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.
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.
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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.
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.
<div id="surveyMonkeyInfo"><div><script src="http://www.surveymonkey.com/jsEmbed.aspx?sm=kmiLLQa0rTTejSCYIrGS5w_3d_3d">
</script></div>Create your free online surveys with <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com">SurveyMonkey</a>
, the world's leading questionnaire tool.</div>