Midwestern Industrialization and the American Manufacturing Belt in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

The Midwest made the transition from primary to secondary activity before 1880 by developing a large diversified industrial sector to serve burgeoning midwestern demand for manufactures. Because the Midwest had industrialized, its firms were able to compete with eastern producers in multiregional and national markets after 1880, when the transportation and communication systems were fully integrated. Supporting evidence is drawn from a national set of 327 urban-industrial counties, with a focus on the Midwest.

Geography and intra-national home bias: U.S. domestic trade in 1949 and 2007

“…The industrialization of the U.S. economy in the second half of the 19th century brought about a divergence in regional specialization. In manufacturing, regions became highly specialized and by the turn of the 20th century, most of manufacturing employment was concentrated in the regions of New England, Middle Atlantic and East North Central, later labelled the 'Manufacturing Belt' (Fritz, 1943;Perloff et al, 1960;Meyer, 1983Meyer, , 1989Kim and Margo, 2004;Holmes and Stevens, 2004;Klein and Crafts, 2012). This pattern was sustained until the 1940s, after which the degree of regional specialization declined (Kim, 1995).…”

The Origins of American Industrial Success: Evidence from the US Portland Cement Industry

“…The grad- David and Wright, mentioned in Wright (1990), is that a transportation network is required before resources can be developed. Meyer (1989) argues the development of the railroad network plays an important role in the industrialization of the Midwest. Calculations from U.S. Department of Interior (1883, 1895) suggest total US railroad mileage constructed doubles between 1870 and 1880 and almost doubles again between 1880 and 1890.…”

The North American Manufacturing Belt in 1880: A Cluster of Regional Industrial Systems or One Large Industrial District?*

“…New industries create their own geography by making factors of production come to them. Industrial establishments can be treated as territorial complexes, ranging from the workplace, itself a geographic cluster, through to the vertically disintegrated production complex and territorial growth centers, from which established industries are dispersed to capture new markets (Storper and Walker 1989 (Meyer 1987). By the 1880s the Burden iron mills employed 1,000 workers in bolt, rivet, railroad spike, and wrought iron bar production, while Corning and Winslow employed 1,500 workers in bar and sheet iron manufacture (Walkowitz 1978).…”

“…Between 1860 and 1880 manufacturers within the belt began to serve multiregional and national markets, and discrete regional systems (in terms of demand linkages) became integrated into a continental economy. By 1880, 15 regional metropolises dominated U.S. manufacturing, and clear signs of manufacturing specialization were discernible (Meyer 1987). Metropolitan centers provided finance, wholesale, warehouse, and transport services for manufacturers and served as innovation centers and information nodes.…”

“…Migration and urbanization, westward frontier expansion, and railroad and telegraph construction fueled industrial development within a westwardexpanding industrial belt. Initially, growth processes generated discrete regional industrial systems, as replica industrial facilities were built in new locations, producing a generic urban industrial landscape despite the belt's apparent diversity (Meyer 1990b). In the period 1860-80, however, discrete regional industrial systems were functionally integrated into a continental geography of market and resource supply regions.…”