Mill Town Mortality: Consequences of Industrial Growth in Two Nineteenth-Century New England Towns

Abstract

Recent research has considerably increased our understanding of the factors associated with the American epidemiological transition in the late nineteenth century. However, uncertainty remains regarding the impact on mortality of specific changes ancillary to urbanization and industrialization in American cities and towns. The broad objective of the Connecticut Valley Historical Demography Project is to examine changing relationships between socioeconomic status, the rise of new urban-industrial communities, and cause-specific mortality trends during the rapid development of New England manufacturing. To address these issues, the present analysis examines two emergent urban centers in Massachusetts, adopting a micro-demographic approach to explore late-nineteenth-century and turn-of-the-century determinants of mortality.

Deadly occupations: Assessing tuberculosis and accidental mortality among male workers in Sydney and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 1909–1917

“…Interestingly, this study did not identify a significant association between occupation and tuberculosis among men who died between 1909 and 1917, a finding which runs contrary to those reported in the literature, given the hazards of coal dust for miners and toxic pollutant exposure among steelworkers (see, for example, Greenburg 1925;Hutchcroft 1911;Rockette 1977;Hautaniemi et al 1999;MacKenzie 2004;McIvor and Johnston 2007;Tremblay 2007). Relative to accidental mortality, however, assessing the association between occupation and tuberculosis among men who died is more problematic.…”

“…These reports also noted the poor state of basic infrastructure existing under the strain of expanding populations. Late 19th-century mill workers in New England were found living under similarly precarious conditions (Hautaniemi et al 1999). In the United States prior to 1925, tuberculosis mortality amongst steelworkers was highest among men aged 15 to 44 years, decreasing sharply thereafter (Greenburg 1925).…”

Mortality in late nineteenth-century Montreal: Geographic pathways of contagion

“…Exceptional sources have permitted more detailed portraits for Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and two mid-sized New England mill towns (Condran and Cheney 1984;Meckel 1985;Hautaniemi et al 1999Hautaniemi et al , 2000Beemer et al 2005;Ferrie and Troesken 2005). European and British scholars, exploiting richer sources, have demonstrated the value of studying mortality in local contexts (Williams 1992;Garrett et al 2001Garrett et al , 2006Derosas 2002).…”

Decennial Life Tables for the White Population of the United States, 1790–1900

“…S. Meindl and A. C. Swedlund (1977), Gretchen A. Condran and Eileen Crimmins (1979, 1980), Eileen Crimmins (1980), Daniel Scott Smith (1982, 2003), Gretchen A. Condran and Rose A. Cheney (1982), Rose A. Cheney (1984), Stephen Kunitz (1984), Gretchen A. Condran (1987), Richard Steckel (1988), Barbara J. Logue (1991), Eric Leif Davin (1993), Alice Kasakoff and John Adams (1995; 2000), Joseph Ferrie (1996, 2003), Antonio McDaniel and Carlos Grushka (1995), J. David Hacker (1997), John E. Murray (1997, 2000), Chulhee Lee (1997, 2003), Susan I. Hautaniemi, Alan C. Swedlund and Douglas L. Anderton (1999), Douglas L. Anderton and Susan Hautaniemi Leonard (2004), and Jeffrey K. Beemer, Douglas L. Anderton and Susan Hautaniemi Leonard (2005).…”