6. Life in the cities during the Gilded Age was diverse and often challenging
Urban living during the Gilded Age was a challenging affair regardless of class, though less so the further up the scale one found oneself. In the mid-1880s cities began to build themselves upwards, with the center of the emerging skyscraper developments in Chicago, which was surrounded by railyards, meat processing centers, and manufacturers. Immigration to the cities brought with it poverty and often squalid living conditions in tenements and slums, and cities developed areas which others scrupulously avoided. Within, gangs formed in areas such as Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan and in the Bowery, both of which attained national disrepute.
Cities spread outwards as well, reaching outlying smaller communities and annexing them, placing greater demand on services as well as obtaining new tax revenues. Since many of the outlying communities contained eligible voters, rather than non-eligible immigrants, they received a greater share of the attention of community leaders and local governments, at the expense of the residential areas of the urban core. The situation in the slums deteriorated throughout the Gilded Age, while that of the outer areas improved in nearly all aspects of life. The emerging middle class celebrated the improvements with parks and community festivals and holidays, and the band concerts of fame in community band shells were very much a reality of the time.