By the 1825, New York had achieved a tremendous commercial recognition in rapidly growing America. Half the country’s imports and a third’s of it’s exports were handled by its port. 500 new businesses along with 3000 houses were built to provide shelter to a population of 165,000. All this good was a preparatory to the great event, the long- awaited Erie Canal.
With all the arguments and rejections, the governor DeWitt Clinton stood firm planning his way through the process to his greatest contribution to New York. Finally, the Canal was opened in October 26, 1825. New York was already America’s greatest city yet in long term he wanted it to become one of the great world centers.
Erie Canal expanded the New York network. Coal fields in Pennsylvania were opened to New York when the Delaware and Hudson railroads were built. Various inventions were taking place such as pumps, submarine devices and steam engines. These devices created job market and contributed to the America’s most modern City. New York was growing rapidly … more and more waves of Immigration was happening. With the largest European Immigration to the nation by the nineteenth century New York established many different ethnic neighborhoods.
With the expansion of the population, the living conditions were not fairly equal in New York City. Older buildings were converted in to apartments to serve the purpose of the housing need. In 1850, more than 29,000 Immigrants lived in dark cellar quarters. The facilities a typical tenement house apartment offered was vey little and unsanitary. Kitchen, dining room and living room combined with no bathtubs. Water came from a street pump. The backyard wooden privies through over use and improper care caused health hazard.
Improper sanitation in tenements soon caused infectious diseases to spread around. New York was no longer a healthy environment. City’s first priority was given to develop a clean water channel to supply water. In 1835, an aqueduct and reservoir system was built.
B y the mid 1850′s New York had become the greatest city in the nation. Erie Canal led to a rise of population and prosperity. Economic strength and diversity of cultures in New Yorkers had transformed the nation’s development.