During the late nineteenth century, America was undergoing a cultural change in society. An island with Amusement Parks and vast beaches was underway in development to change the face of America in ways no one could have imagined at the time. The island was referred to as Coney Island. Coney Island Amusement Parks was built in a span of 30 years that would provide the American people a place to relax and enjoy time together with their friends and family. As a whole, Coney Island at the turn of the century, offered the ways of the future in distinctive ways; through technological advances of the era. Around 1900, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company created steam railways that connected Manhattan and Brooklyn, thus making Coney Island much more accessible to people living the city (Source 2). Coney Island was a symbol of America in the early twentieth century, where all of America’s values and traditions were defined and brought into one place. In a sense, Coney Island took Americans from the Victorian age, to a more modern and futuristic sense of what America could potentially become. Changing economic and social conditions helped to create the basis of new mass culture that was carried on into the new century (Source 1)
As the industrialization brought new technology and ideas, the ways of American life changed almost instantly. Many inventions were being tested to see how well they would do throughout Coney Island. Many people started to take notice of these change and started talking more and more about it. Traditional concepts were now being challenged and overshadowed as to what was to be created in Coney Island. “Now machines of industry are becoming instruments of play”, recalled Fred Thompson, crea...
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... about leisure and entertainment at the same time.
All in all, Coney Island brought different perspectives on the changing culture in America at the turn of the century. Now men and women were able express themselves in ways they never could have before, technological advances were well on their way into the modern era, and the morals people had changed drastically compared to the Victorian era. Coney island forever changed America, and created new views on leisure and entertainment. Today leisure and entertainment are a part of cultural society everywhere.
Works Cited
1. Kasson, F. John. “Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century” New York: Hill and Wang, 1978
2. Berman, John S. Coney Island. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003
3. McCullough, David. “American Experience: Coney Island.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/coney/inc
This was the first-time people had seen factories like this is America. Many famous, affluent, and powerful men visited these textile mills only long enough to admire the engineering advancements Lowell had made, and completely missed the inhumane treatment of the workers inside.
10. The technology used in Coney Island's rides allowed the park managers to control crowds while simultaneously giving people the illusion of total autonomy as they navigated the park. This is a parallel to the cultural changes going on at the time, brought about in part by Coney Island. The new "mass culture" gave people a newly found sense of liberation from older, more restrictive values even though part of the reason why people were adopting this new culture was societal pressure.
Sante, L. (1991). Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. New York: Vintage Books.
In his book, Rockdale, Anthony F.C. Wallace explores the relationship between the products of technology and social organization. Wallace focuses his study on the fairly small village of Rockdale, an environment that is intended to reflect a significant part of the American industrial experience of the nineteenth century.
During the 1800’s, America was going through a time of invention and discovery known as the Industrial Revolution. America was in its first century of being an independent nation and was beginning to make the transition from a “home producing” nation to a technological one. The biggest contribution to this major technological advancement was the establishment of the Transcontinental Railroad because it provided a faster way to transport goods, which ultimately boosted the economy and catapulted America to the Super Power it is today.
Kasson states that Coney Islands earliest attraction as a resort center was its lax regard to strict social situations. The first social rigidity to be disregarded was the mode of clothing, where beach goers preferred less rigid clothes as compared to street people simply because they wanted to relax and forget about their work environment for a period. Supporters of the situation would argue that Coney Island is a recreational place where people come to unwind and relax hence the mode of clothing could not be strict. Detractors would also argue their point in that Coney Island is a social place hence beach goers should take consideration of the gathering as a whole.
*Westchester County has nearly one million residents living throughout the 450 square miles and its population is larger than five states and 77 countries (Westchester gov.com, 2014). This region has a lot to offer historical; Westchester County played a key role in the American Revolution, cultural; arts, music, theater, museums, gardens, literary arts, cultural centers, and so on, geography; its locale is right along the Long Island Sound on the southeast and the Hudson River on the west, rolling hills, retaining rural characters, while adopting the urban and suburban lifestyles and New York City in close proximity, and population trends; the county’s population grew 3% between the 2000 and 2010 Census (Arts Westchester, n.d., Westchester
Douglas, Ann. Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s. New York: First Noonday Press, 1995. Print.
Ellis, Edward Robb., and Jeanyee Wong. The Epic of New York City. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf, 2005. Print.
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The arrival to Manhattan was like an entry to a whole new world: from the sea, its breezes, color, and landscapes, to the heart of the city beating louder than ever at the Whitehall Terminal. I could smell New York’s bagels in Battery Park with a mixture of the most relaxing scents: the coffee people were holding while walking down the streets, the old walls of Castle Clinton ...
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