IHSS A 2021-22

Khadijah Ahmed  IHSS Mr. Roddy April 29, 2022 The Invention of the Telephone As cities continue to grow, more need for new inventions became apparent across the country. Almost instantly upon the patenting of the telephone in 1876, it far surpassed the telegraph in ease of use and popularity as a whole. By allowing instant communication over long distances, it became the number one form of communication in the US. By 1900, over 1.9 million telephones were in use by the population. These growing telephone networks were what made urban sprawl possible, and motivated people to move across cities. The telephone, however was very helpful for the economic growth of cities, as well. With telephones, brought the possibility for fast customer contact and outreach to new consumer bases. New demand for product was a result of telephone based advertisement. This demand for more production brought new openings in the workforce, meanwhile further building up the economy. Diversifying companies s...

Shyla Jogi Mr. Roddy IHSS 4/26/2022 Skyscrapers in the 1800s     In the late 1800s, the concept of the skyscraper began to evolve. Before, this had been thought of as something preposterous, unnecessary, or impossible. But as urbanization continued to grow in the 1800s, a growing problem emerged. This was not having enough office space for the fast paced growth of the workforce. This was the problem that the first skyscrapers were trying to fix. Urbanization played a huge role in this. This was because of growing population size, which meant more people trying to get jobs. The first skyscraper is generally considered to be the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, though it was only 10 stories high. The building was completed in 1885, and reached a height of 180 feet. Later on, buildings would get taller and taller because of new architectural inventions and discoveries in engineering. Chicago is known as a hub for architectural innovations. As of now, skyscrapers reach heights ...

  Owen Siegel Mr. Roddy IHSS 4/29/22 IHSS Public Transportation in the 1800s As cities continued to grow and evolve, so did Public Transportation. The 1800s saw a huge amount of new technological innovations when it came to transportation. One of the first new developments in the early 1800s was the addition of rails on everyday streets. This could first be seen in New York City and benefited public transportation by lowering the amount of energy exerted from pulling vehicles across the city. This was extremely beneficial at the time because almost all public transportation like the omnibus and soon-to-be cable car, required something to pull it along the ground. Speaking of the cable car, busier cities, and a need for a more uniform form of transportation instead of horses gave way to the invention of the cable car, which relied on a similar concept of a vehicle being pulled by steam power by a cable. The first cable car was invented by Andrew Smith Hallidie and gave way for man...

Chiara Abel  Mr. Roddy  IHSS  April 27, 2022  Transportation in the 1800s      In cities during the 1800s, a new era of transportation was emerging. As more and more skyscrapers were being built many people had to move to more suburban areas outside of the city farther from their jobs. After a while, there started to be a need for more efficient transportation. Some forms of transportation were trolleys, cable cars, subways, and the beginning of the railroad system. Transportation was really important because it helped create connections to different cities in the rapidly growing nation. The new railroad system let people easily travel in and out of the city especially those who had jobs in the city. It also allowed for things like goods and agriculture to be brought into cities and towns from farms in a faster more efficient manner. Around the 1880s the city of Chicago was known as the railroad hub of America. The city had multiple privately held tran...

  Ellie Roddy IHSS 4/29/22 Rise of Skyscrapers in the 1800s   In Chicago, in the year 1885, the US's first completed skyscraper was built. The construction of skyscrapers was invented by Henery Bessemer in 1885. Skyscrapers were built to help store more people in them and hold more workspaces and also allow more people to live in the city. The purpose of skyscrapers is to create more room for companies and workers. They also help the citizens become closer to urban work centers so people can easily access them. The skyscrapers help bring a sense of unity and civilization to the cities in that they are built-in. They bring this sense of unity to the community by not just creating traffic jams but by making it easier for companies to find a large workspace in the heart of the city. With skyscrapers being built it creates space in dense cities. The creation of skyscrapers, it opened up a new world for the citizens. With skyscrapers being created it opened up a world connected to ...

For my further research, I decided to dive deeper into New York's underground public transportation system. In 1811, The New York State Legislature introduced the "Grid Plan of NY" for New York City, dividing its streets into a rectangular pattern. The design has been the basis for transportation planning in the city ever since its creation. It's exact and mathematically correct so that it can easily supply adjustments to the city's underground. Then in 1870, almost 60 years later, New York's first above-ground, elevated railway began running on a regular schedule along Greenwich St and 9th Ave. It would be driven (no pun intended) out of business by the subway about 50 years later. The subway would then become one of the largest forms of underground transportation in all of the US and the world. It's still fully used by New York residents every single day and is one of the best examples of public transportation. Decades later in 1913, the New York City Ra...

  Niko Cantu Mr.Roddy IHSS 29 April 2022 Brief History of Electric Lighting  In the year 1879 the brilliant scientist Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb. The incandescent light bulb had a big effect on how people lived their lives as it traveled throughout America, slowly making it to rural areas out in the country. Soon after in 1882 electricity was readily available in cities with the first commercial power plants popping up. Electric lighting allowed for factories to be open 24/7 as this new lightbulb could last for far longer. Although, before Edison's creation of the light bulb we had the first form of constant electric light roughly 40 years earlier in 1835. Once electric lighting was created scientists worked to create an effective and long lasting light, although this failed, until Thomas Edison. The problem had to do with the filament that held the flame, which Thomas Edison was able to improve using a Carbonized filament of uncoated cotton thread th...

The invention of electricity was a "shocking" invention to all, considering that at the time everyone was using other means of lighting and it seemed like magic. during the year 1882 commercial power because available for purchase, and people started using it to light their homes using light bulbs. the city became electrically lighted 24/7 and it was super useful for city life.  as cities began to use electricity, they flourished in the glow of the new electric lights. Homes started to have electricity and new products like vacuum cleaners and dishwashers started to be used inside homes. this was a large improvement over what it was like before, and cities grew faster and cities like Houston started to have a faster speed of development. the early 1900s was when electricity started to really give an impact on city life. This was called electrical construction, and it was a truly electrifying part of history, and when the NECA was founded in new york, electricity was becoming ...

Sweatshop workers in New York were dominated by people of different races and ages. Most people working in these sweatshops were living in slums and on the streets of dirty New york. The Irish worked mostly from 1850 to 1880. Around 1865 Germans entered the industry followed by Jews and Russians. These groups included children. These children perform simple tasks that often require strength. For example, they moved goods from shop to shop. Often these people came to America knowing little to nothing about being a seamstress or about working in a garment factory. Not only did children work at factories and sweatshops, but their homes also became a workplace too. Many children loved school a lot more than their own homes because they knew when they would go home they would work. These children almost made New York and were the base of many industrial factories. The biggest reason why children were employed was because of less pay, more manageable, and less likely to strike or be non-coop...

Charlie Brisch Mr. Roddy IHSS April 26, 2022      As cities grew, it became more and more difficult to work right next to the factory. Intercity transport became more and more popular, and it was the first version of public transport. And usually, large transportation was only used to connect cities to one another. Horse drawn carriages were the first version of this, then they evolved into the omnibus, which was also a horse drawn carriage but on tracks instead of just on roads. The issue was that it was horse powered, because the horses had to stop, switch out, eat, etc. Then Frank Sprauge invented the same thing as the omnibus, but electric powered instead, and it could run all day and night because it didn’t have horses that needed to sleep. San Francisco had one of the most brilliant ideas, the cable cars. As San Francisco is a rather hilly city, going up and down the hills was a major issue for the horses. The cable cars are pulled along by an underground cable, and...

 Khadijah Ahmed Mr. Roddy IHSS April 21, 2022 Andrew Carnegie, Early Career   American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 Scotland to William and Margaret. His life story is known as one of the most prevalent rags-to-riches tales from the late industrial revolution period. His father was a Scottish handloom weaver, and also marched for fair wages and labor rights. Per the introduction of the uncostly mechanical weave, Carnegie's home country faced economic turmoil and distress through the working population, including his father. The Carnegie family was sent into poverty with the loss of William's factory job, leading the family to immigrate to the US in 1848. They moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to pursue the so told American Dream. Carnegie began factory work at the young age of just twelve, as a bobbin boy at a cotton factory. He quickly grew fond of educating himself through reading and writing. At fourteen, through his job as a messenger a...

 Natalie Gross Mr. Roddy IHSS 12 April 2022 Andrew Carnegie          Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland and his family moved to the US thirteen years later. There he worked in the factories for a small wage of $1.20 ($43.67 today) a week. I don't know exactly how long the hours were, but given other factory jobs around that time, I would assume they were too many for the wage he got. This and many other jobs that he had would lead him to become a well-known advocate for union rights. This though didn't stop him from fighting against them with his own company later on in his life. Carnegie went on to become a railroad division superintendent where he invested in iron, oil, and coal companies. These investments went very well and he ended up very rich because of them. He then kept expanding his investments, eventually starting his own steel company and with the money bought out his competition, building his own empire. This is where he abandoned his values ...

  So far my challenge project has been going really well. I had my first interview last Wednesday and it went really well in my opinion. I feel like air pollution may be a controversial topic for some people, but my interviewee gave really good answers to my questions. I researched Environment Texas before the interview which helped me a lot. I learned about my topic a bit more in-depth along with getting to know more key points. I'm still working on getting an interview from the opposite party of air pollution, the air polluters. I figured no one from a petrochemical or oil company would want to interview me if I didn't know them, so I thought of a better way to get a hold of someone from that industry. I could ask one of my friends' parents that work for an oil company to have an interview. I think this would go a lot smoother and I could get a lot more information from someone I may know.

 Yazzie Stein IHSS Mr.Roddy April 19, 2022 John D. Rockefeller: Upbringing (1839-1937)     I thought that reading about John D. Rockefeller was interesting because he grew up in poverty and became the one of the world's wealthiest men, founding the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He seemed to work his way up to this position rather than inherit it, which stood out to me. Seemingly always a businessman at heart, John sold candy, raised turkeys, and did neighbors' jobs to earn money to help support his family. At 16, he worked as a clerk at a Cleveland commissions company.  Motivated post-college, Rockefeller collaborated with a partner to establish their own commission firm. Later, Rockefeller and many partners involved themselves initially with the oil industry by investing in a Cleveland Ohio refinery in 1863. I found it interestingly controversial how many critics accused Rockefeller of unethical business strategies, such as predatory pricing and attempting...

           Ellie     Roddy     IHSS     4/19/22 Cornelius Vanderbilt - The Feared Industrialist  Cornelius Vanderbilt is one of the most known steamship operators of the Gilded Age. During his years of working as a steamship operator, he was well known for his strong competitive spirit and ruthlessness, which earned him the nickname "Commodore". In the 1860s Vanderbilt shift his area of interest from steamship operations to railroad operations. When he shifted his focus to the railroad industry he built another empire that helped the railroad industry, by making the transportation progress much quicker.  In the late 1820s after working for Thomas Gibbons, Vanderbilt decided to start his own business in the steamship industry. During his time working in the steamship industry, he built steamships and operated the ferry lines around New York. He ended up being a dominant force and it was said that he would engage in fie...

Chiara Abel  Mr. Roddy IHSS  April 19, 2022 Andrew Carnegie      Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American philanthropist who led the expansion of the steel industry in America. When Andrew Carnegie was in Scotland his family lived in modest circumstances, his father was a handloom weaver, and his mother did seeing work for local shoemakers. Eventually, his family uprooted their life and came to America in search of better opportunities. Andrew Carnegie's first job was as a bobbin boy at a cotton factory. Later, he was working at the Pennsylvania Railroad company where he took over his boss' position and became the railroad division superintendent. After becoming the railroad division superintendent he made investments In other industries such as coal, iron, oil, and the manufacturing of railroad sleeping cars. In the 1870's he earned his fortune and started a steel company. His steel company was very successful and he later sold it for about 480 million dollars. ...

  Niko Cantu M r.Roddy IHSS 19 April 2022 The Gilded Age 2.0 Those that led the Gilded age consisted of the high ranking wealth of America, the people that had enough money to control others with it. These businessmen only had the goal in mind of making more money and making sure that the government did not get in the way of that happening. This wealth had the ability to bend American democracy to its will, and with this power these big businesses had an influence over the government. They used their money to influence lawmakers into adopting policies that would better favor these large businesses and that were hostile to organized labor. While these businessmen used their money mainly as a means of influence in these political discussions they also used it to compete against one another to see who was the most expensive. They did this by hosting expensive. parties, taking trips, and building mansions, all signs of incredible wealth. A big factor in these businessmen's high wealt...

  Owen Siegel Mr. Roddy IHSS 4/19/22 Andrew Carnegie, Philanthropy Andrew Carnegie started his life living in a modest financial situation and became extremely rich after moving to America with his family in order to find new work. He was able to fulfill this by working a variety of different jobs and leading his own business. His work especially focused on the railroad for a long period of time, and he also started his own company. While Carnegie had always been generous with his money, he spent all of his time focusing on philanthropy in 1901, after selling Carnegie steel for $480 million dollars. Carnegie was especially passionate about the rich donating money and wrote “The Gospel of Wealth”, which explained that every rich person is morally obligated to share their money, and dying rich without sharing is disgraceful. For the rest of his life, Andrew always stayed true to these words, making huge contributions to different aspects of American life. He was passionate about wo...

 Shyla Jogi Mr. Roddy IHSS 4/19/2022 Cornelius Vanderbilt          Cornelius Vanderbilt originally started making money in the steamship business before shifting his focus to investing in railroads. I n the early 1850s, Vanderbilt launched a steamship service that went from New York to San Francisco. This was via Nicaragua, which made the route much faster than the already established one across Panama. There was also another alternative, which went around Cape Horn, but Vanderbilt's line was much faster than that as well. It was an instant, booming success, and went on to make Vanderbilt more than $1 million a year, which today is around $26 million. He was married twice, both times to his female cousins, Sophia Johnson and Frank Crawford. He had 13 children. He had an incredibly ruthless approach to business matters, and sometimes his competitors would pay him large amounts of money just to ensure that he wouldn't compete with them.     ...

  John D. Rockefeller was one of the biggest philanthropists of his time. He gave a total of $530,853,632 in his lifetime. Today that is $15,416,418,445.91. At the beginning of his life when started to make his fortune, people assumed he was greedy and too rich for his own good. Toward the end of his life is when he became a philanthropist and decided to prove the people that didn't like him wrong. Rockefeller worked on eliminating hookworm disease. Hookworm disease is when small worms take over the small intestine. They spread through human feces and affected many people's lives. Other sections of his money went to universities, research centers, and foundations. One foundation is The Rockefeller Foundation. He donated over 100 million dollars to this foundation in the span of two years (1913-14). The foundation is still up and going today and now they support not just people's health, but also their well-being. Working “ to end energy poverty, achieve health for all, nour...

Charlie Brisch IHSS Mr. Roddy April 12, 2022 In 1859, Rockefeller became a business partner with Maurice B. Clark. Fast forward a few years, towards the end of the Civil War, and they looked into starting to refine crude oil. A market existed for oil refined into kerosene. Coal was usually used to refine kerosene, but it became too expensive and tedious to keep using. In Cleveland’s industrial area, a refinery was owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Rockefeller & Clark, as well as chemist Samuel Andrews and Clark’s brothers. Whale oil, which was used as fuel in lamps, was getting too expensive to continue using, the kerosene business began booming. He then split off in 1870 but continued to produce oil under Standard Oil of Ohio. He then became the most profitable oil refiner in Ohio, and one of the largest shippers of oil and kerosene in the country. Rockefeller became wildly efficient in buying the least efficient refiners, which improved his efficiency i...

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born little boy who worked his way up the line of jobs, from a messenger of low ranking officials using the telegraph, to a telegraph operator. then one day he had the opportunity to work as a telegraph assistant under one of the top officials for the railroad, and here he learned about business and how to be successful in the world by observing the actions of the people around him. as he grew he started to join into the world of business, he made investments into the various oil and steel industries around him, and his wealth grew due to the wise decisions he had made. He then made a steen business himself and it grew, with his help, to be one of the biggest in the industry. While going into business endeavors, he was very clever, and seldom made mistakes, maybe the stray investment that didn't go well, but it was all very controlled and planned. He always had a plan on what to do and was very generous after he retired. He donated almost all of his m...