110, 163

cities in, 67– 70Iowa City (IA), 69Irish, 122– 23, 128, 134Iron Range (mining district of MN), 75Ishpeming (MI), 85

JJackson (MI), 82, 83

fire, 149police, 156population figures, 83sanitation, 179, 180theater, 218

Jacksonville (IL), 55, 58, 167population figures, 58

Janesville (WI), 77Jefferson City (MO), 62Jeffersonville (IN), 48Jersey City, 133, 227Jews, 107, 120, 210Joliet (IL), 19, 55, 57, 189, 197

population figures, 57, 67sanitation, 182

KKalamazoo (MI), 81, 82, 83– 84, 139, 193

foreign- born in, 123economy, 142population figures, 83, 84public health, 164public safety, 151, 152, 153, 156sanitation, 179, 181, 184theaters, 219water, drinking, 189

Kanesville (IA). See Council BluffsKansas City (MO), 62, 63, 229

Missouri River bridge, 64employees, gender of, 134population figures, 64, 229railroads, 64– 65, 90theater, 217

Kansas/Kaw River, 64Kawsmouth (region), 64, 65, 227Keimickinnic River, 29Kenosha (WI), 16, 17Kentucky, 44, 131Keokuk (IA), 65, 66, 67, 192

population figures, 65, 67sanitation, 181, 182

LLa Crosse (WI), 76, 77, 80, 167, 195

foreign- born in, 125parks, 198police, 156population figures, 80sanitation, 179

Lafayette (IN), 49, 52, 123Lake Erie, 81

and canals, 19water quality, 181, 185, 188, 191

Lake Huron, 81Lake Michigan, 77, 81

harbors, 16, 29, 78and grain trade, 96Lincoln Park, 199water quality, 183, 186, 187, 188,

189, 191Lake Monona, 183Lake Peoria, 60Lake St. Clair, 30Lake Superior, 75, 81, 229


Index 285 V

lake transportation, 93– 94Lake Winnebago, 77Lansing (MI), 85Lawrence (MA), 99, 133Leavenworth (KS), 65Lewis, Sinclair, on Midwest towns, 217libraries, 206life expectancy, 163Lincoln, Abraham, 20, 60, 68Lincoln (NB), 230literature, 212– 213, 231Little Miami River, 11livestock industry, 2, 10, 61, 62, 64– 65,

104– 5, 146Lockport (IL), 19Logansport (IN), 49, 52, 224

population figures, 52Louisville (KY), 6, 10, 12, 48, 51Lowell (MA), 99, 133Lower Peninsula (MI), 81, 83, 85lumber industry, 2, 13, 87, 112

foreign- born workers, 125in Iowa, 109– 110in Michigan, 81, 82, 84, 85, 109– 10in Minnesota, 73, 75, 109– 10in Wisconsin, 78, 80, 112lumber mills, 183

MMad River, 43, 47Madison (IN), 50Madison (WI), 76, 77, 79, 167, 189

arts and recreation, 199, 219city leaders, 140higher education, 206industrial pollution, 183police, 155, 159population figures, 79streets, 176, 178

magazines, 26, 37, 114, 120, 142Mahoning River, 46Mansfield (OH), 39manufacturing, 97– 108

iron and steel, 105, 107, 108machinery, 101paper mills, 78, 84, 110wood products, 12, 78, 84

Marinette (WI), 229Massachusetts, 99, 128, 133Maumee River, 32, 36, 37, 41, 51, 97McCormick family, 18, 104, 208, 214,

225

meatpacking industry, 12, 25, 100– 101, 103, 105, 106, 108

Menomonee River, 29Merrimack River, 99Michigan, 31, 81– 85, 82, 109– 10, 143,

163, 213Midwest, the, 1– 2, 32, 70, 137, 172,

227– 28European writers on, 25, 211– 12,

231migration to and from 9, 118, 137migration to, from Northeast, 23, 57,

58. 61, 131migration to, from South, 44, 118,

131migration to, from West, 131names for region, 228

milling industry, 57, 73, 74, 78, 105, 107, 109, 110, 148

Milwaukee (WI), 29– 29, 30, 76, 140, 167arts and culture, 213, 215, 218birthplace of residents, 131economy, 29, 97, 141education, 202, 204entertainment and recreation, 221,

224, 200, fires, 149foreign- born in, 125, 126, 127, 129,

130, 134, 135industries and industrial pollution,

101, 102, 107– 108, 136, 183police and fire departments, 150,

152, 154, 158population figures, 29, 127, 228prostitution, 224public health, 160, 162, 163, 165public transportation, 193streets and sidewalks, 176, 179vs. Chicago, 28, 80waterworks, 191

Milwaukee River, 29mining, 1, 2, 4, 9, 26, 68, 88, 133, 135

coal, 60, 108lead, 9– 10, 17, 19, 68– 69, 76– 77salt, 82

Minneapolis (MN), 73– 74, 76, 140, 167, 197, 229

arts and culture, 215, 219census forger plot, 73– 74fires, 149foreign- born in, 125, 126, 127– 28,

129, 134, 135industries in, 74, 102, 110


S 286 Index

Minneapolis (MN), continuedpolice and fire departments, 152,

157– 58population figures, 72, 73, 127, 228saloons, 224sanitation, 179– 80, 181sidewalks, 176water, drinking, 189

Minnesota, 71, 71– 75, 109– 10, 203Minnesota River, 72Mississippi River, 1, 10, 38, 72, 77, 80

Lower Mississippi River, 61navigation and shipping, 13, 97Upper Mississippi River, 10, 14, 69,

72, 78, 80, 92water quality, 180, 182, 184, 188,

189Missouri, 62– 65, 63

connections to the West, 63– 64See also St. Louis

Missouri River, 64, 67Moline (IL), 59Mormons, 56, 70municipal government, 138– 42Muskegon (MI), 81, 82, 84– 85, 192, 198

economy, 142fires, 148foreign- born in, 125population figures, 84– 85waterworks, 190

Muskingum River, 45

NNational Road, 38, 47, 48, 50, 54, 95Native Americans, 70, 227

agreements/treaties with, 68conflicts with, 9, 16, 30, 71– 72in cities, 122, 130Indian country, 51, 59, 227

Neenah- Menasha (WI), 77, 78New Albany (IN), 48, 49, 50– 51

parks, 198population figures, 9, 48, 50, 51street cleaning, 179

New Orleans, 6, 12, 13, 96, 97, 127, 133New Salem (IL), 60New York City, 5, 97, 227, 131

amenities, 217, 221, 223foreign- born in, 126, 128police and fire departments, 143,

149population density, 173

population figures, 12, 228public health, 162street cleaning, 179

Newark (OH), 39newspapers and wire services, 17, 18, 43,

75, 146, 187, 213– 15Associated Press, 145, 146German, 214

North Bend (OH), 11North Woods

region of Michigan, 81, 143, 147region of Minnesota, 75, 77, 88, 143region of Wisconsin, 80, 143

Ooccupations, 135– 36Ogden, William, 17– 18, 19, 96Ohio, 39– 48, 40, 108– 9

canals in, 39– 40, 40, 44, 45, 46cities in, 41– 48railroads in, 40– 41, 44– 48cities on, 40bulk carrier, 93

Ohio River, 1, 9, 36, 37, 38, 92– 93, 182, 191

Upper Ohio River, 9, 36oil industry, 31, 34, 108, 149, 185Omaha (NB), 70, 105, 228, 229Oshkosh (WI), 77, 198

economy, 78, 80fires, 78, 148foreign- born, 123, 125population figures, 68, 78sanitation, 179, 183theater, 218

Oswego (NY), 97Ottumwa (IA), 65Ozarks (region), 88

PPanic of 1819, 11, 13Panic of 1837

after- effects, 19, 86, 95effect on cities, 12, 14, 17, 29, 37,

41, 45, 51, 68Panic of 1857

after- effects, 86effect on cities, 14, 24, 25, 29, 50,

51, 53, 67, 69, 72Panic of 1873, 8, 61, 86parks, 198– 200, 221


Index 287 V

Peoria (IL), 55, 56, 60– 61, 195, 224education, 202population figures, 60, 61manufacturing, 109sanitation, 178, 184

Philadelphia, 5, 97, 162, 207, 227amenities, 221, 223industries and workforce, 102, 133population figures, 12, 228

Pittsburgh (PA), 10, 12, 207police. See public safetypolitical parties, 20, 117, 122population

foreign- born in cities, 123– 26mobility of, 131See also individual cities

Port Lawrence (Toledo, OH), 37Portsmouth (OH), 40, 45, 167

parks, 199population figures, 9, 45street cleaning, 178

power generationgasworks, 194– 96waterpowers, 99, 100; in Illinois, 59;

in Iowa, 65, 67, 68, 69; in Mich-igan, 81, 83– 84; in Minnesota, 72, 74; in Ohio, 43, 45, 46, 47; in Wisconsin, 77, 78

prostitution, 224public health, 160– 65public safety, 143, 151– 59public transportation, 192– 94Pullman (IL), 114Pullman Company, 114, 115

QQuincy (IL), 55, 60, 61

economy, 142education, 202fire and police department, 151– 52foreign- born in, 123manufacturing, 109population figures, 61sanitation, 179, 181, 184

RRaccoon River, 69Racine (WI), 16, 17, 76, 77, 78, 189, 192,

197economy, 142education, 202, 204

fires, 148industries, 79, 101police, 154, 156population, composition of, 120– 21population figures, 79public health, 164religion, 171streets and street cleaning, 176, 178

railroad age, 50, 53, 56, 60, 67, 84, 86, 93railroad companies, 96, 168

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 90, 98Burlington Railroad, 88Central Pacific Railroad, 70Chicago & Alton Railroad, 21, 57, 60Chicago & Northwestern Railroad,

30, 59Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail-

road, 57, 58, 61, 67, 151Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific

Railroad, 61, 68, 96Erie Railroad, 98Galena & Chicago Union Railroad,

19– 20, 96Great Pacific Railway, 23– 24Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, 24,

27, 62, 64, 65, 86Illinois Central Railroad, 20– 21, 57,

60, 62, 69, 88,Louisville & Nashville Railroad, 90Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, 50Michigan Central Railroad, 31, 54,

81, 83, 85, 90, 107Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwau-

kee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad), 88

New York Central Railroad, 90, 98Northwestern Railroad, 88Pennsylvania Railroad, 90, 98Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago

Railroad, 47, 52Rock Island Railroad, 88Sandusky, Dayton & Cincinnati

Railroad, 47Union Pacific Railroad, 70, 90Wabash Railroad/Wabash, St. Louis

& Pacific Railroad, 58, 60, 88Wisconsin Central Railroad, 80

railroad bridges, 140, 147over Missouri River, 24, 27, 64– 65, 70over Mississippi River, 28, 67, 68,

69, 72, 96in Ohio, 12, 42


S 288 Index

railroadsgrowth of, 87, 88– 91, 230hubs, 6– 8, 90in Illinois, 54– 56mileage increase, 90in Missouri, 62, 63– 65railroad rates, 104– 5stations, 91transcontinental, 63, 64– 65

religion, 207– 12churches in cities, 42, 46, 148, 170,

171Jews in U.S., 107, 120, 210Protestants in U.S., 58, 107, 207,

208, 210, 211, 212Roman Catholics in U.S., 107, 207,

210Richmond (IN), 49, 53– 54, 167, 197, 198

arts and culture, 212, 216police, 159population figures, 54sanitation, 184

roads, construction of, 13, 94– 95. See also National Road

Rock Island (IL), 55, 59– 60, 198education, 202– 3fire, 149foreign- born in, 123police, 154population figures, 59sanitation, 181

Rock River, 59Rockford (IL), 55, 59, 193, 197

baseball, 222police, 156, 158population figures, 59public health, 163sanitation, 184

Root River, 79

SSaginaw (MI), 82, 125

population figures, 82, 229Saginaw Bay, 81Saginaw River, 110Saint Joseph River, 51, 54Saint Marys River, 51saloons, 223– 24San Francisco, 6, 134, 168, 173, 213, 223Sandburg, Carl, on Chicago, 232Sandusky (OH), 40, 40, 47– 48, 141, 167

population figures, 47

public health, 160sanitation, 184

Sangamon River, 60sanitation, 174, 177– 88Scioto River, 45, 184Sedalia (MO), 24, 62sewers, 183– 88shipping lines, 62, 98sidewalks, 176Sioux City (IA), 23Sioux Falls (SD), 230social movements, 37, 207South Bend (IN), 49, 54, 148Springfield (IL), 55, 60

industries, 109population figures, 60prostitution, 224railroad connections, 60

Springfield (OH), 40, 47African Americans in, 132higher education, 206industries, 108– 9population figures, 9, 47sanitation, 184

St. Clair River, 30St. Croix River, 72St. Joseph (MO), 23, 24, 27, 62, 63, 64

meatpacking industry, 105part of Kawsmouth, 62– 63population figures, 64, 65

St. Louis (MO), 6, 13– 14, 63, 166, 167, 169, 228, 229

African Americans in, 132arts and culture, 201birthplace of residents, 131boosterism, 11Civil War, effects on, 25education, 202, 204, 206economy, 23, 141, 142entertainment and recreation, 199,

220fires, 148fire department, 150– 51foreign- born in, 125, 126, 127, 128,

129, 130, 134, 135grain business, 96, 99industries and industrial pollution,

102, 105– 6, 183labor strikes, 112occupations, 136police, 154, 155, 156population figures, 9, 13, 28, 32, 127


Index 289 V

public health, 160, 163, 164, 165public transportation, 193railroads, 21, 27– 28, 90religion, 209sanitation, 184trade routes, 22– 23, 92waterworks, 190– 191

St. Paul (MN), 71, 72– 73, 128baseball, 222birthplace of residents, 131census forger plot, 73– 74fires, 148foreign- born in, 117, 121– 23, 125,

126, 129, 134, 135lumber industry, 110population figures, 72, 73, 127public transportation, 192religion, 210streets and sidewalks, 176, 179

Ste. Genevieve (MO), 62steamboat age, 91– 92Steubenville (OH), 40, 46, 192

foreign- born in, 118parks, 198population figures, 9, 46sanitation, 184sidewalks, 176

Stillwater (MN), 72Stowe, Harriet Beecher, on cholera epi-

demic, 160– 61streets, 174– 80strikes, 112– 13, 114– 15Superior. See Duluth- Superior

Ttelephones, 196Terre Haute (IN), 49, 52– 53, 171

arts and culture, 212, 215, 216manufacturing, 109population figures, 52prostitution, 224religion, 209sanitation, 180

theaters/music halls, 217– 19Toledo (OH), 19, 37, 40, 41

economy, 141entertainment, 219, 222, 224foreign- born in, 126, 135grain trade, 97manufacturing, 109police and fire, 152, 154population figures, 39, 41, 127

prostitution, 224public health, 163public transportation, 192sanitation, 183waterworks, 190

Topeka (KS), 65town speculation, 36– 37Twain, Mark, 7, 63Two Rivers (WI), 95

UUnited States

major cities, 6, 230population, 1880, 116regions of, 1– 2, 5, 32, 72, 75, 225territories of, 2, 24, 67, 71, 75, 76,

84Upper Peninsula (MI), 81, 85, 144utilities

power generation/gas, 194– 96sanitation, 180– 83sewer systems, 183– 88telephone, 196water supply, 188– 92

VVistula (OH), 37

WWabash River, 49, 52Wade, Richard, 37– 38War of 1812, 13, 36Waring, George E., 178– 79, 184, 185,

186waste disposal, 182– 83waterpowers, 38

Falls of St. Anthony, 72, 73, 74, 100, 167

Falls of the Ohio, 48in Illinois, 59in Iowa, 65, 67, 68, 69in Michigan, 81, 83, 84in Minnesota, 72, 74in New England, 99– 100in Ohio, 43, 45, 46, 47in Wisconsin, 77, 78

waterworks, 189– 92West Allis (WI), 108White River, 50Winona (MN), 7, 71, 74–75, 118, 192

fires, 75, 148


S 290 Index

Winona (MN), continuedforeign-born, 125police, 158, 159population figures, 72, 75sanitation, 184

Wisconsin, 76, 76–78, 80canals in, 76, 78cities in, 78–80

World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, 232

Wright, Frank Lloyd, 172– 73

YYoungstown (OH), 40, 46, 197, 198

public health, 164sanitation, 178

ZZanesville (OH), 40, 40, 45

population figures, 9, 45prostitution, 224sanitation, 180


S 291 V

About the Authors

Lawrence H. Larsen is a professor of history emeritus of American history at the University of Missouri– Kansas City, where he taught for thirty- six years. He holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He has received various awards for his many academic books and articles. He was author or coauthor of seventeen books, including Federal Justice in Western Missouri: The Judges, the Cases, the Times, The Rise of the Urban South, and The Urban West at the End of the Frontier (author) and Pendergast! and A History of Missouri (coauthor).

Barbara J. Cottrell is retired from the National Archives– Central Plains Region in Kansas City, where she was a historian. She received a BA from Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin. She and Larry co- authored Steamboats West: The 1859 American Fur Company Missouri River Expedition, and Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs.


In the mid-nineteenth century, the north central United States was producing crops and livestock that fed much of the country, and most people in the region lived on farms or in small towns. The region had only a few larger cities, which were located on the region’s web of rivers and provided transportation hubs. Within a few decades, a network of sixty-three cities with populations of at least ten thousand had developed in the area now known as the American Midwest.

In this pioneering study, Larsen and Cottrell use census records, city and local histories, and government reports to illuminate the rise of the urban Midwest during the Gilded Age, speeded by the expansion of railroads and contests for supremacy, and shaped by industry and city promoters. Larsen and Cottrell show how all of these elements worked together to determine the characteristics of the cities that today dominate the urban Midwest.

This path-breaking study splendidly describes the massive shift from an essentially rural, agrarian society to a predominantly urban, industrial one, which was more transformative and far-reaching in the Middle West than in any other part of the United States. Covering all aspects of economic development, population characteristics, basic institutions, municipal government, urban amenities, and urban culture, this broad-ranging study will be an essential reference for students of regional and American history and readers of all ages.

—John Miller, South Dakota State University; author of Small-Town Dreams: Stories of Midwestern Boys Who Shaped America

This monograph successfully provides for the reader an extremely lucid and analytical examination of the urbanization process in the Midwest during the Gilded Age. Sixty-three cities, led by Chicago, organized the section into a well-coordinated agrarian and industrial complex. Transportation was the key characteristic of this sectional development, and the evolving maturity of railroad technology, financing, and organization made this possible. This well-conceived study explains the dynamics of the national economy on the eve of the twentieth century.

—Patrick McClear, professor emeritus of American history, Missouri Western State University

Prospects of Greatness COVER.indd 1 5/19/17 1:25 PM

In the mid-nineteenth century, the north central United ...

Documents

Transcript of In the mid-nineteenth century, the north central United ...