ABSTRACT
Many foreign visitors in the late eighties and nineties were appalled by the materialism and debauchery that had tarnished the American dream. Despite their economic blemishes and their social and cultural deficiencies, the cities continued to grow in number and size and more rapidly than the nation at large. The tumultuous street life, both in the booming new cities and in the teeming metropolises, revealed sharp contrasts between wealth and poverty, between refinement and depravity, and between native and foreign traditions. Ethnic and denominational societies were performing similar functions for still larger numbers of urban dwellers. The movement for municipal reform sprang from varied conditions in the different cities. The progressive’s emphasis was on the reform and improvement of the American city and the broader society. In short, the cities not only supplied the most compelling challenges to the progressive reformers but also engendered the most hopeful responses.
