Title: Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929 | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History
Headings: Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929
Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929
Summary
Keywords
The Electrical Grid and Improvements in Transportation
Structural Steel and Skyscrapers
The Assembly Line
The Origins of Mass Production
Discussion of the Literature
Primary Sources and Links to Digital Materials
Further Reading
Notes

Content: Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929 | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History
View PDF
Highlight search term
Save
Cite
Email this content
Share Link
Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly: https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-327
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Link copied successfully
Copy link
Share This
Sign In Article Navigation
Show Summary Details
Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929
Industrialization and Urbanization in the United States, 1880–1929
Jonathan Rees
Jonathan Rees Department of History, Colorado State University-Pueblo
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.327
Published online: 07 July 2016
Summary
Between 1880 and 1929, industrialization and urbanization expanded in the United States faster than ever before. Industrialization, meaning manufacturing in factory settings using machines plus a labor force with unique, divided tasks to increase production, stimulated urbanization, meaning the growth of cities in both population and physical size. During this period, urbanization spread out into the countryside and up into the sky, thanks to new methods of building taller buildings. Having people concentrated into small areas accelerated economic activity, thereby producing more industrial growth. Industrialization and urbanization thus reinforced one another, augmenting the speed with which such growth would have otherwise occurred. Industrialization and urbanization affected Americans everywhere, but especially in the Northeast and Midwest.