Chapter XXVI
Culture and Sports at End of the 19th Century
Newspaper and magazine circulation increased greatly near the end of the nineteenth century. In the period between 1870 and 1910, newspaper circulation rose from three million to twenty four million. Newspapers changed in character. Earlier they had contained a great deal of editorial opinion. But in this period the amount of news in a newspaper increased greatly. Journalism became a respected profession. Salaries of reporters doubled and schools of journalism were opened at the universities. The new generation of reporters was much better educated.
Before 1880, magazines had a small circulation. The largest magazine had a circulation of 130,000 copies. In 1889, the Ladies' Home Journal began writing articles of interest to ordinary women. It soon reached a circulation of 700,000. A few years later, the Saturday Evening Post reached a circulation of one million.
This was the period when publishing moved to New York. By 1900, most book and magazine publishing was in New York.
Between 1880 and 1900, the two most important writers were Samuel Clemens and William Dean Howells. Samuel Clemens wrote under the pen name "Mark Twain". The most important poets of the period were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson, who died in 1886, was not published during her lifetime. It was only after her death that her poetry was published and her greatness recognized. Some people believe that Emily Dickinson was America's greatest poet. Others think that it was Walt Whitman. But the largest number claim that Robert Frost who lived from 1874 to 1963 deserves that honor.
This was also the period when sports began to take their modern form. Baseball was really a folk game. It developed out of older traditions. We know of more than two hundred teams that existed at the end of the Civil War. Some of them toured the country playing against rival teams. The first of many professional teams appeared in Cincinnati in 1869, and the present National League was organized in 1879. Baseball became the most popular sport in America. Baseball teams appeared in almost all of the towns and cities and high schools in America. It was not until after World War II that football and basketball became very popular everywhere in America.
The game that Europeans call football is called soccer in America. American football is a contact sport that is quite different from soccer. American football first appeared in the colleges. The first game of which we have a record was played in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers. Both are colleges in New Jersey. The game spread to most of the colleges and universities in America. The teams are grouped together into "conferences". Most of the conferences have about ten teams. The colleges and universities usually stay in the same conference year after year. During the fall football season, the teams usually only play against other teams in the same conference. One of the most important conferences is the Western Conference. It is nicknamed the "Big Ten" and it was organized in 1896. Later, professional teams appeared, and today very many people watch football games on television.
Basketball also developed in America. However, its history is different because a single individual in Springfield, Massachusetts invented it in 1891. Almost immediately, a committee was set up to establish its rules. Basketball does not have a folk tradition behind it in the way that baseball does.
The rules for boxing were developed in England in the 1870's. The early world boxing champions were all English. In 1882, John L. Sullivan went to England and won the world boxing championship. When he returned to America, he brought the title with him.
Golf and tennis developed in Europe. The first American golf course was opened in Yonkers, New York, in 1890. The US Lawn Tennis Association was organized in 1881. The first international tennis competition was held in 1887.
The bicycles of the 1880's had a high wheel in front and a small wheel in the rear. They were quite dangerous and it was common for the rider to be thrown over the front of the handlebars. In the 1890's, they began making bicycles with both wheels of the same size. These were much safer. Bicycling became a sport, and in the cities, it became a convenient method of transportation. By 1900, ten million Americans, mostly adults, were riding bicycles. These people pushed the local governments into building better streets and roads. In 1899, a cheap way of making cement was invented. Soon after, they began paving streets for the bicycle riders.
In 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park. Located mostly in northwestern Wyoming, it covers 8992 square kilometers. The park has more than 3000 geysers and hot springs. Some of the geysers throw up hot water to heights of more than twenty meters. The United Nations lists it as "a place of educational and scientific importance for habitat and wildlife, of great beauty, and of recreational value, but which has suffered little human impact, so remaining a relative wilderness." The park has grasslands, forests, mountains, rivers and lakes. More than a thousand buffalo live in a herd there. There are many bears. A century ago, the wolves were killed. Recently, they have been allowed to come back. There are many other kinds of wild animals that live in the park. Many years ago, there were large petrified trees that lived millions of years ago. Tourists broke off little pieces for souvenirs and now the petrified trees are mostly gone. More than three million tourists come to visit the park every year.
The park is very large. It is more than four times as large as the country of Luxembourg. It is almost the size of Lebanon. For many year it was the largest American Park. However, in 1980, Wrangell-St. Elias Park was established in Alaska. That park covers 31,275 square kilometers. It is larger than many countries. Such countries as Albania, Israel, Armenia, or Belgium are all smaller than that park. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park to be established anywhere in the world.