Manchester and Chicago, Essay Example

Throughout this course, we have documented and studied many different locations and their significance in some manner or another.  There are more cities with very unique and notable characteristics than can be listed in this paper.  However, in my opinion, the most significant and informative are Manchester and Chicago.  Within these cities I will be addressing the industrialization within these cities.  It will discuss the overall evolution of the industrialization and how this helped form their society into their current standard.

Manchester prior to industrialization had no sanitation codes, no plans, or any type of building regulations to control the rapid growth of the English cities.  The individuals who were classified as “poor” lacked adequate or safe housing.  Many lived in the dark, overcrowded slums it was just unhealthy and unsafe.  Industrialization brought about change for many employees as well.  The factory workers were paid starvation wages, forced to work long hours, and worked in unhealthy and dangerous work environment.  After industrialization standard of living and work conditions improved and laws were passed.  Wealthy merchants and factory owners gained their status in society.  They were forced to join the working class.  For the children as young as six, they worked long hours and in brutal conditions.  Child labor laws brought around change to this as well.  And finally the lower middle class enjoyed a change to a comfortable living standard.  The long-term effects of the industrialization were the damage to the environment included the natural resources being depleted and pollution.

Chicago also has their history regarding their industrialization.  Chicago’s economy evolved through industrialization through its landscape and economy.  Also Chicago’s international reputation during later half of the nineteenth century was important during industrialization.  The 1900s Chicago was regarded as a manufacturing metropolis by people all around the world.  They became dominated by factories and the population was overgrown by the people who owned them, worked, or operated in them.  This perception was not unwarranted and held a good amount of truth.  By 1919 over 200,000 of the city’s 400,000 wage earners worked in the heavy industry.  These industries included meat packing, iron and steel, railroading, garment manufacturing, commercial printing, and agriculture and electric machinery manufacturing.   This is the heart of much of the industry, having its hand in almost every facet.  Chicago’s harvesting equipment, lanterns, breakfast sausages, and steel railroad produced in these factories made it into the international market.  In fact, the industrialization promised employment in many different industries brining many immigrants into this area.  Chicago has continued to keep its reputation as the manufacturing center for many different industrial areas.

Chicago and Manchester both have similarities in their industrialization period.  They both started out with virtually nothing and expanded to create a notable industrial market.  Whereas Chicago seems to have greatly surpassed the overall industrial success, they both have their pros and cons.  This class has allowed me to engage in understanding many different geographic locations including factors like industrial cities, capital cities, financial cities, slum cities, and divided cities to name a few.   There were many locations and details that could have been addressed in this paper, but industrialization is an important to understand and address.