Establishing the diversity of late nineteenth-century suburbs: A metropolitan context for the railroad era urban fringe

This dissertation uses data from the 1880 U.S. Census to discover if the recent consensus on the heterogeneous composition of historical suburbs in the United States in the early twentieth century applies also to the late-nineteenth. Although recent scholarship has successfully opened the discussion of historical suburban development to the working class and minorities, there have been relatively few efforts to determine the extent or composition of non-elite residence beyond case studies of stable communities. Through a GIS analysis of the metropolitan regions of Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City and Brooklyn, and St. Louis, this project will address two shortcomings of the current literature. The first is the recognized absence of a systematic research into suburban diversity that would provide a foundation for discussions about the comparative degree and scope of diversity between metropolitan areas. In particular, there is minimal understanding of the composition of periurban areas of the nineteenth century, which have tended to fall into the shadow of the more accessible suburban histories of the twentieth century. It is therefore unclear if the diversity discovered by the New Suburban History has a longer and more significant past than represented in the current literature, or became widespread as a result of conditions after the turn of the century. Another shortcoming is the importance, if not complete dominance, of large industrial employers in the discussion of suburban working-class enclaves. Although crucial in the development of many enclaves, it is suggested that this potentially overlooks the importance of other local opportunities for work and the importance of mobility as an employment strategy for some nineteenth-century workers. The results indicate a high degree of working-class and immigrant occupation in urban fringe during this period, and evidence of a significant population of itinerants employed outside of factories.;KEYWORDS: Suburban History; Nineteenth Century Suburbs; Working-Class Suburbs; Ethnic Suburbs; Historical GIS; Baltimore, Maryland; Brooklyn, New York; Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; Itinerant Workers.