Health, Morality, and Housing: The "Tenement Problem" in Chicago

American Journal of Public Health

Volumn 93, Issue 9, 2003, Pages 1420-1430

  Garb, Margaret ^a,b  

^a WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b Campus Box 1062 ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION; HISTORY; HOUSING; HUMAN; LAW; MORTALITY; PUBLIC HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE; REVIEW; SOCIAL PROBLEM; ART; ARTICLE; GOVERNMENT; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; HEALTH; LEGAL ASPECT; MIGRATION; MORALITY; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; POLITICS; POVERTY; SANITATION; STANDARD; UNITED STATES;

CHICAGO; EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HOUSING; HUMANS; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; MORALS; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; POLITICS; PORTRAITS; POVERTY AREAS; PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION; SANITATION; URBAN HEALTH;

EID: 0141832872     PISSN: 00900036     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.93.9.1420     Document Type: Review

References (78)

1. Seizures of condemned meat did increase from 85 950 pounds in 1873 to 1991164 pounds in 1893, but the Chicago Tribune complained throughout the late 1870s and 1880s of inadequate inspections and issued regular reports of people sickened by tainted meat. See Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, vol 3, The Rise of the Modern City, 1871-1893 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), 322; Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1879, 8; and Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1879, 4.
2. Seizures of condemned meat did increase from 85 950 pounds in 1873 to 1991164 pounds in 1893, but the Chicago Tribune complained throughout the late 1870s and 1880s of inadequate inspections and issued regular reports of people sickened by tainted meat. See Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, vol 3, The Rise of the Modern City, 1871-1893 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), 322; Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1879, 8; and Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1879, 4.
3. Seizures of condemned meat did increase from 85 950 pounds in 1873 to 1991164 pounds in 1893, but the Chicago Tribune complained throughout the late 1870s and 1880s of inadequate inspections and issued regular reports of people sickened by tainted meat. See Bessie Louise Pierce, A History of Chicago, vol 3, The Rise of the Modern City, 1871-1893 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), 322; Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1879, 8; and Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1879, 4.
4. See Chicago Department of Health reports for the 1880s; Christine Meisner Rosen, The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 173; E. Robinson, Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, Illinois (New York: Robinson, 1886); Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 50-56; and Richard Sennett, Families Against the City: Middle Class Homes of Industrial Chicago, 1872-1890 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), 25-39.
5. See Chicago Department of Health reports for the 1880s; Christine Meisner Rosen, The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 173; E. Robinson, Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, Illinois (New York: Robinson, 1886); Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 50-56; and Richard Sennett, Families Against the City: Middle Class Homes of Industrial Chicago, 1872-1890 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), 25-39.
6. See Chicago Department of Health reports for the 1880s; Christine Meisner Rosen, The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 173; E. Robinson, Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, Illinois (New York: Robinson, 1886); Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 50-56; and Richard Sennett, Families Against the City: Middle Class Homes of Industrial Chicago, 1872-1890 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), 25-39.
7. See Chicago Department of Health reports for the 1880s; Christine Meisner Rosen, The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 173; E. Robinson, Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, Illinois (New York: Robinson, 1886); Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 50-56; and Richard Sennett, Families Against the City: Middle Class Homes of Industrial Chicago, 1872-1890 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984), 25-39.
8. Much excellent scholarly work has been produced on the late 19th century's sanitary reform movement. While earlier work celebrated the achievements of the sanitarians, some of the more recent work argues that sanitary reform work contained elements of social control. Historians looking at the history of social medicine and immigration highlight the nativist strain in sanitary reform; others spotlight the sanitarians' utilitarian strategies to improve labor's productivity by improving worker health. My aim is to highlight the significance of tenement inspections in sanitary work and to explore the ways public health efforts functioned to redefine property rights in housing. See, for example, John Duffy, The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996); Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972); and Martin V. Molosi, The Sanitary City (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
9. Much excellent scholarly work has been produced on the late 19th century's sanitary reform movement. While earlier work celebrated the achievements of the sanitarians, some of the more recent work argues that sanitary reform work contained elements of social control. Historians looking at the history of social medicine and immigration highlight the nativist strain in sanitary reform; others spotlight the sanitarians' utilitarian strategies to improve labor's productivity by improving worker health. My aim is to highlight the significance of tenement inspections in sanitary work and to explore the ways public health efforts functioned to redefine property rights in housing. See, for example, John Duffy, The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996); Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972); and Martin V. Molosi, The Sanitary City (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
10. Much excellent scholarly work has been produced on the late 19th century's sanitary reform movement. While earlier work celebrated the achievements of the sanitarians, some of the more recent work argues that sanitary reform work contained elements of social control. Historians looking at the history of social medicine and immigration highlight the nativist strain in sanitary reform; others spotlight the sanitarians' utilitarian strategies to improve labor's productivity by improving worker health. My aim is to highlight the significance of tenement inspections in sanitary work and to explore the ways public health efforts functioned to redefine property rights in housing. See, for example, John Duffy, The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996); Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972); and Martin V. Molosi, The Sanitary City (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
11. Much excellent scholarly work has been produced on the late 19th century's sanitary reform movement. While earlier work celebrated the achievements of the sanitarians, some of the more recent work argues that sanitary reform work contained elements of social control. Historians looking at the history of social medicine and immigration highlight the nativist strain in sanitary reform; others spotlight the sanitarians' utilitarian strategies to improve labor's productivity by improving worker health. My aim is to highlight the significance of tenement inspections in sanitary work and to explore the ways public health efforts functioned to redefine property rights in housing. See, for example, John Duffy, The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996); Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972); and Martin V. Molosi, The Sanitary City (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
12. Much excellent scholarly work has been produced on the late 19th century's sanitary reform movement. While earlier work celebrated the achievements of the sanitarians, some of the more recent work argues that sanitary reform work contained elements of social control. Historians looking at the history of social medicine and immigration highlight the nativist strain in sanitary reform; others spotlight the sanitarians' utilitarian strategies to improve labor's productivity by improving worker health. My aim is to highlight the significance of tenement inspections in sanitary work and to explore the ways public health efforts functioned to redefine property rights in housing. See, for example, John Duffy, The Sanitarians: A History of American Public Health (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992); Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace" (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); Judith Walzer Leavitt, The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996); Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972); and Martin V. Molosi, The Sanitary City (Baltimore, Md: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).
13. The Pittsfield Republican, 1906; Dictionary of American Medical Biography, ed. Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage (Boston: Milford House, 1971), 324-325; Journal of American Medical Association 54 (1910): 1229; James C. Russell, History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago (Chicago: Biographical Publishing Corporation, 1922), 100.
14. The Pittsfield Republican, 1906; Dictionary of American Medical Biography, ed. Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage (Boston: Milford House, 1971), 324-325; Journal of American Medical Association 54 (1910): 1229; James C. Russell, History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago (Chicago: Biographical Publishing Corporation, 1922), 100.
15. The Pittsfield Republican, 1906; Dictionary of American Medical Biography, ed. Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage (Boston: Milford House, 1971), 324-325; Journal of American Medical Association 54 (1910): 1229; James C. Russell, History of Medicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago (Chicago: Biographical Publishing Corporation, 1922), 100.
16. James H. Cassedy, Medicine in America: A Short History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 64-65.
17. Duffy, The Sanitarians, 120-124, 140-150; Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State, 52-54; Chicago Council Proceedings, 1876-1877, 16, 111; Bulletin of the Society of Medical History of Chicago (Chicago: The Society, 1911-1948), 89-104. Rauch was a former lieutenant colonel and surgeon in the Union Army and a founding member of the American Public Health Association.
18. Duffy, The Sanitarians, 120-124, 140-150; Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State, 52-54; Chicago Council Proceedings, 1876-1877, 16, 111; Bulletin of the Society of Medical History of Chicago (Chicago: The Society, 1911-1948), 89-104. Rauch was a former lieutenant colonel and surgeon in the Union Army and a founding member of the American Public Health Association.
19. Duffy, The Sanitarians, 120-124, 140-150; Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State, 52-54; Chicago Council Proceedings, 1876-1877, 16, 111; Bulletin of the Society of Medical History of Chicago (Chicago: The Society, 1911-1948), 89-104. Rauch was a former lieutenant colonel and surgeon in the Union Army and a founding member of the American Public Health Association.
20. Duffy, The Sanitarians, 120-124, 140-150; Rosenkrantz, Public Health and the State, 52-54; Chicago Council Proceedings, 1876-1877, 16, 111; Bulletin of the Society of Medical History of Chicago (Chicago: The Society, 1911-1948), 89-104. Rauch was a former lieutenant colonel and surgeon in the Union Army and a founding member of the American Public Health Association.
21. Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 320.
22. The Pittsfield Republican, 1906; Journal of the American Medical Association 54 (1910): 1229.
23. The Pittsfield Republican, 1906; Journal of the American Medical Association 54 (1910): 1229.
24. Isaac D. Rawlings, The Rise and Fall of Disease in Illinois (Springfield, Ill: Schepp & Barnes, Printers, 1927), 327; Chicago Inter-Ocean, July 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 320-323.
25. Isaac D. Rawlings, The Rise and Fall of Disease in Illinois (Springfield, Ill: Schepp & Barnes, Printers, 1927), 327; Chicago Inter-Ocean, July 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 320-323.
26. Isaac D. Rawlings, The Rise and Fall of Disease in Illinois (Springfield, Ill: Schepp & Barnes, Printers, 1927), 327; Chicago Inter-Ocean, July 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 320-323.
27. Report of the Department of Health for the City of Chicago for the Year 1885 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1886), 122.
28. See Department of Health reports for 1876-1889.
29. Thomas Neville Bonner, Medicine in Chicago: 1850-1950, A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (New York: Stratford Press Inc, 1957), 25-26; Erwin H. Ackerknecht, A Short History of Medicine, rev ed (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 177-178; Donald L. Miller, City of the Century (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 430; Cassedy, Medicine in America, 76-86.
30. Thomas Neville Bonner, Medicine in Chicago: 1850-1950, A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (New York: Stratford Press Inc, 1957), 25-26; Erwin H. Ackerknecht, A Short History of Medicine, rev ed (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 177-178; Donald L. Miller, City of the Century (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 430; Cassedy, Medicine in America, 76-86.
31. Thomas Neville Bonner, Medicine in Chicago: 1850-1950, A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (New York: Stratford Press Inc, 1957), 25-26; Erwin H. Ackerknecht, A Short History of Medicine, rev ed (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 177-178; Donald L. Miller, City of the Century (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 430; Cassedy, Medicine in America, 76-86.
32. Thomas Neville Bonner, Medicine in Chicago: 1850-1950, A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (New York: Stratford Press Inc, 1957), 25-26; Erwin H. Ackerknecht, A Short History of Medicine, rev ed (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), 177-178; Donald L. Miller, City of the Century (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 430; Cassedy, Medicine in America, 76-86.
33. Oscar C. DeWolf, Asiatic Cholera: A Sketch of Its History, Nature, and Preventive Management (Chicago: American Book Company, 1885), 9.
34. Cassedy, Medicine in America, 78; Reports of the Department of Health for the Years 1877-1889 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1890).
35. Report of the Department of Health for the City of Chicago for the Year 1886 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1887), 47-49.
36. Even before De Wolf's appointment, the city comptroller, arguing that the health board had exceeded its legal authority in hiring sanitary inspectors, refused to pay the sanitary inspectors. When the board sued the city, the case was decided in its favor, but only after several years of battles among city officials over expenditures for health-related activities. The appellate courts ruled that the statute establishing the board had broad powers, including the hiring of sanitary inspectors. See "The People of the State of Ill. ex. rel. H.W. Jones," in Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Illinois, vol 45, ed. Norman L. Freeman (Chicago: E. B. Myers and Company, 1869), 297-301. Similarly, De Wolf's initial efforts to regulate the slaughtering industry were challenged in court, with the courts ruling that the commissioner did not have the legal authority to issue such regulations. See "Charles H. Tugman v. The City of Chicago," in Reports of Cases of Law and Chancery (Springfield, 1876), 405-412.
37. Even before De Wolf's appointment, the city comptroller, arguing that the health board had exceeded its legal authority in hiring sanitary inspectors, refused to pay the sanitary inspectors. When the board sued the city, the case was decided in its favor, but only after several years of battles among city officials over expenditures for health-related activities. The appellate courts ruled that the statute establishing the board had broad powers, including the hiring of sanitary inspectors. See "The People of the State of Ill. ex. rel. H.W. Jones," in Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Illinois, vol 45, ed. Norman L. Freeman (Chicago: E. B. Myers and Company, 1869), 297-301. Similarly, De Wolf's initial efforts to regulate the slaughtering industry were challenged in court, with the courts ruling that the commissioner did not have the legal authority to issue such regulations. See "Charles H. Tugman v. The City of Chicago," in Reports of Cases of Law and Chancery (Springfield, 1876), 405-412.
38. Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1879, 8.
39. Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year 1879-80 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1881), 22. Pierce, in Rise of the Modern City (p. 54), asserts, "Not until 1880 did a municipal ordinance give the Department of Health the right to inspect and regulate sanitary conditions even in places of employment." But, according to the board's yearly reports, sanitary inspectors were inspecting tenement housing as early as 1875.
40. Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year 1879-80 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1881), 22. Pierce, in Rise of the Modern City (p. 54), asserts, "Not until 1880 did a municipal ordinance give the Department of Health the right to inspect and regulate sanitary conditions even in places of employment." But, according to the board's yearly reports, sanitary inspectors were inspecting tenement housing as early as 1875.
41. The Progressive Age, October 1, 1881, 4, and March 5, 1881, 2; Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 20, 1874.
42. The Progressive Age, October 1, 1881, 4, and March 5, 1881, 2; Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 20, 1874.
43. Chicago City Council Proceedings, 1881 and 1882, 25. Quoted in Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 54.
44. Walter L. Newberry Estate, Financial Records, Newberry Library Collection. Newberry owned scores of houses and multifamily dwellings, which he rented to skilled laborers.
45. Report of the Board of Health of the City of Chicago for the Years 1874 and 1875 (Chicago: Bulletin Printing Co, 1876), 91.
46. "Report of the Tenement and Factory Inspectors," in Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year 1887 (Chicago: M. B. Kenny, Printer, 1888), 55-56.
47. Report of the Department of Health for the Years 1876-1877 (Chicago: Clark & Edwards, Printers, 1878), 70-73.
48. Construction regulations also generated opposition. De Wolf noted that many builders, resisting the Health Department's regulations, seemed "to think that the law should leave them to construct buildings entirely of their own ideas." As New York's tenement reformer, Robert W. DeForest, would note 2 decades later, legislation designed to regulate construction on private property seemed to run counter to the most fundamental ideals of American liberty: "Most of us have been brought up to believe that, as owners of real estate, we could build on it what we pleased, build as high as we pleased, and sink our buildings as low as we pleased. Our ideas of what constitutes property rights and what constitutes liberty are largely conventional." Report of the Department of Health for 1887, 6; The Tenement House Problem, Including the Report of the New York State Tenement House Commission of 1900, ed. Robert W. De Forest and Lawrence Veiller (New York: Macmillan Company, 1903), 84.
49. Construction regulations also generated opposition. De Wolf noted that many builders, resisting the Health Department's regulations, seemed "to think that the law should leave them to construct buildings entirely of their own ideas." As New York's tenement reformer, Robert W. DeForest, would note 2 decades later, legislation designed to regulate construction on private property seemed to run counter to the most fundamental ideals of American liberty: "Most of us have been brought up to believe that, as owners of real estate, we could build on it what we pleased, build as high as we pleased, and sink our buildings as low as we pleased. Our ideas of what constitutes property rights and what constitutes liberty are largely conventional." Report of the Department of Health for 1887, 6; The Tenement House Problem, Including the Report of the New York State Tenement House Commission of 1900, ed. Robert W. De Forest and Lawrence Veiller (New York: Macmillan Company, 1903), 84.
50. Walter L. Newberry Estate, Financial Records, Newberry Library Collection.
51. "The People ex rel Jennie Barmore, Relatrix, vs. John Dill Robertson et al Respondents," in Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery, vol 302 (Springfield, Ill: 1922), 422-436.
52. Richard Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics: Class Conflict and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 88-89; Miller, City of the Century, 441-449; Report of the Department of Health for the City of Chicago for the Years 1883/1884 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1885).
53. Richard Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics: Class Conflict and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 88-89; Miller, City of the Century, 441-449; Report of the Department of Health for the City of Chicago for the Years 1883/1884 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1885).
54. Richard Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics: Class Conflict and the Origins of Modern Liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 88-89; Miller, City of the Century, 441-449; Report of the Department of Health for the City of Chicago for the Years 1883/1884 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1885).
55. Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year 1882 (Chicago: George K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1883), 6.
56. Report of the Department of Health for 1885, 72.
57. Report of the Department of Health for 1882, 47-48.
58. Report of the Department of Health for 1882, 47.
59. The Progressive Age, July 23, 1881, and October 8, 1881.
60. Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics, 89, 147-148.
61. Report of the Department of Health for 1886, 74-77.
62. Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), 207-212; Report of the Department of Health for 1883/1884, 21-22. Pullman boasted that since the town was completed in 1881, not a single case of cholera, typhoid, or yellow fever had been reported. Miller, City of the Century, 225; The Rights of Labor, April 1893, np.
63. Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), 207-212; Report of the Department of Health for 1883/1884, 21-22. Pullman boasted that since the town was completed in 1881, not a single case of cholera, typhoid, or yellow fever had been reported. Miller, City of the Century, 225; The Rights of Labor, April 1893, np.
64. Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), 207-212; Report of the Department of Health for 1883/1884, 21-22. Pullman boasted that since the town was completed in 1881, not a single case of cholera, typhoid, or yellow fever had been reported. Miller, City of the Century, 225; The Rights of Labor, April 1893, np.
65. Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent, 1785-1850 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), 207-212; Report of the Department of Health for 1883/1884, 21-22. Pullman boasted that since the town was completed in 1881, not a single case of cholera, typhoid, or yellow fever had been reported. Miller, City of the Century, 225; The Rights of Labor, April 1893, np.
66. Robert Hunter, Report of the Committee on Tenement Houses of the Citizens Association of Chicago (Chicago: Geo. K. Hazlitt & Co, Printers, 1884), 7.
67. Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1889, and May 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 364-366. Cregier was elected with the support of organized labor, some socialists, and urban reformers. Gruenhut, the tenement inspector, had written much of the Democratic Party's platform and kept his job with the Health Department after the election. It is not entirely clear why Cregier forced De Wolf out, but the Chicago Tribune, admittedly anti-Cregier, suggests that the new mayor distributed jobs to his labor supporters; Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics, 280-283.
68. Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1889, and May 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 364-366. Cregier was elected with the support of organized labor, some socialists, and urban reformers. Gruenhut, the tenement inspector, had written much of the Democratic Party's platform and kept his job with the Health Department after the election. It is not entirely clear why Cregier forced De Wolf out, but the Chicago Tribune, admittedly anti-Cregier, suggests that the new mayor distributed jobs to his labor supporters; Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics, 280-283.
69. Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1889, and May 23, 1889; Pierce, Rise of the Modern City, 364-366. Cregier was elected with the support of organized labor, some socialists, and urban reformers. Gruenhut, the tenement inspector, had written much of the Democratic Party's platform and kept his job with the Health Department after the election. It is not entirely clear why Cregier forced De Wolf out, but the Chicago Tribune, admittedly anti-Cregier, suggests that the new mayor distributed jobs to his labor supporters; Schneirov, Labor and Urban Politics, 280-283.
70. Howard Eugene Wilson, "Mary E. McDowell and Her Work as Head Resident of the University of Chicago Settlement House, 1894-1904," unpublished dissertation, University of Chicago, 1927, 36-37.
71. Annual Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year Ended December 31, 1894 (Chicago, 1895), 183-189; Wilson, "Mary E. McDowell and Her Work," 94-95.
72. Annual Report of the Department of Health of the City of Chicago for the Year Ended December 31, 1894 (Chicago, 1895), 183-189; Wilson, "Mary E. McDowell and Her Work," 94-95.
73. Annual Report of the Department of Health for 1894, 188; Hunter, Report of the Committee on Tenement Houses, 3.
74. Annual Report of the Department of Health for 1894, 188; Hunter, Report of the Committee on Tenement Houses, 3.
75. In 1884, the New York Court of Appeals had ruled that a law banning cigar making in a tenement dwelling violated the cigar makers' rights to labor. The court's decision, based on the freedom to contract for work, similarly placed the tenement in a legal category that linked it to production and separated it from the single-family home. See "In re Application of Paul" (no number in original), Court of Appeals of New York, 94 NY 496, 1884 (Lexis 293).
76. For a fuller discussion of the shift from class to ethnic and racial analysis of health problems, see, for example, Degeneration: The Dark Side of Progress, ed. Sander Gilman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985); Gilman, Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985); and Nancy Stepan, "Race and Gender: The Role of Analogy in Science," Isis 77 (June 1986): 261-277.
77. For a fuller discussion of the shift from class to ethnic and racial analysis of health problems, see, for example, Degeneration: The Dark Side of Progress, ed. Sander Gilman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985); Gilman, Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985); and Nancy Stepan, "Race and Gender: The Role of Analogy in Science," Isis 77 (June 1986): 261-277.
78. For a fuller discussion of the shift from class to ethnic and racial analysis of health problems, see, for example, Degeneration: The Dark Side of Progress, ed. Sander Gilman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985); Gilman, Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race and Madness (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985); and Nancy Stepan, "Race and Gender: The Role of Analogy in Science," Isis 77 (June 1986): 261-277.