A
B
SKYSCRAPERS
Architects were able to design taller buildings because of two
factors: the invention of elevators and the development of internal steel skeletons
to bear the weight of buildings. In 1890–1891, architect Louis Sullivan designed
the ten-story Wainwright Building in St. Louis. He called the new breed of sky-
scraper a “proud and soaring thing.” The tall building’s appearance was graceful
because its steel framework supported both floors and walls.
The skyscraper became America’s greatest contribution to architecture, “a
new thing under the sun,” according to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who
studied under Sullivan. Skyscrapers solved the practical problem of how to make
the best use of limited and expensive space. The unusual form of another sky-
scraper, the Flatiron Building, seemed perfect for its location at one of New York’s
busiest intersections. Daniel Burnham designed this slender 285-foot tower in
1902. The Flatiron Building and other new buildings served as symbols of a rich
and optimistic society.
ELECTRIC TRANSIT
As skyscrapers expanded upward, changes in transpor-
tation allowed cities to spread outward. Before the Civil War, horses had drawn
the earliest streetcars over iron rails embedded in city streets. In some cities dur-
ing the 1870s and 1880s, underground moving cables powered streetcar lines.
Electricity, however, transformed urban transportation.
In 1888 Richmond, Virginia, became the first American city to electrify its
urban transit. Other cities followed. By the turn of the twentieth century, intri-
cate networks of electric streetcars—also called trolley cars—ran from outlying
neighborhoods to downtown offices and department stores.
New railroad lines also fed the growth of suburbs, allowing residents to com-
mute to downtown jobs. New York’s northern suburbs alone sup-
plied 100,000 commuters each day to the central business district.
A few large cities moved their streetcars far above street level,
creating elevated or “el” trains. Other cities, like New York, built
subways by moving their rail lines underground. These streetcars,
elevated trains, and subways enabled cities to annex suburban
developments that mushroomed along the advancing transpor-
tation routes.
ENGINEERING AND URBAN PLANNING
Steel-cable suspension
bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge, also brought cities’ sections closer
together. Sometimes these bridges provided recreational opportuni-
ties. In his design for the Brooklyn Bridge, for example, John
Augustus Roebling provided an elevated promenade whose “princi-
pal use will be to allow people of leisure, and old and young
invalids, to promenade over the bridge on fine days.” This need for
open spaces in the midst of crowded commercial cities inspired the
emerging science of urban planning.
City planners sought to restore a
measure of serenity to the environment
by designing recreational areas. Landscape
architect Frederick Law Olmsted spear-
headed the movement for planned urban
parks.
In 1857 Olmsted, along with English-
born architect Calvert Vaux, helped draw
up a plan for “Greensward,” which was
selected to become Central Park, in New
York City. Olmsted envisioned the park as
a rustic haven in the center of the busy city.
The finished park featured boating and
▼
The Flatiron
Building, shown
here under
construction,
stands at the
intersection of
Fifth Avenue and
23rd Street in
New York City.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Causes
How did new
technologies make
the building of
skyscrapers
practical?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Summarizing
How did
electric transit
impact urban life?
Vocabulary
promenade: a
public place for
walking
A. Answer
The elevator
made tall build-
ings usable;
steel frames
could bear the
weight of tall
buildings.
B. Answer
It led to growth
of subways;
made commuting
easier.
