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1932 Article Declares City A "Frankenstein Monster" That Will Destroy Us All
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jan 25, 2013
Modified Jan 25, 2013
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In 1932, Modern Mechanix asked, "How Much Longer Will Our Big Cities Last? The article's author, Russell J. Mort wrote that scientific prophets were declaring our "mammoth cities" to be "doomed to extinction and obsolescence. In time, cobwebs will enshroud the cloud-piercing Empire State building and dandelions will grow on Fifth Avenue and Wall Street, they believe, after exhaustive studies into the trend of the times."
Stuart Chase was amongst those that believed we were doomed, writing that when man built the city "he built a Frankenstein monster which would eventually turn and try to destroy its creator. The city has grown so intricate and unwieldy that it now dominates its helpless inhabitants, rather than being dominated by them." The congestion, mechanical complexity and the city's fragile arteries were noted as things that would bring us down. If one cog in that machine were to fail, "the inhabitants would find themselves facing overwhelming disaster." Our survival, it was determined, would be based upon us figuring out the complex channels that were essentially our lifelines. Imminent major disasters were also of concern—what if something happened and city dwellers couldn't get water, heat, or their precious milk? And if the gas mains exploded, it would mean the "blotting out of lives and sometimes asphyxiating hundreds."
Have we mentioned all of the carnage that would be left when the subway tunnels eventually CAVE-IN? At the time the article was printed, it was noted that tragedies like the 1915 cave-in caused by a dynamite explosion "passed as an almost commonplace occurrence."
The engineers weren't as concerned, but believed the greatest danger "will lie in explosions from rusted-out gas and water mains, which even now frequently spread havoc in city streets, causing more damage than dynamite." And if the city's ground didn't burst open to murder us, just look up—there was great concern of skyscrapers taking over our sunlight and making fresh air less accessible.
They concluded: "Where, then, are we to live in the future... when New York is deserted," skyscrapers are crumbling and streets are overrun with weeds? Presumably the plan was to have Frank Lloyd Wright design us "diminutive villages which will cluster around a trading
center, closely resembling the financial district of the present city, where all business and manufacturing will be carried on, but which workers will abandon the minute their labors have ceased for the day."
Anyway, 2013 and we're still going strong!
Tagged
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frankencity
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modern mechanix
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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