A Road Map for the United States and Beyond

Abstract

The form of cities in the United States is a complex and eclectic tapestry of multiple city-building eras laid down over the past three and a half centuries. Most cities began as port cities at strategic locations along the nation’s waterways because water transport was the fastest, most efficient means of moving people and goods. As trade, commerce, and populations grew, the cities went through numerous periods of expansion, shaped in large part by new developments in transportation technology.¹ In the beginning, cities were relatively compact and dense, clustered around port activities, with city boundaries defined by the limits of foot, horse, and carriage travel. They were generally surrounded by farmland, with the region linked by horse and horse-drawn wagon and coach. With the advent of the railroad-building era in the early to mid-nineteenth century, commerce, trade, and early forms of industry expanded not only around the ports but also along rail lines, rail yards, and depots. Rail transport also initiated the first phase of suburban expansion by the wealthy seeking to escape the teeming, crowded city cores. This era was followed by almost eight decades of growth, largely built around the streetcar, initially the horse-drawn streetcar (1852) and eventually the electric streetcar (1890–1930). Almost every major city has extensive neighborhoods that are remnants of streetcar development.²