This essay examines how life in American urban environments changed at the turn of the 20th century, focusing on three key developments: mass transportation, public spaces, and new technology. Drawing on primary literary sources and historical scholarship, the paper argues that advances such as omnibuses, railways, parks, cafes, and the automobile created a foundation for modern urban living. The essay also considers how these developments affected the wealthy, middle, and working classes differently, while noting that many of these innovations cut across class boundaries to provide shared experiences. The paper concludes that the legacy of this era remains visible in contemporary urban society.
The paper demonstrates the use of thematic organization: rather than proceeding chronologically, it groups developments by category (transportation, space, technology) and analyzes each through the same sociological lens. This approach allows the writer to build a cumulative argument about modernity without losing analytical focus.
The essay opens with a framing introduction that identifies the three themes and the class-based analytical approach. Each of the three body paragraphs addresses one theme in turn, consistently connecting it back to modern relevance. The conclusion synthesizes all three themes and reinforces the central claim about the origins of modernity. Endnotes and a bibliography follow standard Chicago citation conventions.
Life at the turn of the 20th century changed in a variety of ways, especially when one considers the ramifications of those changes in urban environments. Developments in the creation of public spaces, mass transportation, and technology helped to distinguish this era from the declining decades of the 19th century. These differences and similarities are best seen when one examines their effect on the wealthy, middle, and working classes. Overall, it becomes apparent that the consequences of these developments in different areas of urban life helped to create the basis for modernity — that is, the conditions that define modern living.
One of the most noticeable aspects of modernity created in cities at the turn of the 20th century pertained to mass transportation. The railway system was largely perfected in the 19th century and helped to bridge the eastern and western portions of the United States. At the turn of the 20th century, developments in mass transportation then focused on urban environments. For the most part, such transportation helped to provide a common ground for all three classes of people. Buses — referred to initially as omnibuses1 — helped to provide a shared means of travel for all people, as did the railway system. Regardless of a person's class, if he or she desired to travel from Manhattan to upstate New York, he or she could simply purchase a ticket on a train.2 These forms of public transportation helped to establish the foundation for modernity in cities, since buses and trains still constitute the principal means of public transportation in contemporary society.
The creation of public spaces had a similarly equitable effect on the different classes inhabiting urban environments and helped to pave the way for modern conceptions and uses of shared space as well. While many parts of cities were reserved for residences and were largely stratified by class, public spaces helped to balance such territorial divisions. In New York City, for instance, train stations functioned as public spaces by providing a degree of parity in how people traveled. Other public spaces — such as restaurants and cafes — truly emerged in the early part of the 20th century in the United States, influenced in this regard by the popularity of café culture in Europe. Additionally, the creation of parks — and Central Park in particular — solidified this concept as one that is central to modernity and modern urban practice.
In summary, the confluence of mass transportation, technology, and public spaces altered urban environments at the turn of the 20th century because they paved the way for modern living. Most of the advancements made in these areas during this epoch have yet to be surpassed today.
Tarr, Joel. 1971. "Urban Pollution — Many Long Years Ago." American Heritage 22 (6).
Wharton, Edith. 1905. The House of Mirth. New York: Barnes and Noble Classic.
1 Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (New York: Barnes and Noble Classic), 57.
2 Ibid., 20.
3 Joel Tarr, "Urban Pollution — Many Long Years Ago," American Heritage 22 (6).
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.