Destination: Brooklyn
In the early 1900's, more and more people moved to Brooklyn because transportation from Manhattan to Brooklyn improved considerably. Tax dollars from New York City paid for new bridges, trolley lines, and subway lines between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Some important years include:
Not only was Brooklyn easier to get to, it was also much cheaper to live in. People who lived in Manhattan paid a lot of money for rent, which made it difficult to buy other things they needed to live well. It was especially hard for new immigrants – who had very little money and often struggled to get work – to survive in Manhattan. Now that people could easily get to Manhattan from Brooklyn, people could enjoy the cheaper cost of life in Brooklyn and still have their jobs in Manhattan. Many immigrants and poor people had a better life in Brooklyn than in Manhattan.
One of the most important reason that people migrated to Brooklyn was because there were many manufacturing jobs available. By the 1900s, Brooklyn was one of the biggest producers of manufactured goods in the nation. There were sugar factories, dockyards, gas refineries, ironworks, slaughterhouses, book publishers, sweatshops, and factories producing everything from clocks to pencils to glue. This work was not always safe, but jobs were widely available. People from other states and other countries moved to Brooklyn hoping to get one of these jobs.
- 1883: The Brooklyn Bridge was completed
- 1890: Trolleys began to have routes in Brooklyn
- 1903: The Williamsburg Bridge was completed
- 1908: The subway began running trains between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Amazingly, the trains traveled in tunnels that were underwater (the East River)!
- 1909: The Manhattan Bridge was completed
Not only was Brooklyn easier to get to, it was also much cheaper to live in. People who lived in Manhattan paid a lot of money for rent, which made it difficult to buy other things they needed to live well. It was especially hard for new immigrants – who had very little money and often struggled to get work – to survive in Manhattan. Now that people could easily get to Manhattan from Brooklyn, people could enjoy the cheaper cost of life in Brooklyn and still have their jobs in Manhattan. Many immigrants and poor people had a better life in Brooklyn than in Manhattan.
One of the most important reason that people migrated to Brooklyn was because there were many manufacturing jobs available. By the 1900s, Brooklyn was one of the biggest producers of manufactured goods in the nation. There were sugar factories, dockyards, gas refineries, ironworks, slaughterhouses, book publishers, sweatshops, and factories producing everything from clocks to pencils to glue. This work was not always safe, but jobs were widely available. People from other states and other countries moved to Brooklyn hoping to get one of these jobs.