LEADER 04732oam 22006014a 450 001 9910524849503321 005 20240829215523.0 010 $a1-4214-3524-1 035 $a(CKB)4100000010460912 035 $a(OCoLC)1127293258 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse78492 035 $a(oapen)https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/88951 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000010460912 100 $a20191112h20191984 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|||||||nn|n 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe Unheralded Triumph$eCity Government in America, 1870-1900 /$fJon C. Teaford 210 $cJohns Hopkins University Press 215 $a1 online resource (1 online resource (xi, 365 pages) :)$ctables 225 0 $aJohns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ;$v102d ser. (1984) 300 $aThe text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License 300 $aOpen access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. 311 $a1-4214-3525-X 311 $a1-4214-3526-8 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 330 $aIn 1888 the British observer James Bryce declared "the government of cities" to be "the one conspicuous failure of the United States." During the following two decades, urban reformers would repeat Bryce's words with ritualistic regularity; nearly a century later, his comment continues to set the tone for most assessments of nineteenth-century city government. Yet by the end of the century, as Jon Teaford argues in this important reappraisal, American cities boasted the most abundant water supplies, brightest street lights, grandest parks, largest public libraries, and most efficient systems of transportation in the world. Far from being a "conspicuous failure," municipal governments of the late nineteenth century had successfully met challenges of an unprecedented magnitude and complexity. The Unheralded Triumph draws together the histories of the most important cities of the Gilded Age--especially New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Baltimore--to chart the expansion of services and the improvement of urban environments between 1870 and 1900. It examines the ways in which cities were transformed, in a period of rapid population growth and increased social unrest, into places suitable for living. Teaford demonstrates how, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, municipal governments adapted to societal change with the aid of generally compliant state legislatures. These were the years that saw the professionalization of city government and the political accommodation of the diverse ethnic, economic, and social elements that compose America's heterogeneous urban society. Teaford acknowledges that the expansion of urban services dangerously strained city budgets and that graft, embezzlement, overcharging, and payroll-padding presented serious problems throughout the period. The dissatisfaction with city governments arose, however, not so much from any failure to achieve concrete results as from the conflicts between those hostile groups accommodated within the newly created system: "For persons of principle and gentlemen who prized honor, it seemed a failure yet American municipal government left as a legacy such achievements as Central Park, the new Croton Aqueduct, and the Brooklyn Bridge, monuments of public enterprise that offered new pleasures and conveniences for millions of urban citizens." 410 0$aJohns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ;$v102nd ser., 1. 606 $aGemeindeverwaltung$2swd 606 $aStadtverwaltung$2swd 606 $aMunicipal services$2fast$3(OCoLC)fst01029431 606 $aMunicipal government$2fast$3(OCoLC)fst01029299 606 $aMunicipal services$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aMunicipal government$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 607 $aUnited States$2swd 607 $aUnited States$2fast 610 $aUnited States$aCities$aLocal government, 1870-1900 615 00$aGemeindeverwaltung. 615 00$aStadtverwaltung. 615 0$aMunicipal services. 615 0$aMunicipal government. 615 0$aMunicipal services$xHistory 615 0$aMunicipal government$xHistory 676 $a352/.00724/0973 700 $aTeaford$b Jon C$01095409 801 0$bMdBmJHUP 801 1$bMdBmJHUP 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910524849503321 996 $aThe Unheralded Triumph$92676784 997 $aUNINA