University of Kentucky UKnowledge United States History History 1985 The Rise of the Urban South Lawrence H. Larsen University of Missouri at Kansas City Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Larsen, Lawrence H., "The Rise of the Urban South" (1985). United States History. 68. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/68 The Rise of the Urban South This page intentionally left blank The Rise of the Urban South LAWRENCE H. LARSEN THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright© 1985 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0024 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Larsen, Lawrence Harold, 1931- The rise of the urban South. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Urbanization-Southern States-History-19th century. I. Title. HT123.5.A13L371985 307.7'6'0975 84-25596 ISBN 978-0-8131-5347-6 Contents List of Tables vn Preface ix 1. A Wider Field Both for Virtue and Vice 1 2. A Victory of Plenty 18 3. Cogs in the Great Machine 30 4. Railroads Are Talismanic Winds 60 5. Joy Brightens Her Face 84 6. Fearless in Discharge of Their Duties 116 7. The Promise of Her Great Destiny 142 Notes 165 Essay on Sources 192 Index 215 This page intentionally left blank Tables 2.1 Southern Cities and Their Populations, 1880 22 3.1 Foreign-Born and Blacks in Southern Cities, 1880 38 3.2 Germans, Irish, and British in Eight Southern Cities, 1880 43 3.3 Male and Female Populations in Southern Cities, 1880 46 3.4 Working Men and Women in Eight Southern Cities, 1880 47 3.5 Nativity of Workers in Eight Southern Cities, 1880 50 3.6 Religious Statistics for Seventeen Southern Cities of More than 25,000 Inhabitants, 1890 52 3. 7 Membership of Eight Religious Bodies for Seventeen Southern Cities of More than 25,000 Inhabitants, 1890 54 3.8 School Statistics for Southern Cities of More than 10,000 Inhabitants, 1880 56 3. 9 Major Colleges and Universities in Southern Cities of More than 10,000 Inhabitants, 1880 57 4.1 Manufacturing in Sixteen Southern Cities, 1880 80 5.1 Public Indebtedness in Southern Cities of More than 10,000 Inhabitants, 1880 98 5.2 Population Ratios by Dwellings and Families for Sixteen Southern Cities, 1880 102 6.1 Statistics on Telephone Companies, 1880 127 6.2 Life Expectancy for Whites in Representative Cities, 1880 132 6.3 Life Expectancy for Blacks in Four Cities, 1880 133 6.4 Houses of Prostitution and Liquor Saloons in Southern Cities, 1880 140 7.1 Population Trends in Thirty Southern Cities, 1880-1890 149 7.2 Population Trends in Eighteen Southern Cities That Passed the 10,000 Mark, 1880-1890 155 This page intentionally left blank Preface This book is a study of the dynamics of southern urbanization in the Gilded Age. It is part of a larger project started well over a decade ago designed to analyze the sectional aspects of urban growth. The first volume, The Urban West at the End of the Frontier, appeared in 1978. Monographs on the Midwest and Northeast are yet to come. The decade of the 1880s was of crucial importance in shaping the American urban network and forging a national economy. Yet, the country was not yet a "nation of cities." Although there were similarities between communities in all parts of the land, sectional antecedents continued to have important political, economic, and social implications. In the February 1950 issue of the Journal of Southern History, the Southern Committee of Ten, discussing research possibilities in south­ ern history, singled out the urban South as a fertile field of investiga­ tion. "Urban life and development offer many suggestive topics for exploitation," they noted. "Among these are towns as trade centers, as cultural centers, and as county seats. The Southern town has an important enough history behind it to justify study. It is interesting to contemplate results of studies which approach southern urban de­ velopment as it complements agrarian life on the one hand and it competes with a staple-crop agrarian system on the other" (p. 59). In the years since then, several scholars have answered the call. Of special note have been the contributions of Blaine Brownell, Leonard P. Curry, David R. Goldfield, and Howard N. Rabinowitz. They and other pioneers in the field of southern urban history have contributed to a better understanding of the subject. Until recently, however, the main thrust of historiography has been in other directions. Of the rich body of scholarly material available on the ninetheenth-century South, only a relatively small amount deals directly with the urbanization process. Despite a few excellent suggestive essays and studies on specific sub­ jects, little in the way of comprehensive analysis exists on the early stages of city building in Dixie. The object of this book is to help answer that need, and at the same time to stimulate research in southern urban history. X Preface The South, with all its distinctiveness and contrasts, has always been a region in slow motion. The southern urban mosaic was not built in a short span. Rather, it evolved in relationship to the resources and needs of an agrarian and commercial society. Southern leaders pa­ tiently constructed layers of cities. They eschewed the unrestricted promotional frenzy that led to the raising up within a few decades of cities in the Midwest. Even after national events drastically altered the course of American urbanization, southerners continued to pursue an orderly policy. The Civil War and Reconstruction disrupted their plans. The "New South" movement (as distinguished from wider applica­ tions of the term) raised false hopes at the same time it sought to sustain faith in southern traditions. Racial controversy wasted human resources. The question of whether to welcome or oppose outside developers continued as a constant source of debate. As cities in Dixie grew in size, an increasingly uniform response to municipal problems threatened their individual characteristics. Agricultural deficiencies checked the creation of prosperous urban hinterlands. Through it all, the South's city builders persevered, continuing to erect an urban network suited to their requirements. A serious discourse in thought and action about the need for southern cities occurred in the antebellum South. The discussion continued through the Civil War, the Reconstruction period, and the Gilded Age. The New South visionaries and the arguments they articu­ lated deserve serious attention. The impact of their views is another matter. Patterns of urbanization developed in the South that evolved over the course of the nineteenth century. The cities differed only in degree from those elsewhere in America. Even so, judgments about progress in urbanization and industrialization require measurement by southern as well as national standards. The urbanization of the South has to be considered on its own terms. In that context, the story of southern city building in the Gilded Age is not one of failure. Rather, against a backdrop of defeat, dis­ couragement, and disillusionment, it is an uplifting account of a lim­ ited victory: a triumph that in many ways contributed to the making of the great alabaster cities of the twentieth-century South. I started working on this project more than a decade ago. Over the years so many people have helped me that it is impossible to acknowl­ edge all of them. Needless to say, I appreciated their concern and aid. Fredrick Marcel Spletstoser and Barbara J. Cottrell read and com­ mented with great care on various versions of the manuscript. Splet­ stoser's observations on the New South movement were especially valuable. W. Bruce Wheeler also read and commented on several draft chapters. Helping in a variety of ways were several of my colleagues at Preface xi the University of Missouri-Kansas City. They included Stanley B. Parsons, Herman M. Hattaway, Richard Elrod, James Falls, Jesse V. Clardy, William R. Brazelton, Richard McKinzie, and George Gale. Dean Eldon Parizek of the UMKC College of Arts and Science provided a scholarly environment. Roger T. Johnson of Milling & Baking News fished with me and discussed agricultural economics. Douglas McLen­ non, Sam Wallace, John Finger, and Lawrence Christensen offered valuable criticism. Among other contributors were William Petrowski, Patrick McLear, William Pratt, and R. Christopher Schnell. James and Marian Cottrell provided an island in Canada. Barbara LoCascio and Claire Hildebrand typed the manuscript. Of course, though both custom and prudence demand it be said, I am responsible for errors of fact or interpretation. To Ruthie l ______ A Wider Field Both for Virtue and Vice In 1980 enthusiastic promoters predicted a magnificent future for the urban South. Census statistics indicated that many southern towns had grown significantly in population through a time when numerous old industrial centers in the North had experienced marked declines. Publicists claiming that a new age of racial harmony and enterprise had dawned below the Mason and Dixon line portrayed Dixie's cities as good places in which to live and invest money. At long last, buttressed by a network of metropolises, the South would assume its rightful place in America.