The Power of Porch Talks: The Civic Improvement Society of Monroe, Michigan, 1901 to 1914

Abstract

The scholarship of the much-studied Progressive movement typically has focused on the national level, on large urban contexts, and on important biographies. Yet this urge to improve the quality of life occurred in many groups and numerous places and at every organizational level. A close examination of how the Progressive movement played out in small urban environments offers new insights into the very real achievements of the common people during this era. A careful evaluation of the Civic Improvement Society (CIS) of Monroe, Michigan, provides an instructive window on the ways in which Progressivism affected life at the local level and the ways in which women empowered themselves to improve their community. The ladies of the Civic Improvement Society exercised their influence through the power of porch talks. They were primarily concerned with beautification, health and sanitation, historical preservation, and morality. During the decade and a half preceding the First World War, they made Monroe a better place to live. The ladies of turn-of-the-century Monroe could not help but notice the changes around them due to industrialization and urbanization. More people moved to Monroe to take advantage of jobs in paper mills, furniture factories, and limestone quarries. Increased population and industry taxed the city's nascent electrical and water systems, increased litter and pollution, and obliterated open space. Despite these unpleasant effects of industrialization, however, contemporaries saw hope for amelioration. The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 proved that effective city planning would enable industrialization and beautiful, healthful living to coexist in a modern city. The City, as the exposition came to be called, was an actualized progressive vision of the possibilities of city life. The preponderance of classical white buildings aside, the White City