3 The United States and Europe

Between 1870 and 1915 the US city experienced almost convulsive growth. Not only did millions of immigrants arrive, not only did millions more leave the countryside for the growing metropolis, and not only did vast new industries emerge but also the very fabric of cities changed, including a shift in scale from horizontal to vertical, an expansion into far-flung suburbs, the emergence of giant department stores, and the invention of new forms of entertainment such as professional baseball, amusement parks, movie theaters, and dance halls. Through all these transformations, like a brilliant shaft of light, ran the electrification of the city. Electricity drove the streetcars that carried passengers from suburbs into city centers. It carried people in skyscraper elevators, department store escalators, and subways, making possible the immense concentration of humanity at the urban core. Electricity lighted up the city after dark, operated the rides at amusement parks, projected films, amplified music, and made new spaces potentially useful. Using electricity, anywhere could be lighted or ventilated, whether a sports field at night, a basement, an attic, the roof of a skyscraper, an underground corridor, or a tunnel beneath the streets. Electricity was an enabling technology that Americans and Europeans used to reshape the fundamental nature of their cities.