Tenement Life

Background: Tenement buildings were four or five stories high and there were 4 tenement buildings to a block, which was 700 ft x 200 ft.  There were typically 1, 736 rooms to a tenement.  At the time, there were 33,000 tenements in New York City with 2,076 people in 1,736 rooms which contained 460 families.  These rooms were about the size of a small closet and were overly crowded.  Due to this overcrowding, New York had a population density of 290,000 people per square mile compared to London’s population density of 170,000.  The rooms were expensive, they were $2 a week for a small basement and $6 a week for 2 rooms in a tenement.  It was a source of investment for higher classes. 

 

 

Problems: There were many problems with the tenements.  They were overcrowded with multiple families living in one room.  As well, the living conditions were very poor; there was no protection from the hot and cold.  Fire was their only source of heat.  Generally there was one common sink and outdoor bathrooms for the whole tenement, leading to a lack of sanitation.  There was a higher death rate among the tenements compared to other living arrangements.  In addition, the tenants were taken advantage of by the landlords who made 20% off of the tenants when they should have only made 6%; 6% would have been more beneficial to both the landlords and the tenants.  Lastly, it was a poor environment for children to grow up in.  There was a lack of privacy, and abundance of domestic violence and alcoholism. 

 

Solutions: Many solutions were proposed to solve the tenement’s problems. To fight the heat, the tenants would sleep on the roof of the tenement houses or buy ice if they could afford it. St. John’s Guild was a charity organization that helped to relieve the heat. The Fresh Air Fund contributed by sending children to the country for the summer. Some suggestions that were offered were to give free ice and to tear down the tenements and build parks in their place. To fight the general misery, organizations such as the City Mission and Children’s Aid Society helped the people living in the tenements. Some suggestions that were offered were to teach the people to care about their families and sanitary practices. Giving away free fruit and medical assistance were also suggested.  The rich were made more aware of the plight of the poor. Another problem that activists tried to fix was how unaccountable the landlords were, so a law was passed that required that the landlord’s name be displayed in the rooms of the tenements. A proposed solution to this problem was that if the landlord only took a six percent profit then quality rooms could be offered for only $1.50 a week. To fix the general disorder in the tenements, it was suggested that each one employ a housekeeper or janitor.

 Link to Tenement Museum of New York

"Life in the New York Tenement-Houses"

"Life in the New York Tenement-Houses" first appeared in Scribner's Monthly.  William T. Elsing was a clergyman from the Dewitt Memorial Church who devoted 9 years to help the poor in the East Side of New York City.  He gives a more truthful account of what he has seen and heard, rather than cramming in all of the thrilling and startling facts about tenement-houses that other articles tend to do.  He talks about how living in a tenement-house is not synonymous with living in the slums even though most people think it is.  An ordinary tenement house consisted of 5 stories of different types of homes, varying in amount of rooms and pricing, and a basement.  Four families typically occupied a dark and dirty floor that had sinks in the halls.  Tenement houses had a landlord, an agent, and a housekeeper.  Some families sometimes have to go half clothed and live on the cheapest food in order to provide rent, but not all of the people are thriftless; 700 out of every 1000 depositors in one of the banks on the Bowery live in tenement-houses.  Sometimes people start out poor, being at a low point in their life, but then are eventually able to get out of the tenement-houses.  Elsing tells two stories that depicted the different people who lived in tenement-houses.  One German woman with a daughter couldn't pay for rent, and ended up with her furniture on the street, and after Elsing talked with her neighbors and learning she had good character, he rented her two small rooms.  Two months later when she couldn't find a job, and Elsing having heard of a job in Orange, New Jersey, arranged for the woman to get the job and paid for her fare.  On the other hand, a Polish man tried to make money from the author by playing on the sympathies of poor people. 

Discussion Questions

1) How do Elsing's accounts of the tenement-houses compare and contrast with Crane's depictions in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets? 

2) Were the solutions realistic?  What do you think about them?  Do you have any other ideas for solutions to tenement-house problems?

3) Refer to the following two quotes:

"The girl, Maggie, blossomed in a mud puddle"- Crane

"Some of the noblest young men I have ever known have worthless, drunken parents.  Some of the most beautiful flowers grow in mud-ponds, and some of the truest and best young women in our city come from homes devoid of good influences; but in all such cases uplifting outside help has moulded their characters."- Elsing

How likely do you think it is for someone to get out of the tenement-houses and make something of themselves?  Is Elsing's quote too optimistic, especially relating to Maggie's situation?