http://www.nolaplans.com 

Jed and I finished a draft of our paper for a disaster recovery conference at Texas A&M University. After the conference, we visited Austin, San Antonio and Houston to take in a good slice of Texas life.

An Overview of the Unified New Orleans Planning Process provides our analysis of the planning processes which have unfolded in New Orleans thus far, and the rest of the semester will be spent following the Unified New Orleans Plan as it unfolds.

If you read our paper, please send your comments and questions.

Introduction:

What started as a large trade show developed in to a forum for idea exchange which helped define architectural styles, planning movements and the way the world views technology. World′s Fairs brought people together from around the globe for a year of festivities and exhibits which helped to shape society and promote the ideals of capitalism, free trade, competition, and the exchange of ideas. At the same time these fairs shaped their host cities by carving out space for future parks, providing transportation improvements, and leaving a few lasting civic buildings and monuments. World′s Fairs represent a significant planning movement.

Origins:

The predecessors of World′s Fairs were smaller scale trade exhibitions that occurred on a national level. One of the earliest of these was the Exposition publique des produits de l′industrie Francaise, which was held in 1798 in Paris in the Champ de Mars. The purpose of this fair was primarily political, the Republican government wanted to win approval and support from the entrepreneurial class through sponsoring the event. The goal was to stimulate a new “economic mentality” implying a switch to capitalism and innovation from the age-old guild system. The event lasted only a few days, during which products were displayed randomly with no categorization or sorting. (van Wesemael 846) More Parisian exhibitions followed at intervals of several years with improvements at each one including judging of products, sorting by industry, and lengthening of the duration of the event, allowing visitors from a wider area to access the fair. Other features of these early fairs include entertainment to draw the general public so that they might be educated while at the fair. This feature would be included in all subsequent World′s Fairs. The buildings and exhibitions of these early fairs were demolished as soon as the fair was over so very little physical evidence of their existence remains.

The first exhibition of international scale was the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. It took place in Hyde Park and a huge Crystal Palace which was constructed specifically for the fair. It was the largest building of this type to be built, and was constructed right over the trees of the park. (Allwood 192) While previous exhibitions had attracted thousands of visitors, the Great Exhibition attracted millions, overburdening the transportation systems of London and resulting new transport lines being installed directly to the exhibition. (van Wesemael 846) This exhibition was promoted internationally and drew exhibits and visitors from Europe and the US. Displays included samples, prototypes, and scale models from various technologies as well as exotic goods from around the world. Foreign reporters used the telegraph wires strung across the continent to keep the Great Exhibition in international headlines. Also, the building itself was a marvel and helped draw an unprecedented number of visitors during the 140 days of the exhibition. This first international scale exhibition proved to be an overwhelming financial success with the profits were used to fund educational developments in art and technology. Because of its success, it was used as a model for all future exhibitions and World′s Fairs, including New York and Dublin (1853) and Munich (1854). (Mattie 260)

Development:

As World′s Fairs developed from trade exhibitions to international public relations tools, the profit motive became less important. Nations and cities provided financial backing for huge projects with the sole goal of topping previous exhibitions. These were seen as investments in promoting the city or asserting the importance of a particular host country. Each fair had to boast being bigger or more spectacular than the last in order to attract visitors. Notable World′s Fairs after 1851 were the Centennial Fair in 1876 in Philadelphia and the Paris fair of 1889. The Philadelphia fair caught Europeans by surprise when they saw the quality of many American goods and exhibits. The fair featured the largest glass and iron exhibition hall yet constructed. The Paris Exhibition of 1889 featured the Eiffel Tower, and Parisian landmark which was at first fiercely opposed but later embraced as the symbol of Paris. The area around the Eiffel Tower was created into a park which was used for several more World′s Fairs in future years.(Mattie 260)

The Columbian Exhibition:

The Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago was no exception to this. Chicago was struggling to assert itself to older east coast cities while the US was in the same position with Europe. By far surpassing all previous exhibitions in size and attendance, the Columbian exhibition, though delayed a year for preparation, established Chicago and the United States as the economic and cultural equals of the East coast cities and Europe respectively.

The exhibition was given 686 acres along Lake Michigan which was marshland, which was more than double the area devoted to any prior World′s Fair. It used three times the amount of electricity normally required by the city of Chicago and emphasized new themes such as transportation and energy.(Bolotin 166) The fair was organized around a long pool named the court of honor, and buildings were designed by the top Chicago architects, under the supervision and coordination of chief of construction Daniel Burnham. There was a consistent architectural design between the buildings on the court of honor, including classical style, uniform cornice height and color. This contrasted to previous fairs which were held either in one enormous building, or in several unrelated and uncoordinated buildings. (Allwood 192)The only exception to this consistency was the transportation building designed by Louis Sullivan which differed in all aspects from the rest of the fair.(Burg 381) He believed that the architecture of the fair should be more varied and modern, not relying on ancient classical styles. Sullivan may have accurately predicted that “the damage wrought by the World′s Fair will last for half a century from this date—if not longer” because the legacy of “City Beautiful” planning would live on long beyond the fair. (Hilton 191)

The final outcome resulted in all buildings being painted white, and though they appeared dignified and permanent, they were all made of plaster and designed to be demolished at the end of the fair. In fact, the fair was financed partially though pre-selling the building materials of each structure as scraps. Many of the massive trusses for the buildings were designed to be divided up and sold as individual railway train houses once the fair was over. (Bolotin 166) The rest of the fair′s funding came from five million dollars in bonds from the city of Chicago, five million dollars in private funds from Chicago′s business elite and boosters, and projected fair attendance revenue.

The impacts of the World′s Columbian Exhibition extend very far. First of all, the fair impressed foreign visitors and helped established the US as a world power. The fair was grander and better organized than any held previously in Europe and the displays of American technology were impressive compared to the European technologies. It prompted many new inquiries and subsequent sales for US exhibitors from foreign firms. Most exhibitors easily recovered the costs of their exhibits. (Allwood 192)

The fair also established Chicago as a dominant US city, no longer content to be called “Porkopolis”. (Burg 381) The fair inspired Chicago to create a center for the arts in Rome and the Field Museum of Natural History. Also, it inspired groups across the Midwest and the country to establish “Arts societies” in communities which previously paid little attention to the arts. This embracing of the arts helped to make Chicago a more cultured and cosmopolitan city.

Finally, the fair established a renewed interest in city planning in the United States. Visitors were so impressed with the grandeur and style of the white city that they returned to their hometowns and rallied for a similar development at home. The white city is reported to have inspired Catherine Lee Bates to write America the Beautiful, L. Frank Baum to dream up the Emerald City, and Walt Disney to devise theme parks, specifically Epcot Center in Orlando, FL through tales of the white city passed from his father who was a carpenter at the fair. (Bolotin 166) (Hilton 191) Also, one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright, was working as an apprentice of Louis Sullivan, designer of the dissenting Transportation Building and no doubt was influenced by Sullivan′s thoughts on Architecture and the fact that his building was the only one to win an architectural award offered by a European agency. (Bolotin 166)

The white city was Daniel Burnham′s earliest expression of “City Beautiful” design and was a precursor to his 1907 plan for Chicago which specified the same type of civic deign. This movement sparked plans for beautiful civic spaces in downtown areas in the Beaux-Arts style, with a uniform and consistent plan in most major US cities. While these plans were only implemented in a handful of cities, the influence of the fair extends to hundreds of “Roman temples and baths, Florentine villas, and French palaces and gothic Churches and universities, to say nothing of office buildings which retained ill-chosen souvenirs from all these crumbled civilizations”.(Badger 177) Certainly the fair was not entirely responsible for the “City Beautiful” movement or the emergences of public buildings across the country in historical styles. However, it was certainly an important milestone in the development of this movement.

Further Development:

Notable World′s Fairs after the 1893 Columbian Exhibition included Paris (1900 and 1925), St Louis (1904), San Francisco (1915 and 1939), Barcelona (1929) and Chicago (1933). The 1900 Paris Fair promoted the Beaux-Arts style which became so popular after the Chicago fair in 1893. Also, the second Olympic games were held at the fair in Paris, though they were a measurable failure due to lack of support. (Mattie 260) Four years later at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition of 1904 in St Louis (then the fourth largest city in the US), the third Olympic Games were held with little fanfare. While the games failed to attract much attention or participation, the Fair was a huge success and built off of the popularity of the Beaux-Arts planned “White City” with its own “Ivory City”. (Birk 96)

San Francisco exhibited the its vision of the “Jewel City” in 1915, which was more colorful, but still Beaux-Arts, than the previous “White City” or “Ivory City”. Later in 1916, San Diego popularized the Mission Style of architecture with its Panama-California Exhibition. (Fox 129)

Architecture was again at the forefront of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. This World′s Fair helped popularize and validate the streamlined and playful Art Deco style. Le Corbusier exhibited his “Machine for living in” while extolling his five points of architecture. It was here where he unveiled his “Plan voisin” which called for leveling most of Paris and replacing it with parks and towers. This modernist plan was not popular, but foreshadowed urban renewal schemes that would take place decades later in the US.(Mattie 260)

Chicago′s 1933 fair was planned by Beaux-Arts trained architects but executed with stripped down modernist buildings and was the first World′s Fair to focus its theme on celebrating progress. This led the way to the largest and most futuristic fair ever held.

The New York World′s Fair of 1939:

The 1930s saw an array of fairs promoting progress in both Europe and the US. New York sponsored a fair of a size that dwarfed all previous fairs, covering 1,126 acres in what used to be a swamp, in Flushing, Queens. Previous fairs were no larger than half the size of the New York fair, and it was also one of the costliest fairs ever produced.(Zim 240)This was an area that Robert Moses, as City Parks Commissioner had always wanted to develop as a park, and as usual he got his way.( DAWN OF A NEW DAY: THE NEW YORK WORLD′S FAIR, 1939[123])

This fair ended a decade which started with a stock market crash, and so it was natural that the fair look to the future for a theme: “Building the World of Tomorrow with the Tools of Today.” A very futuristic style of architecture including streamlines art Moderne, and International Style Modernism was present and imposed over an underlying Beaux-Arts style layout. However, without the classical architecture and uniform design guidelines like were imposed in 1893, the fair′s vistas were fragmented. Streamlines, clean shapes, and new materials characterized the buildings of the fair. (Mattie 260)

Many new and influential technologies were displayed and popularized at the New York fair, including advances in radio, communications, television, color photography, labor saving electrical devices, home building materials, and most importantly, transportation.(Zim 240) Exhibits on the newly emerging mode of air travel were popular, and the rail and ship industry had sleek buildings and exhibits. However, the exhibit that stole the show was the “Futurama” exhibit, sponsored by General Motors. This exhibit gave visitors an aerial ride through a landscape dominated by a revolutionary superhighway that seamlessly connected urban and rural areas. Notably, the initial panorama did not include any gas stations or car sales sites, nor any churches or schools. Maps of the US showing all cities connected by freeways hung near the entrance, and exhibits of the increasing speeds of travel over time showed that superhighways were the next step in transportation progress. ( DAWN OF A NEW DAY: THE NEW YORK WORLD′S FAIR, 1939[123])

During the ride, visitors saw freeways that clung to the sides of vast canyons, soared over cities with futuristic buildings and saw prototypes of interchanges that allowed all vehicles to maneuver at 50 miles per hour. (Gelernter 418)The end of the ride brought the visitors to the “present” where they could view a wide array of GM vehicles currently for sale. Other major auto manufacturers were present at the fair and had equally futuristic exhibits. Ford built a looping test highway for visitors to test-drive its cars on. Chrysler and Goodrich teamed up present an automotive racing and stunts show which showed the durability of their products (and the excitement that cars can bring).(Zim 240) Twenty-seven million people waited up to two hours to see the Futurama exhibit throughout the duration of the fare, and it no doubt helped to influence the public perception of a publicly funded superhighway system and a society of automobile ownership. (Rydell 269)

The New York World′s Fair was laid out differently than past fairs. The pavilions for nations were given relatively unimportant and obscure locations while major American companies′ exhibits dominated the prime spots. Also, there were many entrances, one for each mode. The Long Island Railroad had a special stop, each of the three subway companies had a stop and there was an entrance near a parking lot for people who drove. This was one of the first World′s Fairs to have large amounts of people arriving by automobile, and this was accommodated by Robert Moses′ widened parkways. ( World Fairs: New York; San Francisco[282]) Robert Moses would preside over the next New York World′s Fair in 1964 as President of the World′s Fair Corporation and his influence could be felt throughout the fair. (Bletter and Queens Museum 208)

Influences on Planning:

World′s Fairs had huge influences on society and specifically on planning. World′s Fairs introduced the latest technology to the general public. The Columbian exhibition popularized the use of electricity, especially for outdoor architectural embellishment. (Bolotin 166) Future exhibitions promoted energy, communications, and mechanical innovations that influenced and changed society in powerful ways which in turn influenced planning.

Transportation was first given serious exhibition space at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, 1893. If focused primarily on innovations in railroads and locomotives. Nine years later, the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St Louis (1904) showcased private automobiles or “horseless carriages” and offered many people their first glimpses or brief rides in these contraptions. This was a very popular attraction at the fair and no doubt helped to promote the idea of the automobile. (Birk 96) The 1939 New York World′s Fair promoted the idea of freeways and the freedom brought though automobile use and the GM Futurama exhibit was the most popular exhibit at the fair. Also at this World′s Fair, new building technologies enabling cheaper and better single family homes were on display. A community of detached single family homes was built on the fairgrounds and dubbed “The town of Tomorrow”. (Bletter and Queens Museum 208) This emphasis on the car and single family home being part of the future, and the overwhelming popularity of these exhibits were influential in the way transportation and cities were planned.

World′s Fairs also had more direct influences on their host cities. Many cities now have a massive park in a central area of the city which once hosted a World′s fair. In some cases this area was originally a park and was significantly improved for the fair, in other cases it was carved from wilderness or otherwise unused land. San Francisco built an island in the Bay for its Golden Gate International Exhibition of 1939 and 1940 and became an airport and then a naval base. (Reinhardt 169) In these various parks, a few fair buildings or monuments often remain. St Louis has an Art Museum and bird cage in Forrest Park from 1904, Chicago saved the Museum of Science and Industry and Alder Planetarium. (Hilton 191) Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Seattle the Space Needle, and San Diego has an array of museums in Balboa Park in buildings that once housed the World′s Fair. In some cases, popular buildings were relocated or rebuilt after the fair. The famous Crystal Palace of the London′s Great Exhibition of 1851 was rebuilt in Sydenham, south of London and pleased visitors until it burned in 1936. (Mattie 260) The Palace of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Panama Pacific International exhibition was saved, and then completely rebuilt in the 1960s after serving as military jeep garage during the war. (Allwood 192) World′s fairs have left a legacy of civic structures and park improvements that last well after the completion of the fair.

World′s Fairs strained cities in many ways, but most substantially in the area of transportation. Fairs were used as justification to build needed improvements to the transportation system or to spawn new systems. Starting with London in 1851 which built additional transit lines to the fair as a result of overwhelming demand, fair planners have focused on transportation issues. The Columbian Exhibition in Chicago provided the impetus to extend the “L” to the fairgrounds.

Some fairs celebrated transportation achievements. The Panama Pacific Fair in San Francisco in 1915 celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal, later the San Francisco Fair of 1939 celebrated the completion of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges. Robert Moses widened freeways leading to the Flushing fairgrounds in New York in 1939, Seattle built a monorail for its fair in 1962, (Allwood 192) and Montreal built its Metro for the Exposition of 1967. These transportation improvements had been planned prior to the World′s fairs, but the fair provided the reason to construct them. Even modern fairs have caused cities to reevaluate their entire transportation plans, such as Knoxville (1982) and New Orleans (1984). (Urban Systems Associates 1 v. (various pagings))

A final influence of World′s Fairs has been planning and design. These exhibitions allowed for experimentation in planning and architecture in ways that would likely not have been allowed or funded outside the context of the World′s Fair. Top architects and planners were commissioned for each fair, as the host city and country wanted to impress visitors. The Chicago Columbian Exhibition in 1893 kicked off the city beautiful movement across the country, while the New York fair of 1939 exposed visitors to international style architecture which had impressed visitors to Mies Van der Rohe′s German Pavilion in Barcelona a decade earlier. ( DAWN OF A NEW DAY: THE NEW YORK WORLD′S FAIR, 1939[123])

Most importantly, World′s Fairs helped to legitimate planning as a profession. Massive fake cities more beautiful than any real city were built very rapidly under the supervision of planners and architects, and then disappeared even faster. World′s Fairs required a tremendous amount of organization and planning and the results were spectacular. They made the public aware of planning issues and inspired interest in planning in cities across the US.

Legacy:

World′s Fairs provided a venue to showcase ideas and cultures. Most World′s Fairs focused on new technology that promised progress. From ingenious labor saving devices imported to the 1851 London Great Exhibition from the former colonies, to the Futurama of 1939, a view of a utopian and auto based future, people came to the fair for a peak into the upcoming technologies that would shape their lives.

Also, World′s Fairs are founded on the ideas of free trade and intellectual exchange. The planners of the original 1851 London Great Exhibition had the goal of tapping into new markets for British products in mind when organizing the event. (van Wesemael 846) Countries and firms scramble to show off their best innovations at World′s Fairs to attract buyers and also to gain ideas from competitors.

World′s Fairs are a stage for competition. Competitions between companies over who can make the best products occurred in this open market setting. Another element was the competition between cities and countries over who could host the largest, most impressive fair, topping all previous attempts.

Finally, World′s Fairs were based on capitalism. The products on display were either for sale or prototypes of ones that would soon be available. It was assumed that buying available new technologies would fuel the development of an even broader range of new products. World′s Fairs started out as oversized trade shows and a large portion of most World′s Fairs were given over to marketing and promotion of various products.

Evolution:

After World War II, World′s Fairs continued to be popular but none topped the size of the 1939 New York World′s Fair. Seattle (1962), New York (1964) and Montreal (1967) were all successful fairs. They were all based on futuristic themes. Seattle built the fair on land condemned by the city, and topped it with the Space Needle. (Mattie 260) The 1964 New York Fare was used by Robert Moses to generate funds to restore the park that was left vacant after the 1939 World′s Fare in his honor. In the end, the fair ended up being a financial disaster but the park did end up being fully developed and many of the features of the 1964 fair exist to this day. (Bletter and Queens Museum 208) Montreal′s World′s Fair was themed “Man and his World” and it incorporated humanist themes. It left the city with an island park well served by transit. (Hilton 191)

Since 1967 the impact of World′s Fairs has been diminished. Nations and cities are more reluctant to sponsor such events, as costs soar and budgets tighten. Construction requirements have become more intensive and costly while fairs do not draw the level of attendance they used to. Scarce land in many cities and the potential environmental impacts block fairs from happening as well. Also, modern visitors are less impressed with the spectacle that World′s Fairs provide and it becomes more and more difficult to top the previous years fair. Modern communication, transportation, and entertainment technologies have made the World′s Fairs that first promoted these technologies somewhat obsolete. Still, fairs can be useful for the original reason they were started; for promotion of trade.

Lessons:

World′s Fairs played an important role in exposing the public to new technologies, cultures, and ideas. They provided a stage for experimentation in architecture and planning and place to promote the latest styles. The technologies presented at World′s Fairs changed the way people lived, and had huge impacts on planning.

While World′s Fairs do not have the influence they once had, other international events, such as the Olympics are more popular than ever. While the Olympic Games are a shorter duration event, thanks to advancements in communication, they are broadcast around the world, along with images of the Olympic venues and the host city. Thus, many elements of World′s Fair planning can be translated to Olympic planning. The Olympic Games leave the host city with parks, sports venues and supporting buildings which outlive the games for decades. With the number of people watching the Olympics increasing with every game, venues have become increasingly costly and well designed.

Beijing is sparing no expense in constructing some spectacular venues for the 2008 Olympic Games in the order to promote China as a fully developed country. The bid for the 2012 Olympics is featuring the same cities that originally vied for the right to host the earliest World′s Fairs with Paris, London, and New York submitting bids along with Madrid and Moscow. These bids include significant planning developments including significant developments along prime real estate in New York. Thus, major world events are still relevant but the time frame has been collapsed from a year long fair to a few weeks of sporting events.

An important lesson to learn from World′s fairs is that they live on through the parks, buildings and public spaces that they once inhabited. These spaces should be designed with the after-event uses in mind. While the plaster buildings or past World′s Fairs were removed shortly after the fair, the transportation enhancements, street patterns, and park locations are relatively permanent features of most World′s Fair host cities.

Conclusions:

World′s Fairs have helped to shape cities and entire planning movements. Many technological developments related to planning have been spurred at World′s Fairs. They have encouraged automobile use, spawned new transit systems, urban parks, museums, and monuments that became icons of cities. They provided a test bed for planning and architectural theories and ideas. World′s Fairs brought people together from around the world to promote the ideals of capitalism, free trade, competition, and the exchange of ideas. At the same time as people were educated, they were entertained and enlightened with art and culture. Though the era of huge World′s Fairs is over, the legacy of World′s fairs lives on though huge international scale events such as the Olympic Games.

Works Cited

Allwood, John. The Great Exhibitions. London: Cassell & Collier Macmillan, 1977.

Badger, Reid. “The Great American Fair : The World′s Columbian Exposition & American Culture.” .

Birk, Dorothy Daniels. The World Came to St. Louis : A Visit to the 1904 world′s Fair. St. Louis: Bethany Press, 1979.

Bletter, Rosemarie Haag, and Queens Museum, eds. Remembering the Future : The New York world′s Fair from 1939-1964. New York: Rizzoli, 1989.

Bolotin, Norm. The World′s Columbian Exposition : The Chicago World′s Fair of 1893. Ed. Christine Laing. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.

Burg, David F. ” Chicago′s White City of 1893.” .

DAWN OF A NEW DAY: THE NEW YORK WORLD′S FAIR, 1939. NEW YORK, NEW YORK: QUEENS MUSEUM, 1980.

Fox, Austin M. Symbol and show : The Pan-American Exposition of 1901. Ed. Lawrence D. McIntyre. Buffalo, N.Y.: Meyer Enterprises, 1987.

Gelernter, David Hillel. 1939, the Lost World of the Fair. New York: Free Press, 1995.

Hilton, Suzanne. Here Today and Gone Tomorrow : The Story of World′s Fairs and Expositions. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978.

Mattie, Erik. World′s Fairs. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998.

Reinhardt, Richard. Treasure Island; San Francisco’s Exposition Years. Ed. Scrimshaw Press. bkp. San Francisco: Scrimshaw Press, 1973.

Rydell, Robert W. World of Fairs : The Century-of-Progress Expositions. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Urban Systems Associates. 1984 Louisiana World Exposition Statewide Access Plan. Ed. Ozarks Regional Commission and Louisiana. Office of Aviation and Public Transportation. New Orleans, La.: The Associates, 1982.

van Wesemael, Pieter. Architecture of Instruction and Delight : A Socio-Historical Analysis of World Exhibitions as a Didactic Phenomenon (1798-1851-1970). Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010, 2001.

World Fairs: New York; San Francisco. New York: Time, inc., 1939.

Zim, Larry. The World of Tomorrow : The 1939 New York World′s Fair. Ed. Mel Lerner and Herbert Rolfes. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.

“Here is a town of twelve or thirteen thousand population, with electric lighted streets, and with blocks of buildings which are stately enough, and architecturally fine enough to command respect in any city. It is a choice town and we made satisfactory use in roaming it over”–Mark Twain on La Crosse, Wisconsin 1882

La Crosse, Wisconsin is a very unique city. Its location on the Mississippi river was a key factor during the early days of development. As time passed, however, many social, political, and physical changes occurred throughout the city. Nowadays, most city streets and new developments in La Crosse look similar to those found in nearly even other American city. Wide streets with no sidewalks, large building setbacks, and houses with three or more garages are commonplace. These types of developments constitute a phenomenon known as “urban sprawl”. This is certainly a drastic change from the city that Mark Twain visited during his days as a steamboat captain. The city has been expanding since it was founded in 1841, but the rate of expansion has not remained constant (Hirshheimer 11). This paper will examine the years in which La Crosse experienced the most urban sprawl and then go on investigate its causes and effects.

Methods of Data Collection

To determine the period in time when the most urban sprawl occurred required a good deal of research. The first step was to determine population as a function of time. I used census records from 1860 to the present to determine population. The second step was to determine area of the city as a function of time. This proved to be much more challenging. The area that I was looking for was the total area of developed land. I defined this area in my research prospectus:

“The area of the city will be defined as the area where structures are built plus the area of the land immediately around them that is in use. This surrounding area will include backyards, streets, parking lots, parks within the city, highways and the land surrounding the highways on which building is not permissible (such as the area within a cloverleaf). Exclusions will be farmland and agricultural buildings, except when such buildings have been renovated for purposes other than agriculture, urban parks which maintain an unaltered and natural state (such as an area of forest within the city), and areas where streets have been laid but no structures have been erected.”

I was not able to locate this statistic in any books or publications. Because the area that I had defined did not rely on the political boundaries of the city, I had to calculate it myself. I used a series of historical maps of La Crosse and aerial photographs that I found both in the University of Minnesota map library and at the La Crosse Public Library archive vault. For the time period from 1860-1920 I relied primarily on maps drawn by the La Crosse city engineer showing the different wards of the city. The limitation of these maps was that it was not possible to distinguish between areas that were developed and areas that just had new streets laid but no development. I was able to get several sets of aerial photographs starting with 1938. These were very helpful in doing area calculations because it was possible to see whether or not specific areas were developed. From 1950 on I was able to use USGS Quadrangle maps which showed the areas of the city that were developed and many of the structures. These maps allowed me to get accurate measurements of the latest expansions to the city. To ensure accuracy, I used just the 1998 USGS quadrangle to do all of the area measurements on. I outlined the city’s development at a specific point in time based on one of the historical maps onto the 1998 map. Then, using a ruler I broke the city down into smaller areas, and began to measure. I then converted the area measured on the map to the actual area of the city using the factor that 1 in2=.1434 mile2 for a 1:28000 scale map. After summing the parts, I was able to compile a graph of area vs. time and to fit a curve.

Explanation of Data Collected

The first graph that I constructed was Population vs. Time. This is located in Appendix B . I was successful in fitting a curve to this data. The curve is a second degree polynomial, and as such would probably not be a good predictor of future population. The R2 value of the curve of population was .9878, so I felt that any extrapolations made on this data would be statistically significant.

After compiling the area measurements into a graph located in Appendix C, I found that the area of the city did not change as consistently as the population. A sixth order polynomial was required to fit a curve. However, it should be noted again that this curve would not be a good predictor for future growth as it has a sharp spike near the end. Despite this, it has an R2 value of .9986 so it can be considered accurate for extrapolating area during the years from 1860 to 1970.

Both of these graphs were based on the populations and areas for the city of La Crosse only. La Crosse has several surrounding communities that began as separate entities but which are now adjacent and need to be considered for their contributions of population and area. This becomes especially apparent when looking at the last twenty years of both graphs as the city of La Crosse has not experienced significant growth in either population or size since 1980. After researching the historical populations of Onalaska, Shelby, Campbell and Medary I was able to create a graph exhibiting the recent growth of population in La Crosse’s suburbs vs. the population of the city of La Crosse. This can be seen in Appendix D. The population of the metropolitan area is essentially the same as that of La Crosse until about 1940 because of the relatively small numbers of people residing outside of the city. In 1940, the population of the suburbs began to grow along with the population of La Crosse. In 1970, the population of La Crosse began to stabilize and then actually declined in 1980 while the population of the suburbs grew higher.

After completing area calculations on La Crosse’s surrounding areas, I prepared a graph showing the area of La Crosse vs. the area of La Crosse plus its surrounding areas. This is in Appendix E. The trends on this graph are similar to those on the last graph. The surrounding communities did not contribute significantly to the total area until about 1950. The area of La Crosse leveled off in 1970, while the area of the suburbs continued to increase.

Armed with the new data which incorporated La Crosse and its surrounding communities, I was able to create a per capita land use graph. This can be seen in Appendix F. This was obtained by dividing the area measurements by the population measurements and plotting them against time. Several interesting trends emerged from this graph. First of all, the land use per capita has increased overall 63% since the city was founded and 167% from the all time low in 1935. Second, the land use per capita does not increase consistently, but rather has peaks and valleys. The inverse of this graph shows population density as a function of time. This is Appendix G. It can be seen from Appendix C that the lack of spatial development coupled with an increase in population during the period from 1880-1940 led a constantly increasing population density.

Background

La Crosse has its beginnings as a trading post on the Mississippi. At this time, its only connection to the outside world was via the river (Hirshheimer 53). The earliest settlements were, in some ways, similar to early southern plantations (See Appendix A). They consisted of narrow strips of land with riverfront, extending back away from the river (Hirshheimer 44). The city as we know it today began to develop after 1851 with the introduction of a local sawmill. This brought an increase in population, and an increase in the size of the city.

The reasons for rapid expansion early on were partly due to La Crosses favorable location. La Crosse is located at a bend in the Mississippi River and at the confluence of two other rivers, the La Crosse and the Black. In this way, a very deep natural harbor was provided for the many steamboats that needed to dock. This allowed La Crosse to become a center of trade, which further accelerated its growth. The steamboat traffic grew from 4 boats per year in 1851 to 1312 boats during 1858 (Hirshheimer 133). Another favorable geographic condition was the availability of land. La Crosse is located at a relatively wide spot in the Mississippi Valley, and this provided ample room for future expansion.

La Crosse is located in a unique area. The shape of the city is determined by the river on the west and south and the bluffs on the east. These natural barriers have helped to reduce the extent to which urban sprawl can occur, unlike places with no natural boundaries such as Madison, WI (Daoust, 11). These same barriers have caused the city to become very long and narrow. Also, a large marsh along the La Crosse River has been left undeveloped creating a gap between the north and south sides if the city (see accompanying fold out map). Both of these factors keep population density higher than if the city were to grow unchecked.

La Crosse continued steady expansion, both in population and area, when the first railroad line, the La Crosse & Milwaukee Road, was run into La Crosse in 1858 (Hirshheimer 144). More rail lines followed, and soon La Crosse became home to four major rail lines and a key rail bridge over the Mississippi. This helped fuel economic expansion and ensured La Crosse’s dominant position as a center for commerce. The rail lines that were laid out between 1858 and 1890 affected the layout and planning of the city, and most remain to the present day. Railroads helped to bring in waves of immigrants between 1870 and 1890. These immigrants were predominantly German and Norwegian. The population of foreign born citizens got as high as 37% in 1880. La Crosse was promoted in throughout Europe as an ideal location to move to. These immigrants helped to fuel expansion of the city. They helped to develop new neighborhoods around the existing city.

The logging industry began to decline near the end of the nineteenth century when the supposedly “inexhaustible” supply of pine was exhausted (Hirshheimer 172). However, manufacturing jobs were on the rise, so the economic progress of La Crosse was not halted, but shifted in a new direction. La Crosse became home to several industries including a rubber mills, several breweries, and button company. These companies located themselves near the downtown area of La Crosse, along with most other commercial buildings. These industries helped to create a strong central business district and a thriving economy.

Early City Planning

Early city planning in La Crosse made use of the grid system. The earliest grid system was set on a northeast southwest axis by the founder of La Crosse, Nathan Myrick. This area, which is now the central business district, encompasses about 18 city blocks. Further developments were straightened to a north south axis. Each block had sidewalks and an alley. Initially, streets were not paved and sidewalks were wooden (Smalley 11). Lot sizes were small, with no more than 50 feet of road frontage (La Crosse City Atlas (1893)). Houses were relatively close to the sidewalk and to each other. The layout of the city was simple yet effective. Numbered streets ran north-south and began at the river with Front Street, while east west streets were named after various things, especially the names earliest settlers. The grid system made navigation easy, and helped to keep the amount of space devoted to roads to a minimum. The city grew by adding small areas of land immediately adjacent to the existing developed sections and extending existing streets in a grid fashion. The grid in La Crosse is not perfect, and several streets do not quite line up. This could be due to faulty surveying, small variances in property ownership, or lack of control of the city government over developers. Despite this, the city grew up in a structured and centrally planned fashion until about 1940.

Transportation

With the small lot sizes and lack of automobiles, the city developed on a pedestrian scale. The small lot sizes made walking to neighborhood shops and the central business district a short journey. This is where most commercial activity took place and where many people were employed. The absence of automobiles kept traffic to a minimum. Many people utilized mass transit to go longer distances, especially from the north side to the south side. A horse drawn railway began operation in 1879 and became very profitable (Hirshheimer 190). A second horse drawn railway company was founded and eventually the two merged. Routes were available to nearly every part of the city and few people lived more than a half a mile to the nearest stop (La Crosse City Atlas 1893). In 1893 the horse drawn carts were replaced with electric streetcars. The electric cars were cheaper to operate, had a larger capacity and could go longer distances. Because of this, the routes were extended in all directions to the furthest reaches of the city (La Crosse Histories 35). After the great depression, the streetcar system was still in use and maintained high levels of ridership. However, in 1949 the city council called for a more “modern” transportation system and requested that the streetcars to be replaced by busses (La Crosse Histories 43). The old streetcars were sold, and six of them were purchased by a local farmer to house peacocks (Carr 29). While it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, the switch to busses created a sharp decline in the use of mass transit. Busses could not effectively reach the newest developments which were occurring with very low population density. Mass transit systems simply do not work well in areas with a lot of sprawl. This is because people are too spread out to fully patronize a specific bus route, and often the walking distance to get to a bus stop can be quite considerable. Also, bus systems lack the sense of permanence that rail lines have. Rails are always in place, as a constant reminder of the transit system while busses are only visible during their infrequent stops. In 1971, the city bus service, then privately owned, announced that it would need an infusion of public funds or it would be forced to shut down. After several years of partial public funding, the city acquired a federal grant to establish a city owned bus service (La Crosse Histories 45). Bus ridership decreased steadily. A study was done in 1972 which showed that as the number of cars owned increases, the number of trips taken on the city bus decreases (Interim Transit Element 17). What was once a very profitable business is now a source of expense to the city. La Crosse recently purchased a “trolley” style bus which drives a route though downtown much like the old streetcars used to.

Evaluation of the Causes of Urban Sprawl

During the great depression, population density increased. This is reflected in the data displayed in Appendix G. The reasons for this are most likely a lack of new developments to support an increasing population. With 24.9% unemployment, there was not much money to invest in new developments. One way in which the city did manage to expand during the depression was with the construction of the municipal airport. The airport was built primarily to provide a source of employment rather than for the sake of aviation (Bice 45). The airport alone added 1.5 square miles to the city (City of La Crosse, WI (2002)). After 1940, the population density of the La Crosse area fell sharply. This is most likely due to post WWII developments.

The style of post World War II development contrasts sharply with that of the decades prior. During the 50′s, many areas outside the city began to see residential and commercial developments. These can be clearly seen in Appendix H, Appendix I, Appendix J, and Appendix K which show aerial photographs from 1938, 1954, and 1962 of the same section of the south side of La Crosse. Each aerial photograph the new developments have been highlighted. It is important to note that these new developments were not adjacent to any existing areas of the city. This is much different than earlier developments that simply extended the grid plan to open more area. Because these areas were outside the city limits, they were outside of the jurisdiction of the city planners, and they did not have to conform to a grid. Appendix I clearly shows the sharp break between the existing city and the new developments. These new developments tended to utilize curving streets and cul-de-sacs. Because different areas were developed at different times, little attention was paid to the way in which streets would connect. Eventually, as the city expanded in size, the areas of land in between were developed as well, and new areas were annexed to the city (United States Census 1950). The result was a series of disjointed developments that often have awkward and confusing street layouts. Notice the convoluted street patterns near the 15th ward marker on the fold out map (O-35). These disjointed and road intensive developments require more land per person to develop, which would explain the sharp decrease in population density after WWII.

Much of post WWII development could be considered organic in that the end result was not planned but rather developments were built according to what worked best with the situation. Many developments were laid out around features which no longer exist. For example, the developments in the northeast corner of Appendix K were centered on a drive in theater which is now gone. The driveway to the old drive in is now a road called Drive In Road (large fold out map O-32). Also, on all maps an old rail line which no longer exists is drawn in pink. The original rail line is shown in Appendix L. In Appendix J, it is possible to see the band of industrial developments along the southern leg which continue to separate two residential neighborhoods long after the rails were removed. While organic growth can facilitate very dense developments, in this case the lack of centralized planning only accelerated the rate at which land was used.

Post WWII developments also tended to use significantly larger lot sizes than prior developments. This can be clearly seen in Appendix I where all of the new developments have substantially larger front and back yards than the rest of the city. This, combined with a lack of sidewalks and their distance from the city center, helped to fuel the demand for automobiles. As automobile use increased, so did the space necessary for roads and parking. As traffic increased, wider roads were necessary. Note the difference between Appendix H (1938) and Appendix J (1962) in the appearance of major roads. The increase in lot size had a major effect on population density.

The Interstate highway was built through the north side of La Crosse during the 1960s. This attracted some businesses northward to be in closer proximity to the highway. It also spurred growth in the city of Onalaska to the north. By 1970, most of the usable land in the city of La Crosse had been developed. This led to the stabilization of population in the city of La Crosse. At the same time, the population of Onalaska and other surrounding areas was skyrocketing. Between 1970 and 1980 the population of Onalaska increased by 87% to 9249. This helps to explain the growth of the suburbs seen in Appendix D and Appendix E. The new developments in Onalaska had all of the characteristics of urban sprawl. They were not near any commercial center, they were large houses built on oversized lots, and they didn’t have sidewalks or mass transit connections. These developments were dependent entirely on the automobile.

By 1980, the several strip malls on the northern and southern extremes had opened up as well as a large regional mall near the interstate. The opening of this larger mall had an immediate impact on the city. All of the large department stores that had previously been located downtown relocated into the mall (Bice 226). The downtown businesses began to suffer with the loss of the larger department stores, and many closed. Industry began moving out of the downtown area and into specialized industrial parks which were several miles from the rest of the city. These developments further increased the dependence of La Crosse on the automobile as a means of transit. They also helped to decrease population density. This trend can be seen in Appendix G. According to a survey in 1984 by the La Crosse Planning committee, only 10% of the population used some form of transit other than the automobile for their commute to work (Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Element 4). By this time, La Crosse had become completely dominated by the automobile.

Effects of Urban Sprawl

While the lure of the automobile is its door to door transit opportunities, it is not as efficient as many people think. First of all, cars cost quite a bit more than any other form of transportation. When insurance, maintenance, licensure, fuel and purchase cost are combined they can make up a sizable portion of a families income. Cars are also less safe than many other forms of transit. There are also environmental implications. Not only do automobiles release air pollutants, the salt used on roads in the winter and the fluid that leaks from cars ends up in surface runoff which affects stream water quality. Another disadvantage of an automotive based society is the loss of social interaction. No longer can one take an evening stroll to the corner grocery store to get some bread and visit with neighbors sitting on their porches. For people living in new developments were urban sprawl is present, a loaf of bread requires at least a two mile, ten minute commute by automobile. In a living environment scaled for cars and highways, walking is almost impossible, and driving is very impersonal (Sprawl Defined). The requirement of automobiles has an especially hard impact on the poor and elderly who can’t afford cars, and who are isolated from jobs and shopping in their homes.

The government must provide more and extended infrastructure to all new developments. This amounts to a significant cost to taxpayers. If new development was limited to the downtown area, new roads and utility lines would not have to be created, but rather the time and money could be invested into maintaining the existing infrastructure. The cost to tax payers is not just limited to new roads and power lines, however. Police and Fire protection becomes less efficient as cities become more spread out. Also, public transportation suffers as the number of routes required to serve a city goes up while the number of riders decreases. All of these costs add up quickly. If urban sprawl were reduced, taxes would go down.

The 1990s saw the further development in the form of strip malls and suburban commercial centers. Many neighborhoods in Onalaska became full, and Onalaska experienced less population and area growth than the decade before. This is similar to what had happened in La Crosse twenty years prior. New developments opened up in a second ring of communities even further from the center of La Crosse. Currently, Holmen, West Salem, La Crescent, MN and Coon Valley are feeling the pressures of urban sprawl.

Alternatives to Urban Sprawl

The newest developments planned for the La Crosse area provide another radical shift. The city planning department developed a plan to revitalize the central business district. This plan can be seen in Appendix M and a perspective view in Appendix N. The new focus is on tourism, shopping, and eating establishments. In addition, there is an effort to create housing downtown which will help to promote economic activity. The plan shows redevelopment in many downtown areas where older industrial sites currently exist. In addition, the revitalization and creative re-use of historic buildings will help to maintain the uniqueness and charm of the downtown area. The addition of new parking facilities reflects the dominance of the automobile. However, this new development is radically different from any other post WWII development in that it is scaled to pedestrians rather than cars. Streetscaping, parks, and a pedestrian mall will make the downtown area a more attractive place to visit. Also, the new development focuses on the riverfront which in recent years has been ignored. Steamboats rides will be an important part in attracting tourists. La Crosse already has three boat tour companies and one steamboat (History of the Julia Belle Swain). A riverfront bike trail will help to encourage alternative means of transit as well as the new Bus Transit depot (City Vision 2000). New office developments on old industrial sites are planned in an attempt to bring jobs back downtown. If this master plan is implemented, it is likely that population density for the La Crosse area will increase as people move into apartments in the downtown and businesses help to revitalize unused areas. It will help to promote tourism which will fuel further economic development. Also, this plan will add to the quality of life of the citizens of La Crosse through a decreased dependence on the automobile.

While new developments continue to be built along the edge of the city, the data from appendices B-E show a leveling off in the population and the area consumed by development in the last ten years. This could be from the geographic limitations of the city, a decline in economic activity, or a refocusing on central areas of La Crosse. No matter the reason, the period with the greatest amount of urban sprawl seems to have already passed. From the data that I collected it seems that the period from 1960-1970 is the time when the most area was added to the city while the population gains remained low. Urban sprawl continues to the present time, but the rate at which sprawl is occurring is decreasing.

The switch from a pedestrian to an automotive society facilitated the changes necessary to promote urban sprawl in the La Crosse area. After World War Two, rapid development of large areas of land outside of the city spread the population to very thin levels. The population of La Crosse increased steadily until all of the available land was used, at which point the growth shifted to the suburbs. The rate of growth tapered down and new efforts to revitalize older portions of the city surfaced during the 1990s. These efforts focus around the historical aspects of the downtown areas and aimed at restoring a pedestrian rather than automotive scale. Despite urban sprawl and the issues that it entails, La Crosse is still, in the words of Mark Twain, “a choice town”.

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