The Library of Congress

Timeline Home Page
home 		Progressive Era to New Era
Cities During the Progressive Era

Photographs of Urbanization in the Progressive Era

As American cities expanded in the early 1900s, they often developed in quite different ways. Too, within the same city, differences in neighborhoods were often very dramatic. In the pictures that follow, you will observe very different results of urbanization. How might building space, work opportunities, population, and geographic location have influenced the development of the neighborhoods shown? What other factors do you think might affect the development of a city or neighborhood within a city? After looking at the photographs below, consider seaching Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 and Taking the Long View, 1851-1991, using a keyword such as main street and compare several of the photos you retrieve this way. What generalizations can you make about these cities?

Click on the photographs to see larger images. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this page.

Hester Street

The New York Ghetto: Hester Street, 1902
Armour Blvd.

Armour Boulevard and Holmes Street, Kansas City, 1909
Canal Street

Canal Street, New Orleans, ca. 1900-1910

 Broad Street

Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, 1905
Main Street, Dayton

Main Street, Dayton, Ohio, 1904

 Main Street, Kansas City

Main Street, Kansas City, ca. 1900-1910

top of page

View additional photographs on this topic from Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 and Taking the Long View, 1851-1991. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this page.

previous Rise of Industrial America | Progressive Era to New Era | Great Depression and World War II next
The Library of Congress | American Memory Contact us
Last updated 09/26/2002