Residential Patterns in the Pre‐Automotive American City

Abstract

The classic geographic distinction between situation and site factors suggests that the former will have declined and the latter increased since the late 19th century in their importance as determinants of American urban residential patterns. We test the prediction by examining the relation of socioeconomic status to horizontal and vertical distance from the city center in the largest American cities in 1880. A comparison of the results with the patterns prevalent in the twentieth century largely, though not entirely, supports the prediction, as do changes in the status of main streets and harbor islands.