MONUMENTAL MASS MARKETING
EARLY 20TH
CENTURY AMERICA
More people were living in the United States than ever before, and this inevitably resulted in a gradual rise of total deaths occurring in the country each year. Due to population density, urban centers were particularly susceptible to mass casualty events, such as the 1906 earthquake that killed over 3,000 people in San Francisco. Though advancements in medicine and public sanitation led to people living longer in general, infectious diseases were still among the leading causes of death in the early 20th century. The prevalence of occupational hazards, toxic industrial pollution, and flammable textiles also made death an ever-present force in American life.
Video: A Trip Down Market Street, San Francisco, 1906
Life in early 20th century America was rapidly evolving due to urban growth and mass production of consumer goods. The United States Census of Population and Housing is a valuable resource for understanding demographic changes in the country at the turn of the century. Between 1900 and 1910, urban populations increased by over fifty percent in almost half of the states. Even well-established cities experienced unprecedented levels of population growth during this time. For example, Chicago doubled in size from one million to two million residents in only twenty years. Large urban populations both provided labor to growing industries and consumed the goods those companies produced. Their purchases formed what sociologist Herbert Gans referred to as “taste cultures.”
Photo: Percent increase in urban population, by states: 1900-1910.
The United States Census of Population and Housing, 1910, Volume 1.
American mortuary traditions transformed in the 20th century due to the professionalization of the funeral industry and establishment of memorial parks. As the business of memorial production shifted from individual carvers to industrial marble works, local vernacular styles were gradually replaced by imported neoclassical designs. This “Rock of Ages” revolution in mass production resulted in a cluttered and heterogenous appearance within once fashionable burial grounds. During the second decade of the 20th century, newly established memorial park cemeteries promoted their manicured lawns and modest memorials as a modern alternative to the rural cemeteries. Memorial parks eschewed fences and large monuments in favor of ground level markers that allowed for easier mowing and landscape maintenance.
Chart: Leading Cause of Death in the United States, 1910.
Centers for Disease Control, “Leading Causes of Death, 1900-1998.”
