Thoughts on Place, Region, and the Twentieth Century

Abstracted from Brown and Tager and the MASS ATLAS

. Urbanization - Post Civil War

Contributing Factors – Industry, Commerce, Opulence vs. Gentry

Inventions and start up industry

Farm to city

New class structure and New Nationalism

Urban growth

Tenements

Immigration

Farm Flight

Boom and Bust Factory

Cotton and Woolen Textiles and Shoes

Key: Sewing Machine

Question: Given that labor, market and materials are critical to the factory system, how do we get labor, raw materials and finished goods to necessary places?

Answer:

Role of Boston then and now:

Canals

Ports

Roads (Toll and other)

Railroads

Question: What were the interrelationships between housing location, factories, raw materials and markets and urbanization?

Answer:

Question: Have we noted a cyclical nature to these occurrences and how has our sense of place been modified by the situation?

Remember the Geographer deals with site and situation. This is not only a physical place; but, human interactions with the place.