Have you ever thought of what the world would be like without the automobile? This paper will talk about the things the automobile has helped create. Inventors first started experimenting with steam powered engines in the late 18th century. Cars began being produced and sold to the public in the 1890’s (Automotive History). The automobile is considered to be one of the greatest inventions of all time. As a result of the automobile, cities changed, jobs were formed, and the environment was impacted.
Within the past century, the automobile have had a large impact on cities. One of the effects of the automobile that people don't always think about is the formation of suburbs. Suburbs began being built heavily in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Levittown was the first pre-fabricated community, it was built in 1949.” (Automobile in American Life). Levittown was the first of the largest mass produced suburbs. Cars allowed for people to live outside of the city and still be able to commute to work. This greatly reduced city crowding. The expansion of city boundaries required an expansion of roadways. Highways and Interstates were formed because of this. Highways allowed for travel between cities and interstate allowed for travel across state lines. (Automotive History). Along with this new expansion came new opportunities. Some of these opportunities include drive-in movie theaters and restaurants, drive-thru banks and restaurants, motels, and convenience stores. 7 Eleven was the first extended hour convenience store (Impact of the Automobile). This impacted american culture and travel greatly. It was the first store with extended hours. The new hours were from 7 am - 11pm. That in fact, is how the store got its name (7 Eleven). Motels p...
... middle of paper ...
...ure would not exist. Life without the automobile, suburbs, interstate travel, and Drive-thru restaurants would be very different than the life people are used to today. The automobile industry has expanded to every continent and still continues to grow today.
Works Cited
“Automobile In American Life and Society.” Automobile In American Life and Society. N.P., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
“Automotive History.” Automotive History. N.P., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
“Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Early Cars: Fact Sheet for Children.” Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Early Cars: Fact Sheet for Children. N.P., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
“History.” History. 7-Eleven, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
“Newsroom.” NC State News. N.P., n.p. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
“The Impact of the Automobile on the 20th Century.” The Impact of the Automobile on the 20th Century. N.P., n.p. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
Automobiles have been apart of not only American, but worldwide life for more than 100 years. The 1920’s was a period in which the use and production of them became very prevalent and mass produced like no other time before. Automobiles began to be make life easier, and increasingly more productive in just about every way. The Great Gatsby is a book in which automobiles were owned by almost every character; without the automobiles characters such as Gatsby, Tom, Daisy, and even Nick would not be able to get to the city in which they called “West and East Egg” from their suburban mansions on the outskirts of town. Intriguingly, the way their cars looked differed greatly from others of the time that showed their power,
The impact of the automobile between 1900 through 1945 was immense. It paved the way for a future dependency on the automobile. To paint a better picture, imagine life without an automobile. Everyday life would be dull, cumbersome, and tedious. An individual's mobility would be very limited. Basically, the life without an automobile could not be fathomed. The importance of the automobile is often taken for granite. Society may not know what appreciate the impact of the automobile and effects it has created. The impact of the automobile had both positive and negative effects on America between 1900 through 1945. Automobile provided an outlet for individuals and spread the freedom of travel among all classes of people. It also helped to introduce rural dwellers to the aspects of urban life and vice versa. One of the negative effects was that automobiles helped to put of big decline in the use of railroads. Over the course of the paper, I will try to expose the huge impact of the automobile an early twentieth century life.
Car culture had caused some serious headaches for city planners in the 1950s. They had not anticipated the added traffic when building cities and were forced to adjust their plans with mixed results. There were many side effects to the restructuring of the city, and most were not good for the city center. Business and customers were no longer funneled into the now crowded city center in favor of the more spacious and convenient periphery. Community life as well as business in the city center really suffered as a result of suburbanization caused by the car. Jane Jacobs says in her chapter called "Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles" in the book Autopia, "Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles (259...
In the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among academia’s finest regarding the automobile in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies. Directed towards the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed negatives of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is thriving and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preference over other means of transportation, as well as presents solutions to the social costs of cars. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done in eliminating the social costs of the automobile, experts are not going to stop campaigning against it.
After the steam engine was created in the early 17th century, many people and companies tried to take that same technology and apply it to automobiles. Nobody was successful until a British inventor by the name of Richard Trevithick created a multi passenger automobile that ran on a power source that was driven by a steam-propelled piston at high pressure (Bellis). Up until the mid 1900’s cars were only produced by specifically skilled blacksmiths, and were very expensive. There were only about 4,000 cars produced from the 1890’s to mid 1900’s (Bellis).
In the twentieth century, the introduction of the motor vehicle in the United States became not only noteworthy, but also vital in the development of modern American civilization. This technologically complex machine led citizens to vast future dependency on the invention. While mobility was suddenly not limited to alternative, more convoluted options such as railroad stations or bicycles, yet copiously amplified to aid convenience and expanded leisure opportunities. From auto-racing to redesigning infrastructure, motor vehicles allowed progression, digression, and essentially uttermost change to lifestyles of the American people.
The automobile had changed America in many ways since it has been created in the early 1900’s. When the automobile was first invented it was a thing only the rich could afford. After the invention of the mass production line more and more people were able to buy automobiles because they were being produce and sold for cheaper. A historian once said that Henry ford is the reason why common people have no limitations of their geography.
The automobile industry was the reason behind the mass production of materials needed to construct a vehicle and new roads, by using the assembly line method brought about by Henry Ford. After seeing how successful the automobile industry was doing, it lead to an increase in motor related occupations like insurance, agents, and gas stations. Then, as the concept of sub-urbanizing occurred to many, the development of schools, commercial constructions, hospitals and other attractions grew enormously (Faue). As the automobile sales prompted many new industries for the need of common goods, the life of an American was changing quickly and even more jobs opened up. This domino effect that arose from automobiles was innovating America and brought more choices to the common person since he or she is opened to such vast markets. Ultimately, the automobile started a chain reaction that resulted in numerous new companies opening for business, which fueled the US economy. Ergo, the concept of consumerism grew where people decided what they want to buy, and that economic shift is what lead to the bloom of the US economy in the
buggy, ships, trains, and walking (“A Brief History of The Auto”). But when the automobile was ...
The 1920’s were a seminal moment in our nation’s history. So many key events and people of the time shaped the future of our country. This period of growth, prosperity and social change would not be realized again until the post-WW II years. The enduring impact of the automobile on our nation and the professional, personal and social mobility that it provides, exists today.
What would this country be without the car, or any type of motor vehicle for that matter? The automobile has transformed the country and the world. The first car was manufactured in 1769 it was a steam powered engine that could go eight miles per hour (Dreyer). But everything escalated when Henery Ford figured out the trick to pushing out cars at a fast rate for the common man. It has created many opportunities; it has made new sports and has made getting from point A to B easier. As a result of the automobile, culture flourished, jobs became easier to come by, and the environment was positively and negatively impacted.
The first alluring aspect of the Roaring Twenties is that it was when cars were first introduced to the public on a large scale. When Henry Ford’s “Model T” rose to popularity in the 1920’s, people could get in an automobile and go wherever they pleased for a reasonable price. In 1914, a Model T cost about $490. By 1921, Ford had lowered the price to only $310. Through this, cars transformed from a privilege to a commodity. As cars gained popularity, common people were freed from the limitations of their location. The automobile created mobility on a scale like never before in human history, and the resulting effect on living habits and social customs is endless. If I lived in the 1920’s, I would enjoy the new freedom that comes along with this revolutionary feat.
In this year Henry Ford created the first affordable, combustion engine car called the Model-T. The creation of the Model-T changed the lives of every American. Vehicles were looked at as a way of freedom and excitement. Soon after, every household in America had a car. The demand for vehicles sparked a whole new industry, creating jobs, more revenues and improving the American economy in every way. With so many vehicles on the roads, roads needed to become bigger and better which spawned a nation wide road construction. This also created more jobs and strengthened the economy even further. (Inventions: Car)
The 1920's were a time where North America became modernized. Whether it was the music, the culture or the growth in technology, this time era is known to most people as the point where America advanced itself to become a world renowned country. An advancement that will be focused on is the Ford Model T. During this time owning a car was a symbol of wealth. Henry Ford, the creator of the Model T, made a system that revolutionized the automobile industry as we know it today. Henry Ford made it possible for people with an average income to own a motor vehicle by creating the assembly line and the theory of mass production. "The horse, which had been the chief means of land transportation for 3,500 years, had given way to the automobile, and the country's largest industry had been born." (Gordon)
9. Boyne, Walter J. The History of the American automobile. New York: New York, 1988