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Lesson 9
108
How Do Communities Change? Look at this image. It shows downtown Boston, Massachusetts. What do you notice looks old? What looks newer? In this lesson, you will look at how cities can change over time. You will see how people made their cities better places to live.
Social Studies Words rebuild
History How Do Communities Change?
109
1. Communities Change over Time Communities grow bigger when people move to them. Communities get smaller when people move away from them. People move to a community for many reasons. Some people come for a new job. Some people want to live in a different home. People move away from communities Communities get
for many reasons, too. Some people
bigger and smaller
change jobs. Some people want to live in
as people move.
a different town.
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Lesson 9
Many people moved to Pittsburgh to work in a steel mill.
2. People Move to a Community Look at this picture of a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Many people moved to Pittsburgh to work in this mill. The new people of the community needed many things. They needed homes and stores. They also needed schools for their children. People built new buildings and other places. The community grew bigger. How Do Communities Change?
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Many people left Pittsburgh once the mill closed.
3. People Move Away from a Community One day, the steel mill closed. This meant that many people lost their jobs. Many families moved away from Pittsburgh once the mill closed. Some of the stores in Pittsburgh also closed. Some of the buildings were left empty. No one took care of the empty buildings. So, they started to fall apart. This photograph shows how one neighborhood looked after the steel mill closed. 112
Lesson 9
People fixed buildings to make Pittsburgh look beautiful again.
4. People Work to Make Their Communities Better Some people wanted to make Pittsburgh beautiful again. They wanted people to move back to their city. People helped rebuild the community to make others want to live there. They fixed old buildings that had fallen apart. They also built new places. Pittsburgh started to look lively again. The photograph shows Pittsburgh today. What differences do you notice? Lesson Summary Communities grow bigger as people move to them. They also get smaller as people move away. Some people make their communities better. They fix old buildings and build new places. They care about their communities.
How Do Communities Change?
113
Read & Do
History
Los Angeles Grows Los Angeles, California, is a huge, busy city. But long ago it was rural and mostly farmland. Cows grazed where buildings now sit. How did this community grow and change? In 1781, people from Mexico built a farming town where Los Angeles now stands. The land had a large valley with a long river running through it. The land near the river was good for growing crops. The area was perfect for a farming community. They named the new community “El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Ángeles.” This means “The Town of the Queen of the Angels.” At first, most people in the town farmed.
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Lesson 9
The plaza was the center of the community.
The Early Days The people quickly built houses. On Olvera Street, they built a plaza. A plaza is a town square. There, people talked with their neighbors and celebrated holidays together. They also bought and sold food and other goods at the markets. The plaza felt just like home. The small town grew quickly. Some people came from Mexico. Others came from different parts of the United States after California became part of the country in 1848. People came from other countries, too. In 1876, a railroad was built, which brought even more people. Los Angeles became a popular place to live. How Do Communities Change?
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The City Grows and Changes As the city grew larger, new neighborhoods popped up. Families moved away from Olvera Street. Farming continued to be important. As more people settled, they grew more crops. Oranges, olives, and grains were some of the things they grew.
Soon, people forgot about the
Still, life in Los Angeles began to change.
old plaza. It was
As people left Olvera Street, the once busy
just a tiny part of a
plaza became quiet. People began to forget
big city.
about the old town of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, Past and Present N E
W S
California
Los Angeles
MAP KEY Los Angeles in 1875
The Plaza
Los Angeles today
0 0
8 miles
4 4
SSA2_SE_9.1
8 kilometers
L e s s o n 9Yellow 116 Black Cyan Magenta
Fourth Proof
PAC IF IC OCEAN
A Big, Busy City Los Angeles grew into an urban center. Today, the city is spread over many
Today, the old
miles. Homes, schools, and stores fill the
plaza is full of life.
neighborhoods. There are crowded sidewalks and traffic. Many suburbs surround it. Houses, shops, and streets have replaced farms. People buy food at grocery stores and eat at restaurants. They can buy food and other needs on the Internet, too. But the old plaza still stands. People raised money to fix the old buildings. People now go to visit the markets and get Mexican treats. They hear Mexican music and dance. Sometimes people hold events there, too. Los Angeles has changed, but the plaza reminds people of how the city began.
How Do Communities Change?
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Bring Learning Alive! TCI offers programs for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.
Bring Science Alive! Social Studies Alive! History Alive! Geography Alive! Government Alive!
www.teachtci.com
800-497-6138
My Community
Econ Alive!