Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:35:46.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modern industrial policy and zoning: Chicago, 1910–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2012

ROBERT LEWIS
ROBERT LEWIS*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 100 St George St, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Industrial policy has long been considered a federal responsibility. Indeed, most scholars date modern local economic development programmes as starting in the 1960s. Before that, in this view, industrial policy was ad hoc, unco-ordinated and fragmented. In this article, I argue that the origins of modern industrial policy initiated by the local state slowly emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century in Chicago. Using an assortment of sources, I show that a new type of industrial policy was forged in the conflict over the 1923 zoning ordinance. The city's real-estate, financial and political elites were able to mobilize information, science, funding, individuals and arguments to convince industrialists that zoning was to their advantage. In the process, the city's industrial interests were able to frame the new zoning ordinance to their ends.

Type
Eastern European Cities
Information
Urban History , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 92 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Thompson, W.H., ‘message from Honorable William Hale Thompson, mayor of Chicago’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, Chicago. Report of Proceedings (Chicago, 1919), 10, 11.Google Scholar

2 Bartholomew, H., ‘Benefits of zoning’, in Cook County Real Estate Board Zoning Committee, Zoning in Chicago (Chicago, 1919), 7.Google Scholar

3 ‘Gary predicts record year in steel industry’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 24 May 1919, 20.

4 Bingham, R., Industrial Policy American Style: From Hamilton to HDTV (Armonk, NY, 1998), 6.Google Scholar Also see Galambos, L. and Pratt, J., The Rise of the Corporate Commonwealth: U.S. Business and Public Policy in the Twentieth Century (New York, 1988)Google Scholar.

5 DiGaetano, A. and Lawless, P., ‘Urban governance and industrial decline: governing structures and policy agendas in Birmingham and Sheffield, England, and Detroit, Michigan, 1980–1997’, Urban Affairs Review, 34 (1999), 548CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Galambos and Pratt, Corporate Commonwealth; Kantor, P., Savitch, H. and Haddock, S., ‘The political economy of urban regimes: a comparative perspective’, Urban Affairs Review, 32 (1997), 348–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Bernstein, M., The Great Depression: Delayed Recovery and Economic Change in America 1929–1939 (New York, 1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hooks, G., Forging the Military-Industrial Complex: World War II's Battle of the Potomac (Urbana and Chicago, 1991)Google Scholar; Koistinen, P., The Military-Industrial Complex. A Historical Perspective (New York, 1980)Google Scholar; Weir, G., Forged in War: The Naval-Industrial Complex and American Submarine Construction, 1940–1961 (Washington, 1993)Google Scholar; Yergin, D., Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State (Boston, MA, 1977)Google Scholar; Hart, D., Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the United States, 1921–1953 (Princeton, 1998)Google Scholar.

7 Caro, R., The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York, 1984)Google Scholar; Light, J., From Warfare to Welfare: Defense Intellectuals and Urban Problems in Cold War America (Baltimore, 2003)Google Scholar; O'Mara, M., Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley (Princeton, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Scranton, P., Endless Novelty: Specialty Production and American: Industrialization, 1865–1925 (Princeton, 1997)Google Scholar. One important exception to this line of thinking is Eric Monkkonen's study of local financing in nineteenth-century Illinois cities and towns. The Local State. Public Money and American Cities (Stanford, 1995).

8 Rast, J., Remaking Chicago: the Political Origins of the Urban Industrial Change (DeKalb, 1999), 5.Google Scholar

9 Quotes from Rast, Remaking Chicago, 4, and Cowie, J. and Heathcott, J., ‘Introduction’, in Beyond the Ruins: The Meanings of Deindustrialization (Ithaca, 2003), 4Google Scholar. Also see High, S., Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984 (Toronto, 2003)Google Scholar.

10 The quote is from Biles, R., Big City Boss in Depression and War: Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chicago (DeKalb, 1984), 46Google Scholar. Also see Cohen, L., Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919–1939 (New York, 1990)Google Scholar; Hirsch, A., Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940–1960 (Chicago, 1983)Google Scholar; Squires, G., Bennett, L., McCourt, K. and Nyden, P., Chicago. Race, Class and the Response to Urban Decline (Philadelphia, 1987)Google Scholar.

11 Bennett, L., McCourt, K., Nyden, P. and Squires, G., ‘Chicago North Loop redevelopment project: a growth machine on hold’, in Cummings, S. (ed.), Business Elites and Urban Redevelopment (Albany, 1988), 183–202Google Scholar; Biles, R., Richard J. Daley: Politics, Race and the Governing of Chicago (DeKalb, 1995)Google Scholar; Rast, Remaking Chicago; Squires et al., Chicago.

12 Garb, Margaret, City of American Dreams. A History of Home Ownership and Housing Reform in Chicago, 1871–1919 (Chicago, 2005)Google Scholar; Einhorn, Robin, Property Rules: Political Economy in Chicago, 1883–1872 (Chicago, 1991)Google Scholar; Knight, L., Citizen. Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy (Chicago, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Platt, H., Shock Cities: The Environmental Transformation and Reform of Manchester and Chicago (Chicago, 2005)Google Scholar; Sklar, K., Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work (New Haven, 1995)Google Scholar; Wade, L.C., Graham Taylor, Pioneer for Social Justice, 1851–1938 (Chicago, 1964)Google Scholar.

13 For the quote, see Bauman, J. and Muller, E., Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsburgh, 1889–1943 (Pittsburgh, 2006), 102CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see McKee, G., ‘Urban decentralization and local public policy: industrial renewal in Philadelphia, 1953–1976’, Journal of Policy History, 16 (2004), 66–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and The Problems of Jobs: Liberalism, Race, and Decentralization in Philadelphia (Chicago, 2009); Hise, G., ‘Industry, political alliances and the regulation of urban space in Los Angeles’, Urban History, 36 (2009), 473–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 For a discussion of the importance of non-residential business interests in the formulation of the 1916 New York ordinance, see Weiss, M., ‘Density and intervention: New York's planning traditions’, in Ward, D. and Zunz, O. (eds.), The Landscape of Modernity (New York, 1992), 46–75Google Scholar. This article does not examine the reasons for the creation of the city's zoning ordinance itself or the importance of residential property in the making of the 1923 zoning ordinance. Rather, it focuses on the ways in which zoning and industrial policy were interlinked during this period. For discussion that emphasizes the protection of Chicago's residential property, see B. Flint, ‘Zoning and residential segregation: a social and physical history, 1910–1940’, unpublished University of Chicago Ph.D. thesis, 1977, and A. King, ‘Law and land use in Chicago: a prehistory of modern zoning’, unpublished University of Wisconsin–Madison thesis, 1976.

15 King, ‘Law and land use’, 3–6; Einhorn, Property Rules.

16 For nuisances see Einhorn, Property Rules, 206–12. Garb also talks about the city's inability to regulate the processing and pollution of the meat packers. See City of American Dreams, 60–85.

17 King, ‘Law and land use’, 96–7.

18 Quote from King, ‘Law and land use’, 213; also see 194–215.

19 Smith, C., The Plan of Chicago (Chicago, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stamper, J., Chicago's North Michigan Avenue: Planning and Development, 1900–1930 (Chicago, 1991)Google Scholar.

20 Lepawsky, A., ‘The new Chicago Plan Commission’, Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics, 16 (1940), 100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Biles, Big City Boss, 43–6; Biles, Richard J. Daley, 47–8.

22 Biles, Richard J. Daley, 47–8; Bennett et al., ‘Chicago North Loop’, 186–9; Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 100–34; Rast, Remaking Chicago, 22–46.

23 ‘The zoning bill’, Chicago Tribune, 8 Mar. 1919, 6.

24 Weiss, ‘Density and intervention’, 47.

25 Flint, ‘Zoning and residential segregation’, 53–71; King, ‘Law and land use’, 350–414; Schwieterman, J. and Caspall, D., The Politics of Place: A History of Zoning in Chicago (Chicago, 2006), 17–25Google Scholar; E. Phillips, ‘Illinois “dry” bills defeated in legislature’, Chicago Tribune, 29 Mar. 1917.

26 Thompson from Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 7, quoted in Flint, ‘Zoning and residential segregation’, 60.

27 Merriam, C., Building Districts and Restrictions (Chicago, 1917).Google Scholar

28 Flint, ‘Zoning and residential segregation’, 53–71; King, ‘Law and land use’, 350–414; Schwieterman and Caspall, The Politics of Place, 17–25.

29 L. Hornstein and E. Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, in Cook County Real Estate Board, Zoning in Chicago, 4.

30 See Weiss, ‘Density and intervention’.

31 The quotes are from ‘New York system held up as model here’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 24 Oct. 1929, 7; ‘What's matter with Chicago? Aldermen hear’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 26 Oct. 1919, 12; ‘City Local Industries Committee to make tour’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 30 Oct. 1919, 16; ‘The dividends of zoning’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 18 Nov. 1919, 8. Also see ‘Aldermen told how zones make New York happy’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 28 Oct. 1919, 10; Fred Pasley, ‘St. Louis lures rich firms by zoning system, Chicago Daily Tribune, 8 Nov. 1919, 7.

32 Schwieterman and Caspall, The Politics of Place, 17–25; Hornstein and Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, 15.

33 Schwieterman and Caspall, The Politics of Place, 17–25.

34 The October talks were assembled by Charles Nichols of the Cook County Real Estate Board into Zoning in Chicago. For the quotes see R. Whitten, ‘An address’, 9, and H. Bartholomew, ‘An address’, 7.

35 The proceedings of the December conference were published as the Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference with money from the Union League Club.

36 Thompson, ‘Message’, 9, 10.

37 Fairfield, J., ‘The scientific management of urban space: professional city planning and the legacy of progressive reform’, Journal of Urban History, 20 (1994), 179–204CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jacoby, S., Employing Bureaucracy: Managers, Unions, and the Transformation of American Industry, 1900–1945 (New York, 1985)Google Scholar; Noble, D., America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism (New York, 1977)Google Scholar.

38 T. Adams, ‘Cook County Real Estate Board lunch’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 49.

39 Hornstein and Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, 8.

40 H. Swan, ‘Residential and industrial zoning’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 13.

41 ‘Council votes zoning law at final session’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 6 Apr. 1923, 1; Flint, ‘Zoning and residential segregation’, 108–16.

42 ‘Zoning map is ready for use of commission’, Chicago Daily Tribune. 29 Apr. 1922, 2.

43 Chase, A., ‘Bostrom tells progress made in zoning city’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 29 Jan. 1922, I21.Google Scholar

44 Ibid.

45 The five Swan articles are ‘New York expert to tell what zoning really means’, 19 Oct. 1919, E31; ‘Urges comprehensive zoning for Chicago's industries’, 26 Oct. 1929, G32; ‘Zoning stabilizes realty values in Gotham’, 2 Nov. 1919, F32; ‘Piecemeal zoning called harmful by Gotham expert’, 9 Nov. 1919; ‘Tells how building lines are regulated in Newark, NJ’, 30 Nov. 1919, A10.

46 All the quotes are from ‘Urges comprehensive zoning’.

47 Swan, ‘Residential and industrial zoning’, 12; Adams, ‘Cook County Real Estate Board lunch’, 46–51; E. Bennett, ‘The general aspects of zoning’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 44.

48 Hornstein and Dupes, ‘Letter dated Sep. 18, 1919’, 9.

49 J. Brittain, ‘Response’, in Citizens’ Zone Plan Conference, 28–9.

50 R. Whitten, ‘Problems involved in zoning a large city like Chicago’, in Cook County Real Estate Board, Zoning in Chicago, 8.

51 Swan, ‘Residential and industrial zoning’, 25.

52 Wacker, C.H., ‘Shows how all business is intimately related to the Chicago Plan’, Chicago Commerce, 19 Nov. 1921, 28.Google Scholar

53 Swan, ‘Residential and industrial zoning’, 11; Whitten, ‘Problems involved in zoning’, 8; Chase, ‘Bostrem tells progress made’, I21.

54 Bennett, ‘The general aspects of zoning’, 44.

55 ‘Glen Ellyn shivers over narrow escape and hurries zoning’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 25 Feb. 1923, A11.

56 ‘Rich of Evanston protest stories in home section’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 29 Dec. 1921, 3.

57 ‘Hammond busy on zoning plant to aid growth’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 11 Mar. 1928, B4; ‘Huge factories proposed for Hammond Area’, Chicago Daily Tribune, 9 Dec. 192), B6; Sheridan, L., Tentative Report on Land Use and Zoning Including Revision of the Zoning Ordinance, Hammond, Indiana (Indianapolis, 1950)Google Scholar, Calumet Regional Archives, Hammond, Indiana Collection, box 1, file 2.

58 ‘Experts tell why zoning is necessary’, Chicago Commerce, 19 Nov. 1921, 11.

58. Lewis, R., ‘Planned industrial districts in Chicago: firms, networks, and boundaries’, Journal of Planning History, 3 (2004), 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

59 Lewis, ‘Planned industrial districts in Chicago’, 29–49.

60 Moskowitz, M., ‘Zoning the industrial city: planners, commissioners, and boosters in the 1920s’, Business and Economic History, 27 (1998), 307–17.Google Scholar