| 1682 |
|
William Penn's design for Philadelphia is a rectangular grid with a central park and four smaller parks, one in each quadrant. Planned Communities Urban Design |
| 1733 |
|
Founder James Oglethorpe's Savannah, Georgia, is a more complex gridiron with a main axis and interlinking gardens and squares. Planned Communities Urban Design |
| 1785 |
|
Ordinance of 1785. Provided
for the rectangular land survey of the Old Northwest. The rectangular survey
has been called "the largest single act of national planning in our
history and ... the most significant in terms of continuing impact on the
body politic" (Daniel Elazar). Landmark
Laws Economic
Development Urban Design |
| 1790 |
|
The first U.S. Census is initiated
by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and finished two years later. Landmark
Laws |
| 1791 |
|
Pierre L'Enfant's baroque design for the new nation's capital adds grand radial avenues and ceremonial spaces to a street grid. Urban Design |
| 1791 |
|
In his Report on Manufactures,
Alexander Hamilton argues for protective tariffs for manufacturing industry
as a means of promoting industrial development in the young republic. Economic
Development Landmark
Publication |
| 1803 |
|
The Louisiana Territory,
comprising about 800,000 square miles between the Mississippi River and
the Rocky Mountains, is purchased from France. The vast acquisition doubles
the nation's size and opens it to westward settlement. Landmark
Laws Economic
Development |
| 1818 |
|
In a speech before Congress,
Henry Clay proposes a plan (called the American System) to allocate federal
funds to promote the development of the national economy by combining tariffs
with internal improvements, such as roads, canals and other waterways. Economic
Development |
| 1825 |
|
Erie Canal completed.
This artificial waterway connected the northeastern states with the newly
settled areas of what was then the West, facilitating the economic development
of both regions. Economic
Development Regional
Planning |
| 1839 |
|
The National Road terminates in Vandalia, Illinois.
Begun in 1811 in Cumberland, Maryland, it helps open the Ohio Valley to
settlers. Economic
Development |
| 1855 |
|
First "model tenement"
built in Manhattan. Housing |
| 1859 |
|
Central Park in New York, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, opens to the public and becomes a model for many other American city parks. Urban Design |
| 1862 |
|
Homestead Act opened the lands of
the Public Domain to settlers for a nominal fee and five years residence.
Landmark Laws Economic
Development Housing |
| 1862 |
|
Morrill Act. Congress authorizes
land grants from the Public Domain to the states. Proceeds from the sale
were to be used to found colleges offering instruction in agriculture, engineering,
and other practical arts. Economic
Development Landmark
Laws |
| 1864 |
|
New York Council of Hygiene of the
Citizens Association mounts a campaign to raise housing and sanitary standards.
Housing |
| 1864 |
|
George Perkins Marsh, father of American environmentalism,
publishes Man
and Nature.
This seminal book explores the destructive impact of human
action on the natural environment and inspires future conservation
movements.
Landmark Publication Conservation & Environment |
| 1867 |
|
The U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia,
adding to the national estate a territory about the size of Texas, Montana,
and California combined. Economic
Development Landmark
Laws |
| 1868 |
|
Frederick
Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux begin the planning of Riverside Illinois,
a planned suburban community stressing rural as opposed to urban amenities.
Planned Communities |
| 1869 |
|
The Union Pacific and the Central
Pacific railroads meet at Promontory Point, Utah, on May 10 to complete
the first transcontinental railroad. Economic
Development |
| 1873 |
|
In his seminal book, Landscape Architecture as Applied to the Wants of the West, H.W.S. Cleveland advocates laying out the streets of towns according to the land's natural contours, rather than by the mechanical replication of the rigid grid. Urban Design |
| 1877 |
|
Alfred T. White, New York philanthropist,
completes his "Home Buildings" for poor immigrants. With their
fireproof construction, private toilets, and balconies, they are considered
the most advanced tenements of their age. White's example inaugurates
a model tenement movement. Housing |
| 1878 |
|
Frederick Law Olmsted inaugurates his city-shaping system of Boston urban parks, the "emerald necklace." Urban Design |
| 1878 |
|
John
Wesley Powell's Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United
States is published. Includes a proposed regional plan that would both
foster settlement of the arid west and conserve scarce water resources.
Conservation & Environment Regional
Planning Economic
Development Landmark
Laws Landmark Publication |
| 1879 |
|
Progress and Poverty published.
In this influential book Henry George presents an argument for diminishing
extremes of national wealth and poverty by means of a single tax (on land)
that would capture the "unearned increment" of national development
for public uses. Landmark
Publication |
| 1879 |
|
Debut of the "Dumbbell Tenement,"
so called because of its shape. A form of multifamily housing widely built
in New York until the end of the century and notorious for the poor living
conditions it imposed on its denizens (lack of light, air, space). Housing |
| 1879 |
|
Establishment of U.S. Geological
Survey to survey and classify all Public Domain lands. Economic
Development Conservation
& Environment |
| 1880-84 |
|
Building of Pullman, Illinois, model
industrial town by George
Pullman. Planned Communities |
| 1885 |
|
The 10-story Home Insurance Building is completed in Chicago. Made possible by the use of a steel frame and the invention of the elevator, it is reputed to be the first skyscraper. Urban Design |
| 1890 |
|
The year conventionally regarded as the beginning of the Art Nouveau period, an international style that flourished until about WWI, and which affected all arts including architecture (curvilinear ornamentation on building facades based on natural forms-leaves, flowers, vines). Louis Sullivan's designs for many buildings and banks are representative of that style in America. Urban Design |
| 1890 |
|
How the Other Half Lives,
by Jacob Riis, is published; a powerful stimulus to housing and neighborhood
reform. Landmark Publication
Housing |
| 1891 |
|
General Land Law Revision Act gave
President power to create forest preserves by proclamation. Conservation & Environment Landmark
Laws |
| 1892 |
|
Sierra Club founded to promote the
protection and preservation of the natural environment. John Muir, Scottish-American
naturalist, and a major figure in the history of American environmentalism,
was the leading founder. Conservation
& Environment |
| 1893 |
|
World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago commemorating the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New
World. A source of the City Beautiful Movement and of the urban planning
profession. History of Planning
Profession Urban Design |
| 1896 |
|
United States
v. Gettysburg Electric Railway Co. The first significant legal case concerning
historic preservation. The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the acquisition
of the national battlefield at Gettysburg served a valid public purpose.
Conservation & Environment Landmark
Laws |
| 1897 |
|
Forest Management Act. Authorized
some control by the Secretary of the Interior over the use and occupancy
of the forest preserves. Conservation
& Environment Landmark
Laws |
| 1898 |
|
Tomorrow: A Peaceful Path to
Real Reform, by Ebenezer
Howard, a source of the Garden City Movement. His famous Garden City diagrams appear in the book. Reissued in 1902 as Garden
Cities of Tomorrow. Landmark
Publication Planned
Communities Urban Design |
| 1898 |
|
Gifford
Pinchot becomes Chief Forester of the United States in the Department
of Agriculture. From this position he publicizes the cause of forest conservation.
Conservation & Environment |
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