Boston’s History Research Paper.
By 1850, the city of Boston was something similar to western history and controllable by
its traditions. Within a period of five centuries, the institutions and attitudes that governed the
daily activities of the city had developed. Boston’s History Research Paper. By 1900, Boston had transformed entirely to the
standards of many American and European cities – a suburban and industrial metropolis. To
date, relics of the 1900 Boston’s metropolis still survives. It is home to the bulk of the greater commerce and industry in Boston.
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The decisions that were made by corporation managers, city
officials and home builders, decisions now hundred to hundred and fifty years old, still rule much
of today’s economic, political and social life (Warner, 1962). Most importantly, perhaps, many
of the traditions of behavior and thought first elaborated between 1850 and 1900 still dominate
present action.
During the second half of the 19 th century, the city of Boston and its populace
experienced a number of transformations. First, in relation to its construction, the metropolis is
the product of numerous separate decisions. Data available that dates 1870 – 1900 reveal a
partnership, which constructed the new suburban and industrial metropolis. The partnership was
between individual investors, large institutions and homeowners. Boston’s History Research Paper.However, the organizations
such as the West End Street Railway Company and the president of the Boston water
commissioners were guided by their own daily needs. Although throughout the 1850 – 1900
period, one third of the budget in the city of Boston was committed on an annual basis to
services and projects that directly influenced real estate, most political campaigns excited other
conflicts: Native Americans versus immigrants; corruption versus honesty; more city jobs versus
the economy and Republicans versus Democrats (Warner, 1962).
Second, immigration and industrialization together fired the economy of the 19 th century
Boston (Warner, 1962). The port of Boston acted as the entry points for hundreds of thousands of
European immigrants. Before the 1840’s artisans, mill workers and farmers from the British
Isles, men squeezed by the penalties of English industrialization and the shifting rewards system,
constituted the bulk of new immigrants. Sizeable numbers of Germans joined them seeking an
escape from the central Europe poverty. In addition, the Maritime Provinces of Canada and the
trading center for New England, both attracted new arrivals from this back country. Boston’s History Research Paper.The new
arrivals included a small portion of German Jews and French – Canadian, German, Irish
Catholics from the same background with similar religion and habits as the residents in Boston.
New immigrants who had arrived in Boston for over two centuries had led to the development of
a strong democratic tolerance that easily buried such ethnic and religious tensions that existed
among these groups – immigrant and native residents.
Third, the influx of a large pool of labor due to continuous and enormous arrivals of
immigrants made industrialization in Boston to flourish. Industrialists in Boston not only enjoyed
a constant supply of water power but also a large pool of labor resources of the farm young
women and children. This led to the thriving textile and shoe factories, ironworks as well as
machine manufacturing industries during the second half of the 19 th century in Boston.
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With new abundance of laborers and old merchant capital, Boston grew resulting in the expansion of
homes of the Back Bay and South End, Jamaican Plain, Milton, Dedham and Brookline. Boston’s History Research Paper.
In brief, Boston witnessed unprecedented growth during the second half of the 19th
century. Several factors contributed to this unrivalled growth. The growing number of
immigrants provided labor for thriving industries. In addition, religious and racial tensions within
the city were diluted by a two hundred years history of immigrants
relatively democratic atmosphere in the city. Finally, the partnership between individual
investors, large institutions and homeowners boosted Boston’s construction. Boston’s History Research Paper.
Reference
Warner, S. B. (1962). Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870 –1900.
Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press and The M.I.T. Press. Boston’s History Research Paper.