The History Book

256

I OUGHT TO BE JEALOUS

OF THE EIFFEL TOWER.

SHE IS MORE FAMOUS

THAN I AM

THE OPENING OF THE EIFFEL TOWER (1889)

T

he opening of the Eiffel

Tower on March 31, 1889

was a startling assertion

of Parisian bombast in the years

between the humiliations of the

Franco-Prussian War in 1870–71

and the outbreak of World War I in

1914. This was the Belle Epoque,
      a time when Paris could—and
      did—confidently proclaim itself
      the City of Light, supremely
      cosmopolitan, the art capital of the
      world, and the epicenter of civilized
      living. Paris was the city reborn,

and over it now soared Gustave

Eiffel’s tower, at 984ft (300m) not

just the tallest structure in the

world, but a triumphant monument

to technological progress.

The ideal city

Modern Paris was the creation of

Napoleon III. Beginning in 1853,

the French emperor had whole

districts knocked down, replacing

medieval buildings and tangles of

tiny streets with imposingly vast

boulevards. It was urban planning

on a scale never seen before. Train

stations were built, water supplies

improved, sewers constructed,

parks laid out, and stunning vistas

created. The goal was a model

city, one that would reflect not

just the glory of France but also

its mastery of the modern age.

It was a process mirrored in

cities across the industrial West.

In 1850, there were three European

cities with populations larger than

500,000: Paris, London, and

Constantinople. Fifty years later,

there were nine with populations

larger than 1 million, and by

1900, London was the largest

city in the world, with 6.5 million

inhabitants. The same dizzying

growth occurred in the US,

The Eiffel Tower was erected in

time for the Universal Exposition of

1889. At the time, it was the world’s
      tallest structure. It has since come to
      represent Paris to the entire world.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Urban culture

BEFORE

1858 The Great Stink in

London prompts the building

of an extensive sewer system

still used in the 21st century.

1863 The first underground

train comes into operation

in London.

1868 The first elevated urban

railway opens in New York.

1876 Los Angeles installs

the world’s first electric street

lights. London soon follows.

AFTER

1895 A variety theater in

Berlin, the Wintergarten,

becomes the world’s first

cinema.

1902 The first motor bus

service starts in London.

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257

See also: Stephenson’s Rocket enters service 220–25 ■ The construction of the

Suez Canal 230–35 ■ The opening of Ellis Island 250–51 ■ France returns to a

republican government 265

CHANGING SOCIETIES

too—between 1850 and 1900, the

population of Chicago, for example,

tripled, from 560,000 to 1.7 million.

Difficulties and inventions

The initial consequence of this

population explosion was quite

staggering urban squalor. Diseases

such as cholera and typhoid were

commonplace. It became clear that

the infrastructure demanded by

any modern city had to include not

just adequate public transport and

well-lit streets, for example, but

major improvements in public

health—above all, sanitation.

The shift in the quality of life

in these great metropolises was

extraordinary. It was paralleled

by the rapid development of

mass consumerism, the direct

consequence of improved living

standards, shorter working hours,

and compulsory education, with

basic literacy and numeracy now

increasingly commonplace. It was

an age of music halls and popular

theater, and subsequently of the

cinema; of the phonograph; of

mass-circulation newspapers; and

of a growing interest in sports.

Just as central to this age of

growing affluence and increased

leisure—at least for some—were

the first department stores. These

were a conspicuous part of a retail

revolution that was coupled, from

the 1870s, with an advertising

explosion, with color posters mass-

produced for the first time. And

from the 1890s in the United States,

cityscapes were further changed by

a new type of building: skyscrapers.

Just as the Eiffel Tower before

them, they rapidly became symbols

of the transformation in urban life. ■

Underground railways

Between 1800 and 1900, the

population density in New

York rose from 39,183 per

square mile to 90,366, and

the congestion was worsening

as public transportation took

up valuable land. A solution

favored in the United States

was an elevated railway—

a train line raised above

the streets on steel girders.

The first was opened in New

York in 1868.

In the UK, the same space

constraints led to the birth

of the underground railway.

The first, using conventional

steam engines, was London’s

Metropolitan Railway, which

opened in 1863 and linked

Paddington and King’s Cross

stations with the City of

London. Soon extended and

combined with the District

Line, by 1871 it encircled

almost the whole of central

London. The city’s first electric

underground service—faster,

quieter, and much less dirty—

was opened in 1890. Paris

followed suit with the opening

of the Métro, named after the

London line, in 1900, and the

first US underground service

opened in Boston in 1897.

Industrialization and

emigration draw millions

of people to cities across

the Western world.

Infrastructure—

sanitation, transport,

and street lighting—

becomes a priority.

The opening of the

Eiffel Tower is seen

as an affirmation

of civic pride.

Squalor and

disease afflict the

new urban poor,

subsisting in slums.

Social reformers argue

that living conditions

for all must be improved.

Better living conditions

and higher wages in cities

lead to the birth of

mass consumerism.

In 1890, London unveiled the

world’s first electric underground

railway. It made transport within

the city quick and reliable.

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