Motivations

By the turn of the twentieth century, the industrial revolution had greatly altered American technology and culture. New innovation and astounding feats of engineering were dazzling consumers and altering the urban landscape. People’s use of these new technology had drastically changed the daily lives of citizens throughout the country, for better and for worse. At the end of the nineteenth century, construction crews in Chicago worked tirelessly digging new trenches and dredging the bottom of the Chicago River in order to reverse its flow. This pulled fresh water from Lake Michigan through Chicago and pushed south the waste that Chicago was dumping into the river. The technological innovations that made such a feat possible included steam powered diggers and cranes and tremendous structures to hold back the force of the river as they worked.[1] While these technological innovations and others greatly improved life for the people of Chicago, other technological innovations had worsened city life. The Plan of Chicago, published in 1909 by Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett for the Commercial Club of Chicago displays an architectural response to the cultural and technological changes that America faced at the turn of the twentieth century.

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The mills and factories which filled Chicago during the industrial revolution provided a major boom for the economy. They also caused the city to grow rapidly as more and more people moved into the city for the jobs that industries were offering. In 1830, Chicago was little more than a western settlement of just one hundred people. By 1890, just sixty years later, over one million people resided there, and by 1910 that number would double.[2] The same industry that brought all these people into the city, was also polluting the air and the water and as more people moved into the city, things were becoming cramped. In a very practical way, the 1909 Plan of Chicago seeks to solve this problem by widening thoroughfares and devoting public land to parks, so people had a chance to be in an open space and experience nature, at a time when not everyone could hop in the car or on the train to get out of the city for an afternoon.

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Technological innovation allowed for greater production, which meant higher profit margins, and wealthy business executives were making a fortune. This time period in American history, often referred to as the Gilded Age, was a time of immense prosperity for a few, at the expense of many, and Chicago certainly had its fair share of tycoons. Near the end of the nineteenth century a progressive movement arose, encouraging workers to form labor unions and fight for their rights to fair wages and safe working conditions. Worker’s strife became a primary concern for business owners, especially in Chicago following Haymarket bomb explosion in 1886 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. Books such as How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the horrors of poor urban life to the upper and middle class and a the Progressive Movement began to attract supporters in America.[3] The Progressive Movement was a reaction to the corruption that had plagued America during the Gilded Age and it sought to restore the rights of working class citizens.

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Some argue that the 1909 Plan is in line with the Progressive Movement, but while it does seek to make the city a better place for all, it does so based on an assumption of trickle-down economics. This is the idea that by allowing large business to make or keep more money the government indirectly supports all citizens. It assumes that when companies are doing better, an even share of the extra wealth finds it to the employees through higher paychecks. The Plan of Chicago utilizes this assumption heavily, as it provides some amenities for the public, such as the parks, and most of the proposed improvements benefit the businesses of the city, such as the wider road and more efficient freight lines. When deciding whether the Plan of Chicago represents the Progressive Movement, it is important to keep in mind who was funding its creation. The Commercial Club of Chicago was made up of wealthy, white businessmen who were far more concerned with their profits than the genuine well being of their workers. This becomes further evident when one examines a draft copy of Burnham’s 1909 Plan. In his draft, several sections focus on civic improvements that would immediately serve the needs of the poor in Chicago, such as affordable day care centers, a government controlled healthcare system, publicly mandated pricing of essential utilities, and better school systems.[4] None of these topics are fleshed out in the published version, leading us to conclude that the Commercial Club must have removed them from the final version of the Plan. So, while the Plan does seek to better the city it does not truly serve those with greatest needs.

           

The Plan of Chicago by Burnham and Bennett responds to the cultural and technological changes brought on by the industrial revolution and the Progressive Movement. It seeks to solve the problems presented by each by designing a more efficient and more beautiful city that would hopefully create healthier, happier, and more moral citizens. Central to the 1909 Plan and the City Beautiful Movement was a belief that just as technological innovation had allowed man control nature, it would now allow man to control human nature.

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[1] “How Chicago Reversed Its River: An Animated History,” Public Broadcasting Service: WTTW, accessed January 20, 2019, https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-river-tour/how-chicago-reversed-river-animated

 

[2] Carl Smith, The Plan of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), xvi.

[3] Ibid., 14.

[4] Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett,