The "Burbs"

The electrified streetcar railways reached out in all directions.  More often than not the rails did not go where the people were, but went where the developers wanted the people to come.  Streetcars definitely helped to widen the city and create the suburbs.

For example, in Los Angeles, the streetcar system designed and built by Henry Huntington, extended 35 more outside the city proper by 1913, and serviced more than 40 different incorporated centers.  Redondo Beach, which was 17 miles outside of LA, re-cooped the cost of the streetcar line in just two months by the sale of real estate.

In Cleveland, Ohio, the Van Sweringen brothers purchased over 4000 acres outside of town.  What became known as Shaker Heights did not follow the conventional models of checkerboard construction...it curved around man-made lakes and parks.  The architecture was strictly controlled and eventually Shaker Heights set a new pattern for all American suburbs.  

Residential joining came from Shaker Heights as well.  It separated families according to income, race, and religion.  The suburbs now offered a place where families could live according to income and have safety from the "stigma" of living among people of a different "kind."  It wasn't a good thing for the structure of American society, although at the time, it was considered the answer to society's problems.

For the first time in 1950, the US Census Bureau redefined the meaning of "urban" including those living in suburbs as the "urban fringe."  The American dream was now strengthened - owning a home of your own was possible in the "burbs."

Next time...continue on the "Decline of Main Street"

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Today in Pioneer History:  "On August 19, 1909, the first race is held at the Indianapolis Speedway, the Indianapolis 500.  Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana, the speedway was started by local businessmen as a testing place for the growing automobile industry.