U.S. HistoryChapter 6 Section 3City Life and Leisure

World’s Fair

•In 1893 to mark the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas, Chicago held a World’s Fair

•About 28 million visitors paid 50 cents each to view the exhibits▫Europe’s past and America’s future▫Ferris Wheel

Chain and Department Stores

•Businesses with more than one location•The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company

▫First chain store▫Founded in the 1860s▫Benefited from economy of scale

lower it’s prices and attract new customers Profits were used to open new stores

•A&P was soon followed by R. H. Macy and Company and F.W. Woolworth’s

•Montgomery Ward was founded in 1872 and started a mail-order catalog business▫ Sears ,Roebuck also joined the mail-order

business•In the cities the largest companies built

spacious, elegant stores in urban centers▫Shopping became a form of recreation

Advertising: Inventing Demand•Late 1800s it became easier and more

necessary to advertise than in earlier times ▫Newspapers, magazines, posters, and

billboards were available in urban areas.•Advertising became necessary because

the supply of consumer goods now exceeded demand

•Procter & Gamble or Singer Sewing machine Company, were lavishly illustrated▫ Colors ads came in at this time in

magazines•Others concentrated on catch songs or

slogans▫Goal: fix the company or product name by

repetition

•Advertising agencies began to form▫Some sounded impressive but weren’t true▫Some mislead the public with lies

Liquid medicine that was mainly alcohol

The Popular Press

•Newspapers and magazines were growing▫Cheaper postal rates, the linotype machine,

and the typewriter made it easier to publish and sell them

•Writers came up with dramatic stories to get people’s attention and sale and circulation numbers grew

•Yellow journalism – journalism that exaggerates and exploits news to attract readers▫Named for yellow ink of New York City

Newspaper• Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst

were masters of yellow journalism▫Pulitzer came up with the idea of newspaper

sections▫Their reporting of events in Cuba in 1898 even

led to the Spanish-American War

Education for the Masses

•Newspapers also helped people learn to read▫Many immigrants could not read or write

•Education was hoped to equip people for life in American society▫Maybe reduce differences among people

•Massachusetts- first state to require children to attend school (1852)▫Next 40 years: 27 states and territories

followed

Diversity in the schools

•Kindergartens became more widespread▫Public schools began offering more courses ▫Colleges expanded offerings

•The nation’s first business school : Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania (1881)

•Women’s colleges also were founded▫ Land-grant colleges were created and also

allowed women to enroll

•Few African Americans shared in education▫Southern states gave little support ▫Howard University in Washington, DC., and

others were able to provide black students with a quality education

•In spite of problems, American public education made great strides▫Attendance more than doubled▫Public high school x60▫U.S. literacy rate went up from 80% to 92%

from 1870-1910

Women in the Work Force

•More than 5 times as many women attended college in 1920 than in 1890▫ Even more received a high school

education▫Still expected to see themselves as wives

and mothers•More were taking jobs outside the home

• Nothing new about women entering the work force ▫Had already been in New England textile mills▫Promising means of advancement for middle-

class women Jobs in business, finance, and government

organizations.

• Discrimination/lack of education kept poor and immigrant women out of office jobs

• Technology made housework take less time ▫Allowed women more time for other jobs

Leisure Time

•People were working less hours now, so they had time for leisure time activities▫People had money to spend on recreation.

•Sports became popular with average citizens

•Baseball – became an organized sport in 1845, in 1869 the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings was formed and the first World Series was played in 1903

•Bicycling also became a popular ▫Early bicyclists were an early version of

today’s race track drivers▫(1880) Safer bicycle was invented

•Theater was a big attraction▫Shakespeare, musical comedy, or

vaudeville •Circus

▫P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth

•City governments built more parks for recreation▫Frederick Law Olmstead designed New

York City’s Central Park and Washington Park in Chicago Play sports, picnic, or take long Sunday

strolls

New Trends in the Arts•Some artists tried to portray the U.S. as a

modern, sophisticated nation and tried to compete with up-to-date European styles▫John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt

•Writers described the lives of upper-class Americans, living in Europe▫Henry James

•Others stressed realism and practicality▫Architect Louis Sullivan designer of the

earliest sky-scrapers: form follows function

•Painters such as Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins found beauty in America’s common folk and surroundings

•Authors like Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Frank Morris, and William Dean Howells wrote about everyday life

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