The installation of the streetcar revolutionized 19th century urban planning in walking cities like Cleveland because they allowed the decentralization of the population. Before the streetcar, cities were laid out so that people could walk from their homes to their jobs and to shop. This made for a concentrated, dense business and residential center. When the street cars were installed it let the cities spread out so that the business could form commerce districts and people could get in and around in them from more spacious residential areas because streetcars let people ride further in ten minutes than they could walk in a half an hour. .
At first this benefitted the wealthy families the most. The invention of balloon frame house construction made private homes affordable for middle class families. This meant that middle class and working families could afford their own private homes. This also fostered a new group of smaller neighborhood business along the trolley lines so that people could shop on the way home, or shop without going into the downtown business districts. This not only benefitted all classes, it created a new one. .
The streetcar, balloon house construction, and local businesses created new neighborhoods, smaller than cities and towns, yet still connected physically to a larger urban area. The invention and installation of a telephone network created a new way for people to stay in touch with friends and family emotionally even though they no longer lived within walking distance. This often benefitted the local neighborhood at the expense of the larger urban centers. These new development tended to benefit the middle and working classes the most, but did not distract from the wealthy classes as the shift from a focus from the urban center to the local neighborhood did.
Before the introduction of the Bessemer Process it was very hard to make steel. There was a great demand for it since it was needed for railroads, but only a few people knew how to work with wrought iron and steel production was done using the costly and time consuming cementation process. The Bessemer Process made it possible to refine iron quicker, but compound of iron, carbon, and manganese still needed to be added in order to make high quality steel. Also the Bessemer Process did not remove phosphorus so unless high quality ore was used the steel was brittle. The Open Hearth Process using a Siemens’ Gas Furnace was able to fix this last problem. . This changed the course of manufacturing in Cleveland and all through America. Andrew Carnegie was one of the first industrialists to recognize the potential of these new processes.
These new processes made it possible for unskilled laborers could then replace the traditional skilled workers. The established skilled workers in this city reacted to the changing local job scene with the Rolling Mill Strikes where the workers demanded closed shops and wage scales. This ended up in riots in 1882 and 1885. .
Cleveland is a melting pot of more than just iron and steel. Waves of new ethnic groups came to Cleveland to work in the mill and take advantage of other employment opportunities. Many of the new ethnic groups and minorities that came to Cleveland settled in ethnic neighborhoods enjoying the companionships of other people from their backgrounds and supporting stores and businesses that let them eat, worship and follow the traditions of “the old country.” Many of these neighborhoods still exist and the local ethnic churches are highly visible evidence of this. , The people who came to work in these mills were predominately Eastern Europeans. The Czechs settled in the Cuyahoga Valley, including the Slavic Village and Newburg Heights. The Slovenians in Cleveland settled around St. Clair Avenue and in the Newberg and Collinwood neighborhoods was at one time the biggest Slovenian community in the United States. . The Czechs include Bohemians, Moravians, and Silesians. They started out on the waterfront and ended up taking advantage of the trolleys to move out of the city around Broadway, Fleet Avenue, W. 41st Street and Clark Avenue; where they could have gardens. . The Ukrainians came in the 1870s and most settled in the Tremont neighborhood later groups settled in Parma. The Hungarians started arriving in the 1870s. By the early 20th century, the world’s largest Hungarian population outside Hungary was in Cleveland . The first wave came to work in the foundries and machine shops. They settled around E. 78th Street, Woodland and Buckeye. Later goups came in after WWII and the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. .
Not all the ethnic groups came in to work at the mills. The Irish were one of the first groups in Cleveland. They worked on the wharves and settled there as well. The first wave of Italians settled in an area called “Big Italy” around Woodland and E. 30th Streets. There are few traces of this neighborhood remaining; however, “Little Italy” around Lake View Cemetery where the stone masons settled still has more of its racial character. . The Germans settled in the Tremont area. They came in to work the canal and start businesses as brewers, jewelers, tailors, and skilled craftsmen. . The Chinese settled by Public Square and later moved east around E.55th street and Euclid and finally created a Chinatown around Rockwell and E. 24th Street that is now known as Asia Town.
References
Mitchel, S. (2013). Cleveland's Ethnic Heritage. Retrieved 07 18, 2013, from About.Com - Cleveland: http://cleveland.about.com/od/livingincleveland/tp/ethnicheritage.htm
National Register of Historic Places. (2001, 03 30). National Register Bulletin on Suburban Development. Retrieved 07 18, 2013, from National Register of Historic Places: http://webspace.webring.com/people/fs/scarleg57/Bulletin.html
Spoerl, J. S. (2013). A Brief History of Iron and Steel Production. Retrieved 07 18, 2013, from Saint Anselm College: http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/h-carnegie-steel.htm
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. (2013). CLEVELAND ROLLING MILL STRIKES. Retrieved 07 18, 2013, from The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CRMS
