How Did The Automobile Change American Society?

It made it possible to travel many miles in a day. Before the automobile, people in cities had to take streetcars (horse drawn, later electric) to get anywhere further than they could walk. People who lived out of town had to get to work on interurban railways, so suburbs were not really that popular. People who lived on farms or in small villages in the country would come into town maybe once a month in a horse-drawn cart to do their shopping, but a horse couldn’t do more than 15 or 20 miles there and back. It wasn’t much faster than walking.

Cars made it possible for people to move 20-30 miles or more from the city and drive in to work everyday. It began a ‘flight to the suburbs’ that really accelerated after WWII, in effect making cities obsolete. This led to more people owning their own homes instead of living in apartments in the city, which promoted and enlarged the middle class.

The car also changed social customs. Think of how it changed dating, for instance! Before the car came along, a boy and girl had almost no possibility of being alone together!

Plus the manufacture of cars, accessories, parking lots, highways, and gasoline became the major economic engine for development in the US. For a while, anyway. The city of Detroit had the largest percentage of privately-owned homes for many years, only because the auto industry was so high-paying.

Ralph Nader on How He Came to Write: “Unsafe at Any Speed”

How Reading Changed My Life $7.16 Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and bestselling author Anna Quindlen uses the mastery of the medium in which she works to send an utterly compelling message as she explores the importance of books in her life and their vital role in society.

Changed $19.99 Cd Baby:68104112

Garmin nuvi 465T Automobile Navigator 0100078600 $291.37 Garmin nuvi 465T Automobile Navigator 0100078600

Garmin nuvi 3750 Automobile Portable Navigator 0100085840 $326.65 Garmin nuvi 3750 Automobile Portable Navigator 0100085840

Comments are closed