Architecture of Normal: The Colonization of the American Landscape 9783035624403, 9783035624380

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ARCHITECTURE OF NORMAL

DANIEL KAVEN

ARCHITECTURE OF NORMAL THE COLONIZATION OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

Birkhäuser Basel

Graphic design – Daniel Kaven Edited by – Natalie Garyet Copy editing – Elizabeth Gregory Project management for Birkhäuser – Ria Stein Production – Amelie Solbrig Paper – Profibulk, 135 g/m² Printing – Eberl & Kœsel GmbH & Co. KG, Altusried-Krugzell Prepress – pixelstorm, Vienna Library of Congress Control Number: 2021947848 Bibliographic information published by the German National Library. The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. ISBN 978-3-0356-2438-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-0356-2440-3 © 2022 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 987654321 Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF ∞ Printed in Germany www.birkhauser.com

CONTENTS FOREWORD

12

I-25

15

INDIAN PLAZA

20

HUMANS

47

HORSES

88

TRAINS

141

CARS

184

AIRPLANES

305

ROCKETS

368

CIBOLA

395

Author Biography

452

Acknowledgments

454

Index

455

9000 BCE

The Lithic stage, or Paleo-Indian period, is the earliest classification term referring to the first stage of human habitation in the Americas.

8000 BCE

The last glacial period ends, causing sea levels to rise and flood the Beringia land bridge, closing the primary migration route from Siberia.

7000 BCE

Ancestral Puebloans inhabit the Colorado Plateau. These hunter-gatherers live in rock shelters and in open brush.

3001 BCE

Stonehenge is built in England.

1500 BCE

Maize begins to be cultivated on the Colorado Plateau. Shelter in this region consists of caves and covered pits lined with stone.

1400 BCE

First books of Hebrew Old Testament are thought to have been written.

800 BCE

Humans begin riding horseback in Central Asia.

130 BCE

Han Dynasty opens trade with the West with the establishment of the Silk Road.

50 BCE

The primary dwellings of this era are round or circular pit-houses built on open land around a fire and partially below the ground surface.

20 BCE

Roman military engineer and architect Vitruvius publishes his treatise on architecture, De Architectura.

6 BCE

Jesus Christ is born.

FOREWORD

“The wilderness masters the colonist. . . . In short, at the frontier the environment is at first too strong for the man. He must accept the conditions which it furnishes or perish.” – FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER –

PREVIOUS Terminal Resistance, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

PREVIOUS The Ground Breaking (detail), 2020 Giclée print on paper, 36” × 31” Daniel Kaven

PREVIOUS Westside Lotaburger, 2005 Photo by Daniel Kaven

PREVIOUS Genesis; Chapter 1, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

Much of what I witnessed as a child was what could be gleaned from a car window as it sped past the exits along an interstate or a wide, multi-lane boulevard in my home state of New Mexico. Burger King, Shilo Inn, Walmart, McDonald’s, KB Home and 7-Eleven evoke immediate brand recognition among anyone who has looked away from the asphalt along a freeway or street in the American West in the last few decades. Not only have the logos of these companies been forever branded into the American landscape, but their architecture has been tattooed into our psyches. The facades and the financial models behind them have profoundly influenced my understanding of the world and that which an entire society accepts as its vernacular architecture for the present and foreseeable future. In the weeks leading up to my 40th birthday, I took an epic road trip. I drove east from Los Angeles through the desert highways, pueblos and truck stops of my childhood in search of an understanding of the western architecture that I have always associated with home. This aesthetic lubricates my art and, conversely, represents the antithesis of my approach to design and urban planning. When I wasn’t driving the open road, I photographed and filmed the architecture of strip malls, fast food restaurants, Indian casinos and tract housing. I

31

Jesus shares the Last Supper with his apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. 12

80

The Colosseum in Rome is finished.

slept in roadside motels. I ate in diners and devoured drive-thru cheeseburgers. I envisioned what the future of America looks like and considered how we arrived where we are today. Architecture of Normal was born from this vision quest. I spent the following year upon my return culling through my footage, sketching, and exploring the written and photographed history of America. I ventured out to remote parts of the West to see and record firsthand places I had only read about, and I reflected on the paintings and filmwork I had made throughout my career which were influenced by this landscape. An ever-expanding genre of brightly colored, branded architecture has thematically woven itself throughout my art in every body of work I have produced. The capitalistic risk in betting it all on a desert tract and the uniformity of the end product, which serves as the stage for our modern life in America, have made for great visual storytelling. ABOVE Atrisco Vista, 2019 Photo by Sherri Kaven

What lies before you is not a definitive history of design in America, but a literary and visual assemblage of the American West, distilled into six epochs of architecture—each chapter driven by America’s insatiable thirst for speed and its inability to stand idle.

200

The earliest version of canonical texts resembling the New Testament is believed to have been compiled. 13

400

Estimated world population is 190–206 million.

I-25 “When the blood in your veins returns to the sea, and the earth in your bones returns to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is you who belongs to this land.” – NATIVE AMERICAN PROVERB –

Blowing wind and galloping horses are heard off camera. Dust and a whirl of wild horses fill the screen.

OPPOSITE Indian Plaza, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 13” × 19” Daniel Kaven

NEXT Valero, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

Five hundred years ago, a noble Spanish conquistador by the name of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado rode in along the banks of the Rio Grande, flanked by a cavalry atop stallions, in search of the Seven Cities of Gold. The 400 towering conquistadors swept into pueblos that had been continuously inhabited for hundreds of years and ran the men, women and children out into the desert night with only the clothes on their backs. For much of a winter, the tribes endured living on top of the mesas overlooking their prosperous land while Coronado and his men settled in and pillaged their abundant resources and homes made of earth and stone. In December of 1540, the tribes had endured enough. Their strongest men attacked the Spaniards. They set out in the night and killed a herd of the conquistadors’ mules and horses. Coronado retaliated by burning 20 of these brave men at the stake and enslaving the women. This was the first war in America.

447

Construction of the Parthenon in Athens begins. 15

600

Earth’s population rises to about 208 million people.

1436

Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.

1592

Ferdinand Magellan launches Spanish expedition that results in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

1600

60 million bison roam North America.

1602

Dutch East India Company is founded.

1607

Jamestown Colony is founded in Virginia.

1608

The earliest known telescope appears in the Netherlands, and eyeglass maker Hans Lippershey attempts to obtain a patent.

1609

Galileo makes his first observations of stars with a telescope.

1614

Pocahontas reportedly marries John Rolfe.

1615

The New Netherland Company is granted a three-year monopoly in North American trade.

1620

The Mayflower sails and pilgrims settle at Plymouth.

1620

The earliest human-powered submarine is invented.

1621

The first Thanksgiving takes place at Plymouth Colony.

INDIAN PLAZA

“I am often called the father of the shopping mall. I would like to take this opportunity to disclaim paternity once and for all. I refuse to pay alimony to those bastard developments. They destroyed our cities.” – VICTOR GRUEN –

I grew up on the same desert valley floor that Coronado once conquered. Along Indian School Road, our house was right at the convergence of two seemingly endless man-made fissures in the Western American landscape. To the west is Los Angeles and to the east, New York City.

PREVIOUS Crusade, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

OPPOSITE The “Big I” in Albuquerque, New Mexico (freeway interchange where Interstate 25 and Interstate 40 intersect), 2019 Courtesy of Google Earth

The landscape of Albuquerque growing up was an endless sprawl of walled-in housing communities and wide streets flanked by parking lots and chain stores. Indian Plaza was a strip mall built in the early 1960s with a giant rust-red steel arrow impaled into the corner of the parking lot. It was the epicenter of commerce for our neighborhood when we were kids. There was a K-BOB’s Steakhouse with a buffet and a K-Mart with Blue Light Specials across the street. We shopped for food at Safeway. We bought brands like Jif Peanut Butter, Raisin Bran and Minute Maid. Coronado Center, aptly named after the region’s reigning Spanish conquistador, was the mall where we went with our friends to check out girls who were shopping at chain clothing stores like The Gap, Banana Republic and Hot Topic.

1100 20

Ancestral Puebloans build networks of trade and communication from Mexico to the Four Corners (Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona) region.

1626

The Spanish Inquisition is established in New Mexico.

In my mind, this world of strip malls, billboards and multi-national brands was everywhere. We would take road trips to neighboring states in our Jeep Wagoneer and it all looked like Albuquerque— same freeways, same restaurants, same strip malls, different city. Phoenix or Denver or Las Vegas or Sacramento or Salt Lake City—all pretty much the same city with different geography, yet hundreds of miles apart. You could literally stay in the exact same Motel 6 or Days Inn, eat breakfast at the same Denny’s and have dinner at the same Chili’s in every one of those places without being able to tell the difference between them.

ABOVE Daniel Kaven and Trevor William Lewis in front of the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico, 1982 Photo by Tom Lewis

My father once spearheaded a protest over the construction of a multi-story office building slated to be built on the western edge of our neighborhood that would obscure the setting sun. Although he managed to convince the developer to reduce the number of stories of the building, it was ultimately constructed. While on a road trip a few years later, I would notice that the black-glazed building, which was locally referred to as Darth Vader, was an exact replica of an office building that was already standing in Texas—only the one in Texas was a few stories taller.

1706

Albuquerque, New Mexico, is founded. 22

1783

The oldest building in Albuquerque, the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, is erected in what is now Old Town.

As I grew up, such derivatecture became more prevalent in the West at increasing speed. Beyond the fast food eateries that we had watched proliferate during our childhood, big-box superstores and their expansive parking lots began consuming acreage of desert throughout New Mexico and neighboring states. The design of the stores was so similar that you could find the same nails in the same aisle of two Home Depots 400 miles apart.

ABOVE Daniel and Trevor with the green Jeep, 1981 Photo by Tom Lewis

Route 66, the proverbial Main Street of America, was the literal main street of the city I grew up in, locally referred to as Central Ave. The street was home to a long string of roadway motels and fast food restaurants that had flourished when Route 66 was the interstate route through the city. During my childhood, most of the buildings along the storied route cycled through national brands. What was once revered as historic for having been built a few decades prior was either remodeled into a derivatecture mash-up or torn down completely just to sit as an empty dirt lot. Homes in Albuquerque were perpetually expanding further into the seemingly endless desert in the 80s and 90s. Branded homes were

1807

Explorer Zebulon Pike leads first Anglo-American expedition into New Mexico.

23

1821

Mexican independence from Spain is secured. As part of the deal, Mexico acquires land that would later become New Mexico.

ABOVE K-Mart in Albuquerque, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

RIGHT Aerial Albuquerque, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

1854 24

The Gadsden Purchase is finalized: U.S. pays Mexico $10 million for 29,670 square miles of land that would later become part of Arizona and New Mexico.

1862

Albuquerque is briefly surrendered to the South during the 1862 battle of Glorieta in the American Civil War.

stamped out by national builders. Although the home I grew up in was relatively unique and built in the 1960s, I was often lazying around with packs of friends in homes that all had the exact same floor plan—or at least did when they were first constructed.

ABOVE Pantheon, Rome, 2016 Photo by Daniel Kaven

NEXT South side of Zuni Pueblo, McKinley County, New Mexico, 1873 Photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan Courtesy of Library of Congress

As I grew up and ventured beyond home, it became clear to me how unique derivatecture in the American West is in a larger geographic context. Major cities in the West are toddlers. Most of them barely existed 100 years ago. Rome, founded more than two-and-a-half millennia ago, is full of iconic buildings that are over 1,000 years old and are still being used today. In contrast, there are a couple of pueblos in the region that are over 1,000 years old, but the vast majority of the West today has developed at lightning speed just in the last century. California’s population went from 1.4 million in 1900 to over 37 million in 2010—a staggering 2,642% increase. In contrast, Italy’s population increased only 75% in the same period. When I returned home to Albuquerque from my trip, I drove aimlessly all over the sprawling city. I walked through the oldest parts of town and the newest. I reflected on the unbridled growth

1880

New Mexico passes a law to protect the bison, though they are already gone from the state. 25

1880

The railroad arrives in Albuquerque, and Anglo settlers begin moving there en masse.

and expansion that had taken place in my hometown in only a few generations. The expansion of Albuquerque and the entire West transpired over the same period of time, and it seemed likely propelled by the same circumstances. Geographically, Albuquerque grew from a central core and radiated quickly out. The further away you drove from the center of Old Town Albuquerque, the newer the development would be. At the innermost layer of Albuquerque, you have what was first established by Ancestral Puebloans along the Rio Grande, which bisects the center of the city. The 12 pueblos that were first established here in the 14th century were walkable communities oriented around two-story homes in an organic plan. Crops were irrigated with water from the river. Narrow paths conforming to the existing landscape connected pueblos together to facilitate trade. ABOVE Square and Spanish church, Old Town, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1906 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

In the next layer beyond, you have Old Town, which was laid out with a mission and a plaza by the Spanish colonists in the 1700s just east of the river. Streets were cut, and a rigid grid was created to facilitate the movement of horses, and later, wagons. Homes continued to

1880

New Mexico Territory’s population is 119,565. 28

1880

New Mexico becomes the third most populous of the eight U.S. territories.

exist on the edge of Old Town in order to be in the proximity of agricultural land. The central plaza served as the center of trade and Catholic faith.

ABOVE Commercial street in Albuquerque, 1882 Photo by Ben Wittick The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs Courtesy of The New York Public Library

In 1880, the Santa Fe Railway connected to Albuquerque, and a depot was built two miles east of Old Town. New Albuquerque was created there, with homes constructed close to the depot in a Victorian style imported from the East by the railway and its passengers. A horsedrawn streetcar was built to connect to Old Town, but the older area soon declined as businesses moved in order to be close to the railroad depot. Electrified streetcars then expanded the town into a tight, numbered grid that remained walkable. A larger train station was constructed in the Spanish Mission style and named after Hernando de Alvarado, a captain in Coronado’s expedition. The Alvarado train station had restaurants and a Harvey Hotel (a chain that operated in many other American train stations), and served as Albuquerque’s cultural nerve center for many decades. My grandfather often would walk across the tracks and have lunch—or perhaps too many martinis—from his printing company on the east side.

1881

Billy the Kid is shot and killed in New Mexico. 29

1885

Albuquerque is incorporated as a town.

Further east, Albuquerque vastly expanded with the popularization and accessibility of the automobile. In 1926, Route 66 was built on what had been a long-established wagon road since 1858 and a Native American trade route for hundreds of years prior. It connected Chicago to Los Angeles. In 1928, on the outskirts of town, an airfield was constructed that connected Albuquerque with far-flung cities in a matter of hours.

ABOVE Alvarado Hotel, Fred Harvey Indian Building walkway and vendors, Albuquerque, ca. 1930 Photo by Santa Fe Railway Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum

OPPOSITE Santa Fe R.R. streamliner, the “Super Chief,” being serviced at the depot, Albuquerque, 1943 Photo by Jack Delano Courtesy of Library of Congress

The World War II baby boom brought further suburban expansion to the Sun Belt. Wide boulevards continued to be cut throughout the expanding city to accommodate the influx of GIs and their cars. Homes with domineering front garages were constructed. Strip malls were developed along the commercial streets, and parking became a central component of the development of any project, from a small home or apartment building to a shopping center. The 1960s brought giant, internalized malls that were constructed within a sea of asphalt parking. The electric streetcars running throughout the city were replaced by buses just 25 years after they were originally installed.

1902

Albuquerque’s Alvarado Train Station is built, complete with shops, restaurants and a Harvey Hotel. 30

1910

Albuquerque’s population is 11,020.

PREVIOUS Route 66, Albuquerque, 1969 Photo by Ernst Haas Haas Estate / Master Collection / Getty Images

ABOVE Albuquerque Municipal Airport, Native American dancers perform, 1950 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of John Airy PA1982.180.25

RIGHT Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company’s steam locomotive, New Mexico, 1880 Photographer unknown Courtesy of kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

1912

New Mexico is admitted to the U.S. as the 47th state. 34

1928

Albuquerque’s first airport opens.

The Alvarado train station was demolished in 1970. The City of Albuquerque was completely decentralized—no longer structured around the downtown or the plaza in Old Town that had preceded it. The automobile had conquered the city. The town of Rio Rancho, just northwest of Albuquerque, was incorporated by the American Realty and Petroleum Corporation (AMREP) in the 80s. Massive swaths of empty desert were platted and sold to mostly blue-collar workers by AMREP salesmen during free steak dinners on the East Coast. The desert plats were sold as second home opportunities or retirement investments in what was ultimately deemed a massive fraud by the federal government.

ABOVE Rio Rancho Estates, Albuquerque, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

In 2019, I drove out to Rio Rancho Estates to see it for myself while I was home. A grid of hard-packed dirt roads in every direction continues to exist among a sea of chamisa and tumbleweeds. You feel like you are living and breathing in a video game that is one part Tron and one part Mad Max. If it weren’t for GPS, you could get disoriented just by turning around. The undeveloped parcels comprise an area that is about 68 square miles, or approximately the

1937

Route 66 is re-routed to run east to west along what is now Central Avenue. 35

1945

The first nuclear device is detonated as part of the Trinity Test, conducted at New Mexico’s Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range.

equivalent of three Manhattan Islands. The area is mainly used to shoot guns and dump trash and stolen cars. An occasional inhabited mobile home can be found across the dusty terrain. Because there are thousands of owners of the parcels, many of whom are unlikely to know that their inherited estate even owns the property, the city of Rio Rancho is not able to develop the property or dispose of it.

ABOVE Coronado Center, Albuquerque, 2018 Courtesy of Google Earth

OPPOSITE Desert Iglesia, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

The future of Albuquerque lies in its outermost layer. Or, more accurately, in the city of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where a space station has been built by Virgin Galactic, a British company founded by billionaire Richard Branson. The site is only 70 miles south of the Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was tested. There, Virgin intends to use the station as its hub to take tourists to space for $250,000 a trip and ultimately to interlink with other planets. The program is still in its infancy and has been set back by crashes and some loss of life, but pushes forward nonetheless with its stated mission to “provide the catalyst for a new age of space exploration, which promises enormous positive potential for life on Earth.” The promise of Virgin Galactic’s mission is a familiar one in America. Throughout her history, every major technological

1947

Alleged crash of UFO near Roswell, New Mexico. 36

1954

The first rocket-driven sled on rails is tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

ABOVE Westside neighborhood, Albuquerque, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

RIGHT Proteus aircraft over Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico, 2002 Photo by Tom Tschida Courtesy of NASA

1961

Albuquerque’s Winrock Shopping Center opens. 38

1961

The American Realty and Petroleum Corporation (AMREP) is founded and purchases 55,000 acres of land just north of Albuquerque, dubbing the new town Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

advancement was backed by the ingenuity and unwavering drive of a singular vision. Each obsession was propelled forward by an individual’s relentless desire to win and be first, and by the greed of bank rollers.

ABOVE Divorce, 2005 Still from film by Daniel Kaven

Albuquerque, as she stands today, is a remnant of America’s enduring drive to be first and win at all costs. The supremacy of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers is manifest block by block and street by street in Albuquerque and effectively the entire American West. Ultimately, these mavericks of technology and transportation did not slice and dice America into the state she is in today; they created only the machines that would sew the urban, suburban and ex-urban fabric into being. There was no pattern, nor blueprint, for how these planes, trains and automobiles should operate in society or how they would connect our expansive landscape. In the spirit of America, the West would be designed and executed on the fly as fast as the latest and greatest technology could move. Transportation and its architects colonized the West, and then the infrastructure consumed it whole.

1965

Albuquerque’s Coronado Center shopping mall opens. 39

1966

The Sandia Peak Tramway is completed, along with the I-25 and I-40 interchange known as “The Big I.”

1970

Albuquerque’s population is 300,000.

1970

The U.S. Senate votes to give 48,000 acres of New Mexico back to the Taos Indians.

1970

Albuquerque’s Alvarado train station is torn down.

1982

Space shuttle Columbia lands at White Sands Space Harbor on Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

1985

Route 66 is decommissioned.

1992

The International UFO Museum and Research Center opens in Roswell, New Mexico.

1993

The Federal Trade Commission brings a civil suit against AMREP for defrauding investors through their development of Rio Rancho near Albuquerque.

2002

Alvarado Transportation Center opens in Albuquerque.

2010

Runway opens at world’s first spaceport in New Mexico.

2012

Albuquerque’s population is 555,417.

PREVIOUS Available, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

RIGHT KFC, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

NEXT Unleaded, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

42

2013

I-25/Paseo del Norte interchange construction starts in New Mexico.

2020

Albuquerque’s metro area population is 915,000.

HUMANS

“As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN –

As a teenager, I often drove out into the middle of the desert west of Albuquerque to look at the city and the Sandia Mountains beyond. In the early 1990s, this stretch of desert between the suburban edge of the town and the western mesas on the sunsetting horizon was inhabited only by petroglyphs, sage and a two-lane blacktop that connected a small airfield to I-40. At night I would drive my 1980 Audi 5000 as fast as it would possibly go and kill the lights momentarily for just a taste of what it felt like to hurl through complete darkness at a hundred miles an hour.

OPPOSITE Acoma Pueblo (Sky City) in the distance, New Mexico, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

After pulling the car off the road into the tumbleweeds, I would shut off the engine and walk out onto the blacktop. It was dead silent. The heat from the day would still radiate from the asphalt. I would lie down right on top of the dashed white lines in the middle of the road and stare up into the night sky. Despite the city lights in the distant bosque, you could still look into the night sky and see constellations as clearly as at a planetarium. Coyotes would frequently howl into the deep night atop the volcanic rocks. Headlights and racing engines seldom interrupted a restful moment lounging on the blacktop.

455

Chichen Itza is founded in Mexico. 47

500

Birth rate boom occurs among Southwestern Native Americans.

After moving away to Oregon, I regularly returned to the same stretch of road during visits home. Business parks have since been built. Housing developments have crept closer to the petroglyphs. The stars have faded due to the ambient light beaming from new parking lots. Headlights now regularly race back and forth along the road in the dead of night. I have not been able to recline on that blacktop for many years. The same stretch of road has ceased to be a meditative or restful place to visit. I return now only to catalogue its destruction. ABOVE A Mono home, California, ca. 1924 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Rainbow Bleed, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 13” × 19” Daniel Kaven

The most widely held belief is that humans migrated to North America from Asia by way of a land bridge that existed across what is now the Bering Sea prior to the melt of the last ice age— approximately 15,000 years ago. The original itinerant population moved as it suited in order to hunt and gather what was needed for survival. This migratory lifestyle was manifest in the first architecture in America: temporary or disposable structures made of gathered wood, vegetation or earth. These primitive structures were shared and constructed for different uses such as cooking and sleeping.

500

The bow and arrow are in use on the Great Plains, largely replacing the widely used atlatl. 48

500

Ancestral Puebloans live in improved pit-houses mostly built in groups on top of defensive positions such as mesas.

This aboriginal architecture could dissolve into the landscape as quickly as it was formed. As bands moved throughout the seasons in the West, their temporary shelters were re-built regularly. Ultimately some bands, mostly in the Great Plains, continued a nomadic lifestyle and further developed their temporary shelter into what we know today as a tipi, composed of lodge-pole pine or red cedar timber and buffalo hides.

PREVIOUS Inscription Rock, with message written by Juan de Oñate in 1605, photograph 1927 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Atsina camp scene: tipis in the plains, Montana, ca. 1908 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

The nomadic bands of the Plains covered large swaths of land, setting up temporary homes in locations that yielded the most game. For these hunter-gatherer bands, the domestic setting was conditional, changeable, subject to the circumstances of season and place. A scarcity of waterways and the enormous distances between trade centers in this region required hundreds of miles of overland foot travel, and tipis had to be compact and lightweight to accommodate the lifestyle. With domesticated dogs as the only available animal to bear the burden of supplies, what qualified as a necessity was largely defined by capacity. Equally utilitarian were the residential structures, which, because storage was not much of a concern, were primarily designed to provide shelter to warm up and sleep.

700 52

Ancestral Pueblo people transition from pit-houses to multi-story adobe and stone apartments called pueblos.

750

Pueblos are established using jacal construction techniques.

Some of the other bands in the West settled into more sedentary lifestyles in the mild climates of the Southwest. There, they formed much more advanced built communities, constructing permanent homes out of stacked sandstone and mud mortar. Upon establishing advanced farming techniques, they organized their settlements near fields and irrigated the land from rivers to sustain their crops.

ABOVE Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, Colorado, 1910 Photo by Underwood & Underwood Courtesy of Library of Congress

Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, in what are now Colorado and New Mexico, respectively, were home to highly advanced communities of Ancestral Puebloans (referred to as the Anasazi until recent times). By 750, these established societies were building complex, multi-story stone structures within cliffs for hundreds of people to live in and store dry goods. Around 850, construction began on Pueblo Bonito, a great house in Chaco Canyon. The multi-level, approximately 800-room structure, was built using a core-andveneer technique with sandstone and mud and ultimately covered approximately 3 acres. It stood five stories and housed approximately 1,000 people. Pueblo Bonito was the largest apartment building constructed in America for more than seven centuries, until a larger

850

Construction of Pueblo Bonito, a great house in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, begins. 53

860

Approximately 8,000 Ancestral Puebloans live in Mesa Verde, Colorado.

residential structure was built in New York City in 1882. Portions of the original Chaco Great House are still standing today. The great houses of the Ancestral Puebloan societies contained large kivas. These semi-subterranean—or in the case of Chacoan culture, completely subterranean—gathering spaces were utilized for religious rituals and political meetings. Kivas constituted the first public buildings in America, and those still standing today are considered the first houses of worship.

ABOVE Pueblo Bonito (Chaco Canyon), floor plan, 1976 Drawing by Sue Proudfoot Courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service

In both cases, whether a society was nomadic and tipi-based or sedentary and pueblo-based, indigenous American shelters were built using locally available materials that reflected the immediate environment. Structures that housed food, supplies and social or ritual activity were typically integrated directly into the permanent compounds or temporary camps. The structures were communal, and there were shared uses throughout the community. Because there is no written record of Pre-Columbian cultures in America, there continues to be much conjecture as to how these

875 54

Patayan people begin farming along the Colorado River valley in western Arizona and eastern California.

900

Ancestral Puebloans live in multi-room dwellings made of stone and mortar with dedicated areas for grinding and storing maize.

ABOVE Chacoan building, section, 1984 Drawing by Stephen H. Lekson Courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service

RIGHT Pueblo Bonito (Chaco Canyon), 2015 Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

NEXT Three Navajo men, seated on ground looking into the distance, 1904 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

900

American Southwestern tribes trade with Indigenous peoples of Mexico. 55

990

Chetro Ketl, an Ancestral Puebloan great house, begins construction in Chaco Canyon.

1000

Taos Pueblo constructed.

1000

The “Village of the Great Kivas” is constructed near what is now known as the Zuni Pueblo.

1100

Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon reaches apex in size at 800 rooms.

1144

The first stone buildings are built in Acoma atop a mesa in present-day New Mexico.

1150

The drought in Chaco Canyon leads to its abandonment.

1163

Construction of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris begins.

1182

The magnetic compass is invented.

1190

Ancestral Puebloans live in expansive cliff dwellings or multi-storied pueblos.

1190

Construction begins at Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, which would ultimately house 100 people across 150 rooms and 23 kivas.

1200

Estimated world population is 360–450 million.

1215

King John of England places his royal seal on the Magna Carta, laying the groundwork for individual and religious freedom.

cultures lived. Because artifacts from faraway cultures have been found in many of the established settlements, it is known that extensive trade networks existed. But how trade was facilitated is not known for sure. It is likely that the arrival of outsiders to a community brought the local members out to trade in the open. It is important to note that architecture designed to advertise or facilitate trade simply did not exist. The mere existence of a settlement communicated to outsiders that trade could perhaps be facilitated and trading posts were literally marked meeting areas along trails that interlinked communities. OPPOSITE Tourists at cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 1939 Photo by Lee Russell Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, 1879 Photo by J.K. Hillers for the War Department Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Around 1285, the Ancestral Puebloans, including the communities of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, completely abandoned their advanced villages and migrated mostly south as the result of extreme drought and social upheaval. What are now known as the Zuni and Acoma pueblos were established by the Ancestral Puebloans prior to the great drought in the Four Corners region, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah now converge. But after the migration, those pueblos boomed with growth and activity. Both the Acoma and Zuni would be among the first peoples in the American

1250 59

Construction begins at Keet Seel (Arizona), a large Navajo cliff dwelling comprised of sandstone blocks plastered together with mud and mortar.

1250

Major construction begins at Casas Grandes, an important center for trade with Mexico located in northern Chihuahua. It includes ballcourts, walk-in wells and sewer systems.

West to interact with European explorers. Nine new pueblos were constructed beginning around 1400 on what is now the Zuni reservation. The buildings were constructed in the Chacoan tradition of cut sandstone and mud mortar. Rumors of the Seven Cities of Gold north of New Spain (presentday Mexico) first came from Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a survivor of a Spanish expedition led in the 1520s by Pánfilo de Narváez into what is now Florida. Cabeza de Vaca barely survived the Narváez expedition and washed up on the shores of present-day Texas with a handful of survivors. They wandered through Texas from village to village and heard stories from Indians in those regions describing great wealth and palaces to the north. Cabeza de Vaca shared these stories of glimmering golden cities upon return to New Spain and ultimately, the viceroy was intrigued. ABOVE A trip to Zuni, New Mexico, ca. 1897 Photo by Ben Wittick Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1540, at the behest of the first viceroy of New Spain, Vázquez de Coronado led an expedition of 400 Spanish conquistadors and over 1,200 Mexican-Indian “allies” (more likely, captives) up

1280

The first recipes for gunpowder, originally developed in China, are published in the West. 60

1285

Ancestral Puebloans, including the communities of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, abandon their advanced villages and migrate mostly south as the result of drought and raids from starving populations.

ABOVE Coronado’s March, Colorado, 1898 Reproduction of drawing by Frederic Remington published in Drawings Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. 1927 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

1300

Aztec culture begins in Mesoamerica. 61

1325

Tenochtitlán is settled by the Mexica.

Mexico’s western coast and into the region that now makes up the southwestern United States. The pueblos that were dispersed throughout the Zuni River valley are said to comprise the Seven Cities of Gold that Coronado sought. Hawikuh was one of the primary pueblos that housed Zuni society, and ultimately the one that Coronado concluded was evidence that the Seven Cities of Gold were only a fable. Coronado, in a letter to Viceroy Mendoza on August 3 of 1540, wrote of the Zuni pueblos: OPPOSITE Zuni water carriers, 1903 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

It now remains for me to tell about this city and kingdom and province, of which the father provincial gave Your Lordship an account. In brief, I can assure you that in reality [de Niza] has not told the truth in a single thing that he said, but everything is the reverse of what he said, except the name of the city and the large stone houses. For, although they are not decorated with turquoises, or made of lime nor of good bricks, nevertheless they are very good houses, with three and four and five stories, where there are very

ABOVE Coronado expedition, National Trail Study, 1992 Courtesy of U.S. Department of the Interior

1345

Founding of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán on Lake Texcoco. 63

1350

In the Southwest’s Puebloan area, village size increases and populations concentrate into fewer, larger centers; the enclosed plaza—possibly an influence from Mexico—becomes common.

good apartments and good rooms with corridors, and some very good rooms underground and paved, which are made for winter, and are something like a sort of hot baths. The ladders which they have for their houses are all movable and portable, which are taken up and placed wherever they please. They are made of two pieces of wood, with rounds like ours. The Seven Cities are seven little villages, all having the kind of houses I have described. They are all within a radius of five leagues. They are all called the kingdom of Cevola, and each has its own name and no single one is called Cevola, but all together are called Cevola. This one which I have called a city I have named Granada, partly because it has some similarity to it, as well as out of regard for Your Lordship. In this place where I am now lodged there are perhaps 200 houses, all surrounded by a wall, and it seems to me that with the other houses, which are not so surrounded, there might be altogether 500 families. . . .

PREVIOUS The Ko-ya-ma-shi make merry after the dancing of the Shalako at Plaza of Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. 1898 Photo by Ben Wittick Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Pueblo of Zuni, plan, McKinley County, New Mexico, ca. 1972 Drawing by James Lamsam Courtesy of Library of Congress

1400

Hawikuh, the largest settlement on current day Zuni lands, is established. 66

1400

Athabaskan ancestors of the Navajo and Apache arrive in the Four Corners region.

RIGHT Portrait of Shiwawatiwa, a Zuni Indian, 1903 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

1425

Pueblo peoples inhabit valleys along the Zuni River in New Mexico. 67

1425

Along the Zuni River in central New Mexico, a defensive architecture of multi-storied, windowless apartments are built of adobe-surfaced stone. The flat roofs are used as public spaces.

The people of the towns seem to me to be of ordinary size and intelligent, although I do not think that they have the judgment & intelligence which they ought to have to build these houses in the way in which they have, for most of them are entirely naked except the covering of their privy parts, and they have painted mantles like the one which I send to Your Lordship.

ABOVE Pueblo of Zuni, section, McKinley County, New Mexico, 1972 Drawing by Thomas R. Hauck Courtesy of Library of Congress

The Ancestral Puebloans had an extensive trade network established for the turquoise they mined. Mayans would travel north and trade technology and cacao for the precious stone, but the Zuni had never seen the arquebuses (muskets), swords, glistening armor and towering horses that came with the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish were exhausted from their grueling journey and the Zuni fearful of, but curious about, the alien arrival. The Zuni imagined that the Spanish could be fruitful trade partners. Ultimately, Coronado and his men, who were exhausted and starving from their journey, were emboldened by the iron they possessed and proceeded to forcibly remove the Puebloans from Hawikuh in

1428 68

The Aztec Triple Alliance forms between Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopán—and defeats Azcapotzalco to win control of the Valley of Mexico.

1428

Itzcóatl becomes ruler of the Aztecs. He eventually begins the construction of Tenochtitlán.

1540 and occupy the village. Little remains of Hawikuh on the Zuni Reservation in New Mexico today. Coronado continued throughout the region raiding pueblos, including in modern-day Bernalillo, New Mexico, resulting in the first named conflict in American history: the Tiguex War. In the course of the two-year expedition, Vázquez de Coronado left in his wake extensive devastation among the natives he encountered; warfare and an outsized demand for resources to support his men left settlements of tribes—such as those of the Rio Grande valley and the Zuni—decimated. The expedition, failing as it did to uncover the vast stores of gold promised by earlier explorers like Cabeza de Vaca, was ultimately deemed unsuccessful. The Spaniards’ colonial impetus, predicated on a fever dream of golden wealth, resulted in the spread of extreme deprivation and disease. As the Spanish settled into the region, they imposed their culture onto the Ancestral Puebloans. This effort included religion, construction and agriculture. Although adobe had been used for thousands of years as an additive for building techniques, the

1455

The printing press is invented. 69

1492

Pre-colonial population of the indigenous people of the Americas is estimated to be approximately 60 million.

Spanish introduced the concept of utilizing pre-built formwork for mud bricks. These adobe bricks were pulled from the forms after baking in the hot sun and used en masse to quickly build strong, durable structures. The first missions would be constructed with adobe bricks.

ABOVE Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zuni, Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, established ca. 1630, photograph 1933 Photo by Historic American Buildings Survey Courtesy of Library of Congress

Acoma Pueblo is situated in a defensive position high atop a mesa in western New Mexico. The structures at Acoma were built as high as three stories. The ground level of the structures was primarily used for storage, and the upper levels—accessible only by ladder—were used for living. For protection, the original buildings did not have windows and doors. Access into the space was only available through the roof by way of ladders, which could be removed should the pueblo be attacked. The village contained rectangular kivas, and the multi-level buildings were aligned along three primary streets with a plaza for communal gathering. I spent a day on the Acoma Reservation on my vision quest. Modernday Sky City still stands today and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in America. Although many of the structures

1492

Leonardo da Vinci becomes the first to seriously theorize about flying machines. 70

1492

Martin Behaim invents the first map globe.

ABOVE Acoma, general view from north, ca. 1934 Photo by M. James Slack Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Aerial of Acoma, ca. 1928 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1492 71

Columbus finds the Americas while searching for Asia. In describing the native Taíno peoples, he writes: “They ought to make good and skilled servants, for they repeat very quickly whatever we say to them.”

1500

An estimated 30–60 million bison roam North America, mostly on the Great Plains.

RIGHT Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

72

1500

Southwest populations decline to levels of the 8th and 9th centuries, and no vestige remains of Ancestral Puebloans’ central government.

1506

Christopher Columbus dies.

ABOVE Pueblo of Acoma, east elevation, Cibola County, New Mexico, ca. 1974 Drawing by Julsing Lamsam Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Acoma water girls, ca. 1905 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

1510

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján is born in Salamanca, Spain. 74

1517

The first European visits Mexican territory: Francisco Hernández de Córdoba arrives in Yucatán from Cuba with three ships and about 100 men.

have been improved or added onto over the centuries since the pueblo was first inhabited, the original buildings are remarkably intact. When looking at the pueblo from approach in the distance, the buildings look as if they are a natural extension of the cliffs that define the bounds of the village. The vast landscape around the mesa is free of large-scale urban development for hundreds of miles in any direction. The air is devoid of the noise that is omnipresent in the developed world. Save for two-lane blacktops into the valley which Sky City overlooks, untouched desertscape can be seen in every direction from atop the pueblo. The most striking aspect of Acoma is its location high atop a relatively small mesa. With cliffs of more than 350 feet on each side, it is clear that the driving force behind the settlement’s location was protection from other adversarial Ancestral Puebloan populations. The commanding presence of Acoma over the valley floor and the limited access to the village would prove to be insurmountable for most enemies. Even Coronado left Acoma be. Alvarado, an officer in Coronado’s expedition, wrote that the pueblo was “one of the strongest ever seen because the city is built upon a very high rock.

1519 75

Hernán Cortés leads new expedition to Mexico, marking the beginning of 300 years of Spanish hegemony over the region.

1521

Fall of Tenochtitlán. Cuauhetémoc surrenders to Cortés, following destruction of the city.

The ascent was so difficult that we repented climbing to the top. The houses are three stories high. The people are of the same type as those in the province of Cibola, and they have abundant supplies of maize, beans and turkeys like those of New Spain.” A Spanish soldier further described Acoma as “the greatest stronghold ever seen. [They] came down to meet us peacefully, although they might have spared themselves the trouble and remained on their rock, for we wouldn’t have been unable to disturb them in the least.” Acoma was left alone by the first Spanish colonists. It wasn’t until 1599 that the Spanish took control of Acoma in a slaughter more gruesome than any invasion by Coronado, and perhaps moreso than any conflict instigated by the Spanish on American soil.

ABOVE Acoma houses, ca. 1934 Photo by M. James Slack Courtesy of Library of Congress

Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a second generation conquistador, who was born in New Spain more than a decade after Coronado would first ride through the modern-day Southwest. In the spring of 1598, Oñate set out for the northern area of New Spain to colonize and govern the area at the behest of King Philip II, and established New Mexico. The expedition made its way up the Rio Grande valley and

1522

Rebuilding of Tenochtitlán by the Spanish as Mexico City, capital of New Spain. 76

1535

Coronado sails for New Spain, which is present-day Mexico.

ABOVE Acoma Pueblo, 1944 Photo by Ansel Adams Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

RIGHT The Old Governor of Acoma, ca. 1891 Photograph by Charles F. Lummis Courtesy of Library of Congress

1535 77

Italian missionary and friar Marcos de Niza leads a failed expedition at the behest of the first Viceroy of New Spain, to find the rumored Seven Cities of Gold.

1535

The Viceroyalty of New Spain is established, consisting of present-day Mexico, Central America, Florida and parts of the Southwest United States.

re-established Spanish control pueblo by pueblo. It was met with little resistance, until a splinter patrol led by Oñate’s nephew, Juan de Zaldívar, came upon Acoma. It was at Acoma that he and a dozen others would meet their fate. An enraged Oñate would dispatch a retaliatory brigade to Acoma led by de Zaldívar’s brother, Vicente, to avenge the killing and impose discipline.

OPPOSITE San Estévan del Rey Mission, Old Acoma Pueblo, Valencia County, New Mexico, 1934 Published by Historic American Buildings Survey Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Los Conquistadores (founding of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico, depicting Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar), 1890s Oil on board, artist unknown

On January 22, 1599, Vicente de Zaldívar arrived at Acoma, and over two days killed an estimated 500 men and 300 women and children in what would come to be known as the Acoma Massacre. The conquistadors would further imprison 500 more and bring them to stand trial at San Juan Pueblo where Oñate was headquartered. Soon thereafter, an extreme sentence was issued to Acoma at trial: males over 25 were to have one foot cut off and be condemned to 20 years of servitude. Males 12–25 received only 20 years’ servitude. Boys and girls under 12 were all declared innocent and given to friars for a Christian upbringing. Women over 12 received 20 years of servitude. Oñate amputated at least 20 men in the public square in San Juan Pueblo. When word of the Acoma Massacre and the rampage that

1536

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca travels lands north of Mexico and claims to find the “Cities of Gold.” 79

1537

Pope Paul III issues a Papal Bull declaring Native Americans to have souls and forbidding the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and all other people.

had transpired under Oñate’s leadership traveled back to Mexico City, Oñate himself was summoned back to New Spain by the new viceroy, Diego Fernández de Córdoba, and forced to stand trial. There, he was convicted of a number of charges, including using excessive force against the Acoma. His sentence would entail exile from New Mexico in perpetuity, four years’ exile from Mexico City and a fine which, considering his wealth, was inconsequential.

ABOVE Feast day at San Estévan del Rey Mission, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, detail, ca. 1890 Photo by Charles Fletcher Lummis Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Jesús, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

Many homes were destroyed during the punitive raid by Oñate’s men. It is impossible to know what exactly was destroyed and what was re-built, but it is generally thought that (other than the use of adobe bricks, which the Spanish introduced) much was rebuilt in a similar fashion to what previously existed. Perhaps to obfuscate the proselytizing Spanish, the function of each structure is not outwardly obvious. The intended use of the buildings was known only to those who had a working knowledge of the original construction and inherently understood where one would work, sleep and worship. The San Estévan del Rey Mission Church is a still-extant structure that strongly stands out from the humble adobe structures that

1539

Coronado is told of Cíbola, a golden city standing on a high hill to the north of New Spain. 80

1540

Pedro de Tovar comes in contact with the Hopi people in Oraibi, Arizona, as part of the expedition led by Coronado.

NEXT Old church at Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. 1902 Photo by Detroit Photographic Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Hopi life, ca. 1907 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Humans, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

are prevalent on the mesa. The church, which was established by the Spanish and built on the backs of the Acoma, is approximately 150 feet long by 40 feet wide and has walls as thick as 7 feet at its base. Beams of 14-inch timber that define the interior ceiling were logged from 30 miles away and dragged by hand to the site atop the mesa, which originally could only be navigated by way of steep, narrow routes through cliffs. The church is full of ornamentation and exaggerated shapes to communicate its oversized importance to outsiders and villagers alike. Atop the church stands the most powerful of colonial symbols, and effectively the first billboard in America—the cross of Christianity. This church remains the longeststanding church in the United States today. It is additionally the oldest surviving example of European indoctrination of religion, architecture and culture on that which was extant in America for thousands of years prior. San Estévan del Rey Mission Church would be just the first of many big-box houses of worship to come.

1565 81

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine, Florida, marking the first Spanish settlement in the New World.

1598

Juan de Oñate y Salazar claims the land north of the Rio Grande River for Spain by creating the first permanent settlements in what is now New Mexico.

HORSES

“Horses are the most necessary things in the new country because they frighten the enemy most, and, after God, to them belongs the victory.” – PEDRO DE CASTAÑEDA –

Although it is thought that horses evolved in North America millions of years ago, they had long ago become extinct on the continent due to unknown circumstances. The Spanish conquistadors reintroduced horses to the West. These mustangs provided the speed and endurance to conquer all those who encountered the Europeans. The Ancestral Puebloans are said to have thought that the collective being of the conquistador atop a stallion was a godly figure and perhaps immortal. They were equally frightened and intrigued by the towering creatures with penetrating eyes.

OPPOSITE Navajo riders in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, 1904 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

The horse and its relationship with man would come to later define the lifestyle of the West, and it is on the backs of these impressive, stoic creatures that early America was built. For the next three centuries after Coronado invaded, horsepower would be the primary engine of economic and geographic growth for all Americans, foreign and Native. These animals would ultimately provide the strength to interlink the United States from coast to coast, sow the seeds of mother nature across her fertile ground and selflessly spill their own blood in battle at the reins of man.

4000 BCE

Horses are thought to be first domesticated in Ukraine. 88

365

Invention of one of the earliest saddles by the Sarmatians.

OPPOSITE Painted pony, Pendleton, Oregon, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

ABOVE Planning a raid, ca. 1907 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

When I left Albuquerque to head back toward Los Angeles, I drove along the original path of Route 66 when able. I was drawn out of my truck to watch some horses on the range near Laguna. In the far reaches of the desert of New Mexico, wild horses continue to roam. In this case they were not wild, but they were exceptional beasts nonetheless. There are few, if any, animals that outweigh humans by hundreds of pounds and yet still look down upon us like children with whom we are friendly. Yet, there is an inescapable draw and bond that is ever-present with horse and man. The painted pony that I filmed among volcanic rock and a barbed wire barrier appeared to want to approach me. Like most horses, his eyes seemingly looked straight into the soul with an intensity and understanding that is unparalleled even by fellow humans. The Ancestral Puebloans were immediately drawn to the horses brought by the Spanish. Despite the bloodshed and the battles, some trade—and theft—transpired among the clashing cultures. The Native Americans took to horses quickly and integrated them into their culture. The introduction of horses spurred changes in the material

1540

Coronado launches expedition to the Seven Cities of Gold. 91

1540

Coronado brings 1,500 horses and mules to New Mexico.

composition, architecture and arrangement of Native American abodes, both among the Puebloan and nomadic tribes. Nomadic tribes, such as the Great Plains Indians, lived in tipis that could be disassembled, packed, moved and reassembled quickly to accommodate a mobile lifestyle. With the widespread availability of horses, the typical tipi construction grew larger. Not only did equestrian travel allow for the transportation of longer lodge poles and bigger hides, it also enabled an expanded trade network that allowed Western tribes to take part in new economic systems, which in turn prompted a transformation in the design of their settlements. The tribes now needed a way to accommodate the large stores of goods, such as guns, iron pots and carpets, which were newly affordable due to affluence generated in part by horseback-aided hunting. ABOVE Crow Indian with two horses and Her Horse Kills, High Medicine Rock, Montana, ca. 1908 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

Throughout the 1500s and 1600s, the prevalence of horse ownership led to increased warfare and conflict—both inter-tribal and colonial. Many settlements spread out further geographically as a result of horse-related warfare, necessitating portable lodging. After successfully

1540

The first horse race in the New World is held between Rodrigo Maldonado and Coronado. 92

1540

Hawikuh, a Zuni pueblo, is invaded by Coronado and his men.

(if temporarily) driving Spanish conquistadors out of New Mexico following the Indian Revolt of 1680, the Puebloans kept a number of the horses that were left behind. Living an anchored existence in permanent adobe compounds, Puebloans were able to breed, pasture and train the horses, which they then traded with other tribes. Although our 13 colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain in North America declared their independence as the United States of America in 1776, the vast majority of what we understand today to be the continental United States remained under French, Mexican and British ownership until 1848. Even after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which incorporated vast territory that now comprises more than 10 states, most of the West was not in the hands of the U.S. until the 1848 Mexican Cession, including California, Nevada, Utah and half of Colorado and New Mexico. The remaining territories of Arizona and New Mexico were not admitted as states until 1912, which was the year my own grandfather was born. For the European settlers on the eastern shores of the newly minted United States, the entirety of the West represented the unknown.

1541 93

Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America.

1541

Coronado invades the Tiwa Indians. Hundreds of Native Americans die in what is known as the Tiguex War.

Vast portions of the West were considered to be uninhabitable. Thomas Jefferson wrote at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 that it contained “immense and trackless deserts,” but he had foresight to make the acquisition. He cemented the deal with Napoleon for the 500 million acres for only $15 million, under legislative upheaval in the House of Representatives, which was two votes shy of denying the request to purchase. The U.S. government would wrestle, pay off and manipulate the Native American claims on that land well into the 20th century, but it was undoubtedly the most profitable land grab in U.S. history.

ABOVE XIT Ranch mess wagon, Texas, ca. 1902 Photo by F.M. Steele Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1803, Jefferson would also dispatch Meriwether Lewis and his associate, William Clark, to explore the West on their storied journey to Oregon. The stated purpose of their exploration, he wrote, would be “to explore the Missouri River, & such principal stream of it, as, by its course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado and/or other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.”

1542

The “New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians” are passed. 94

1542

Coronado expedition ends.

ABOVE Home Sweet Home, ca. 1915 Photo by William J. Carpenter Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Acoma, New Mexico, ca. 1898 Photo by Detroit Photographic Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1554 95

Francisco de Ibarra is appointed governor of the Zacatecas Indians and goes on to explore New Mexico.

1598

Oñate leads Spanish colonization of the province of New Mexico and establishes the first capital in San Juan de los Caballeros at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama River.

ABOVE Wagon train, ca. 1861 Photo part of Brady Handy Collection Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Sutter’s Mill, American River, Coloma, El Dorado County, California, 1848 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1605

Oñate leads expedition to the Colorado River, leaves message on Inscription Rock. 96

1608

Oñate is removed as governor of New Mexico and sent to Mexico City to be tried for mistreatment of the Indians and abuse of power.

This extremely well documented expedition would successfully reach the Pacific Ocean in December of 1805, although it would be decades until the trail would be serviceable by a wagon train. The Great Migration of 1843 resulted in a single wagon train of up to 1,000 people. Only then were there enough supplies and manpower to rough in a serviceable trail for others to follow. I vacillated on whether or not to leave from Portland, Oregon, which I call home today, while I was preparing for my road trip. It seemed fitting to leave on my journey from near where Lewis and Clark had ultimately ended theirs. But, given the realities of life and limitations on time, I opted to fly to Los Angeles first and drive home to New Mexico through the Southwest from there. I wanted to depart from Los Angeles, the largest city in the West today, before heading to New Mexico—home to the oldest American civilizations. Given my lack of historical research at the time, what I did not comprehend is what I would be missing by flying over San Francisco. To understand the modern West, its architecture, its culture, its explosive growth and its global stature, you need only look to one

1610 97

Santa Fe is founded and becomes an important trading center for Spanish horses brought from Mexico.

1620

The earliest human-powered submarine is invented.

day, less than 200 years ago. This infamous day would both become ground zero for what we understand as the American West today and the death of much of what Native America had been for at least a thousand years prior. On January 24, 1848, carpenter and sawmill operator James Marshall found flakes of gold in a small sawmill on the American River, powered by runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountains. Not only was a greedy global frenzy set off from this lucky geological find, but only days later, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. The treaty gave ownership of the land encompassing the entirety of California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, and portions of New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado to the fledgling United States. The total purchase price was $15 million. ABOVE Wells Fargo building, C Street, Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada, ca. 1865 Photo by Robert W. Kerrigan Courtesy of Library of Congress

The golden fever was a global epidemic that brought troves of Americans and foreigners by land and sea to California. In the late 1840s, there were three available options to travel to California from the Atlantic Coast: One, sail around the tip of South America in frigid waters on a trip that would take four to eight months. Two,

1622

Second Anglo-Powhatan War begins. 98

1629

Franciscans establish missions in Hopiland, becoming the first Europeans to reside in Arizona.

sail along the Atlantic coast to Panama and hike 35 miles through treacherous jungle and hop aboard another ship for the rest of the voyage—travel time: two to three months. The least expensive, and by far the most treacherous, was the third route by land over the continental United States, which took a grueling three to seven months, depending on weather conditions and equipment performance. Along the way, these forty-niners (as they came to be known for the year they traveled overland en masse) established camps throughout the West that ultimately became some of the towns that we know today. Thousands of those in wagon trains headed to California died of starvation or disease, or were killed in conflict with Native Americans. ABOVE Main Street, Dutch Flat, Placer County, California, 1866 Photo by Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Courtesy of Library of Congress

There is no period that has more wholly ruled the West than that of the California Gold Rush. The capitalistic drive and greed that brought so many individuals from around the world to California persists to this day in our economy and the design of the West. Derivatecture was wholesale sown into the American landscape

1637

The Spanish raid Ute villages for slaves, many of whom escape and take horses back to their homes. 99

1640

Beginning of the era of Indian horse culture on the Great Plains.

(often by force) during this period. The frenzy that was the Gold Rush—and the fever that spread to build fast enough to support it— lasts to this day in the West. Figure out how to build it fast and cheap once, and repeat over and over and over.

OPPOSITE White Guys, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 13” × 19” Daniel Kaven

ABOVE Six Mile Canyon from C Street, Virginia City, Nevada, 1866 Photo by Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Courtesy of Library of Congress

During the Gold Rush, San Francisco grew from a village of only 200 to over 36,000 in the course of just six years. By 1854, the state of California had grown from 2,700 to 300,000 pioneers, a group which included emigrants from as far as China and South America. The majority of the personal wealth created during this period was by entrepreneurs trafficking in the support of the gold miners—but all told, close to $200 billion in today’s currency was mined out of those hills. After the Mexican Cession at the outset of the Gold Rush, the area fell under military control. California would have no clear set of laws or local government until it became a state in September of 1850. Most of the goldfields were located in what would become federal land, but with no rules or infrastructure to enforce them. This lawlessness led to great conflict between the pioneers and the Native cultures that had for centuries already inhabited the region.

1650

Native American population declines to less than 6 million. 101

1680

The Puebloan Revolt forces the Spanish to retreat to Mexico. The Comanche Indians acquire the horses left behind.

ABOVE Stage coach crossing the desert to Goldfield, Nevada, 1906 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Swift’s Station, Carson and Lake Bigler Road, Sierra Nevada Mountains, 1866 Photo by Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, 1851 Photo by Sterling C. McIntyre Courtesy of Library of Congress

At the same time that California—and the West at large—experienced this great influx of activity and wealth, it also saw the mass destruction of Native American peoples and their communities. The Native Americans, who had relied on hunting, gathering and farming throughout California, often fell to disease brought by the pioneers or starvation as the environmental damage from the mass mining in the rivers destroyed habitats and fish. The forty-niners were relentless in their pursuit of gold, and would kill Native Americans and lay claim on any land in order to get to it. In its first session as a state in 1850, the California legislature approved the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, essentially legalizing the slavery of Native American men, women and children by indentured service as punishment for small debts or petty crimes. In his State of the State address, the first Governor of California, Peter Hardeman Burnett, preached: “That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.” It is

1691

Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino establishes Spanish presence in Arizona for the first time. 102

1692

Diego de Vargas, the Spanish governor of the New Spain territory of Santa Fe, leads the reconquest of the territory after the Pueblo Revolt, bringing with him colonists and horses.

104

1710

Average size of settler’s home is 450 square feet.

1719

The first recorded Comanche raid into New Mexico for Spanish horses takes place.

1755

U.S. Postal Service is established.

1769

The majority of Plains Indians have horses.

1779

Governor Juan Bautiste de Anza of New Mexico, with 500 Spanish and 200 Utes and Apaches, captures a Comanche village. Comanche horses are divided among the allies.

1780

First smallpox outbreak in the West.

1789

Indian Commerce Clause of the Constitution is added: “The Congress shall have Power . . . to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.”

1795

The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, establishing the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the United States.

1800

Second U.S. census records population as 5,308,483.

1800

Reported horse population of California is 24,000.

estimated that as many as 16,000 Native Americans were outright slaughtered in what is known today as the California Genocide. The approximate population of indigenous peoples in California exceeded 300,000 prior to Spanish colonization. By 1850, there were fewer than 50,000 Native Americans remaining as the result of disease, starvation and murder.

OPPOSITE A Hupa fisherman watches for salmon, California, ca. 1923 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE The Prospector, Grants Pass, Oregon, ca. 1903 Photo by C.D. Nichols Courtesy of Library of Congress

In his journal in 1852, author Henry David Thoreau writes: “The recent rush to California and the attitude of the world, even of its philosophers and prophets, in relation to it appears to me to reflect the greatest disgrace on mankind. That so many are ready to get their living by the lottery of gold-digging without contributing any value to society, and that the great majority who stay at home justify them in this both by precept and example! . . . Going to California. It is only three thousand miles nearer to hell. . . . The gold of California is a touchstone which has betrayed the rottenness, the baseness, of mankind. Satan, from one of his elevations, showed mankind the kingdom of California, and they entered into a compact with him at once.”

1803 107

The Louisiana Purchase adds territory to the United States extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northwest. The price for the purchase is $15 million.

1805

Lewis and Clark expedition reaches the Pacific Ocean.

PREVIOUS Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, ca. 1899 Lithograph by Courier Litho. Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Pony Express Route (April 3, 1860 to October 24, 1861), 1951 Pictorial map by Union Pacific Railroad Company Courtesy of Library of Congress

In the 1860s, the creation of the Pony Express would inaugurate horse-relay delivery as an alternative to steamship mail delivery to accommodate the rapid population growth and geographical spread. In particular, it helped to tie the newly independent state of California to the rest of the country: gold prospectors could now receive mail and news from the center of the country in fewer than 10 days. The Pony Express had an actual and a symbolic effect on the American landscape. Literally, it linked the East and the West by allowing important communication to quickly bridge the vast wilderness in between. Settlement patterns both governed and followed its route. The service, though short-lived, essentially collapsed the country in the lead-up to the major event that would divide it: the Civil War. Symbolically, it united America through communication precisely as the country was lapsing into enormous ideological divides (which were, ironically, defined largely by geographical discrepancies in the first place). Accelerated mail delivery was necessitated by the mounting North–South tensions, and was also subject to it in that conflict-related interruption frequently delayed mail. The route hastened the construction of what would become the first transcontinental railroad and telegraph.

1810

Mexican War of Independence begins in New Spain (present-day Mexico). 110

1820

More than 20,000 Native Americans live in virtual slavery at the California missions.

RIGHT The Overland Pony Express, 1867 Engraving from painting by George M. Ottinger Courtesy of Library of Congress

1822

Trade opens between Santa Fe and St. Louis via Santa Fe Trail. 111

1824

Congress creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

ABOVE Holladay’s Overland Stage office, daily stagecoach on the point of starting for the Plains, ca. 1865 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Commercial building of James E. Kidd, a sign painter, Stockton, California, ca. 1870 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1828

First major gold discovery in western U.S. is made in the Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe. 112

1830

Trade route known as the Old Spanish Trail opens in New Mexico and Utah.

With the mining towns hastily established throughout the West, we saw advertising and branded architecture for the first time. The Pony Express quickly became a household name, even though it lasted only 19 months. Holladay Overland Mail & Express Co. purchased the cash-strapped Pony Express and provided stage coach service while running mail night and day. Wells Fargo & Co. ultimately purchased Overland and expanded services and offers throughout the rest of the 1860s. These routes would prove to be critical links to the expansion of the United States, and European-influenced architecture would infill the landscape along the way. Increasingly, small towns saw transient populations that were integral to their expanding economies. Elaborate signs and architecture styles were critical to communicating the use of buildings for those passing through. ABOVE Wells Fargo and Co. Express banking house, Stockton, California, ca. 1860 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

The expansion of the West would eschew historical planning paradigms. Much of Europe was developed under a feudal system with a monarchy in control of the land. Land outside the defensive walls of the historic European towns was leased for agreed purposes, but would be forever held by the establishment. Prior to the

1835 113

First U.S. patent for a horseshoe manufacturing machine, which could manufacture up to 60 horseshoes per hour.

1849

Discovery of gold in California drives demand for horses, causing the Comanche to expand their horse-stealing raids into Texas and Mexico.

PREVIOUS Sacramento City, California, from the foot of J Street, with the Sierra Nevadas in the distance, 1849 Drawing by George Victor Cooper Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Palm oasis mural, Twentynine Palms, California, ca. 1980 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

introduction of Europeans to North America, the Native American peoples had varying traditions of land tenure and stewardship. The founders of the United States established the legal framework for private land ownership and brought with them from Europe the surveying and mapping technology to enforce it. This framework would be blanketed across the nation’s massive landscape in the decades to come, paying service only to providing large swaths of acreage equally to agrarians and investors. By 1850, still only a handful of established towns of any significance existed in the West. The new government would leverage this vast, underpopulated resource into a catalyst for economic growth by literally giving land away to those who would agree to work it. Plots would be carved out by way of metes and bounds in angular patterns like stock in a company, with little regard for planning or cohesion. In May of 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law. The law would dramatically hasten Western migration by granting 160 acres of public land to any citizen over 21 who accepted the terms. For the right to the free land, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to live continuously off their new land for five

1849

The first recorded rodeo takes place in New Mexico. 116

1850

President Millard Fillmore signs first Land Grant Act.

RIGHT Members of the United States Geological Survey measuring a baseline near Fort Wingate, New Mexico, 1883 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1859

Pike’s Peak Gold Rush begins in the Colorado Territory. 117

1860

Emanuel Leutze is commissioned by Congress to paint the mural Westward Ho the Course of Empire Takes Its Way in July 1861 for the U.S. Capitol. The mural represents frontier settlement.

years before gaining full title. As many as 80 million acres of public land were granted to its citizens through this act by 1900.

ABOVE J.D. Semler, near Woods Park, Custer County, Nebraska, 1886 Photo by Solomon D. Butcher Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Homesteader Daniel Freeman standing, holding gun, with hatchet tucked in belt, ca. 1904 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

The Homestead Act was the land equivalent of the California Gold Rush. Immigrants from Europe would join existing U.S. citizens in the eastern states in their dash toward the West for their free acreage. The act, which was highly contested by the Confederate states, additionally provided freed slaves with the opportunity to participate. Many urban slum dwellers and freed slaves took advantage of the program—but their land often eventually fell prey to speculators, as they lacked the savings to establish and function farm operations. Ultimately, the federal government succeeded in populating rural land throughout the West. Most of the structures built as a result of the Homestead Act were built by hand by their respective pioneer-owners. Simple sod homes (similar to adobe) and log cabins were constructed on the granted lands with little regard for how the structures could share resources or perhaps build a community. The homesteads of the mid-1800s were isolated structures intended to sleep and service only the

1860

The Pony Express is established. 118

1860

From April 1860 through October 1861, the Pony Express uses 400 mustangs and Morgans to carry the mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.

burgeoning family that held title to the land. The isolation was extreme: oftentimes, only four inhabited single-family homes would occupy a square mile, with little infrastructure linking them together or beyond.

OPPOSITE Indian Land for Sale, ca. 1911 Ad by United States Department of the Interior Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Land Office, Oklahoma Published by Bain News Service Courtesy of Library of Congress

Following the Homestead Act, the federal government would continue to build the economy and the nation by offering its abundance of land for sale. For hundreds of years, the West had been a contentious environment with Native Americans raiding European invaders when able and destabilizing the concept of true ownership. By the late 19th century such instability would largely come to an end, with the United States no longer recognizing treaties with Native Americans, nor the previously created boundaries of sovereign nations. Much of the Indian land that the government had previously agreed to leave in the hands of Native Americans would be sold off during a process of assimilation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On April 22, 1889, tens of thousands of eager speculators traveled to Oklahoma and lined up in a race to claim a piece of 2 million

1861

Civil War begins. 121

1861

Pony Express service ends, Wells Fargo takes over service.

acres. The Oklahoma Land Rush, and later the broad sales of Indian lands, were made possible by the Dawes Act of 1887, which required individual ownership of land within the United States rather than honoring the communal property rights established by Native Americans.

ABOVE Land rush, Oklahoma Published by Bain News Service Courtesy of Library of Congress

The net effect of the Homestead Act has been everlasting on the landscape of the West. The massive tracts of land that were given away wholesale by the government largely continue to exist today in many regions. At the time of the act, zoning codes did not exist whatsoever, so ultimately private land owners could do whatever they wanted (and could afford) with the land—often, these uses consisted of mining and industrial manufacturing. Perhaps the great distances between the structures made an array of uses more palpable, but the isolation and demand for an extensive trail network was substantial. If Native American architecture represented an effortless blend between nature and human life, European-American architecture on the wide open land of the West would become characterized by the denial of

1862 122

The Homestead Act is approved, granting family farms of 160 acres to settlers, many of which were carved from Indian territories.

1867

Frank Lloyd Wright is born.

ABOVE Family in front of sod house with windmill on roof, Coburg, Nebraska, 1884 Photo by Solomon D. Butcher Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, Colorado, ca. 1898 Photo by Photochrom Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1870

An estimated 2 million bison are killed on Southern Plains in one year. 123

1870

John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

ABOVE Sioux Indian dance house, ca. 1911 Photo copyright J.A. Anderson Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT DeVargas Street House, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1880 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

1872 124

An average of 5,000 bison are killed each day, every day of the year, as ten thousand hunters pour onto the Plains.

1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

nature, the attempt to build communities in inhospitable places by denying inherent challenges. Pre-colonial built America can be seen as a testament to what was already in existence. It served as evidence of that which was antecedent, and bore resemblance to a specific way of life. Built structures weren’t interventions or attempts at overriding the landscape, but rather extensions of pre-existing conditions in sensible environments flush with hunting and natural shelter. They not only accommodated, but signified, terrestrial existence. European-American residential architecture has spent a large part of its developmental history attempting to conquer what is extant. The impulse has been to overcome inherent conditions in order to provide individual ownership and wealth creation throughout the entire landscape. Nowhere in America is this antipathy between what exists and what could exist more evident than the sprawl in the West. ABOVE Gould & Curry Mill, Virginia City, Nevada, ca. 1868 Photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan Courtesy of Library of Congress

Architectural historian Dell Upton writes in his book Architecture in the United States, “[To colonists], architecture was an ally against nature.” And, by extension, an ally against the people who preceded the colonists, who were part of this natural setting. What the first

1879

Thomas Edison invents the first practical lightbulb. 125

1885

Albuquerque is incorporated as a town.

Spanish conquistadors arrived to was a blurred realm in which the environment dictated shelter styles, as well as the movement of people. Human transit was subject to the idiosyncrasies of the natural environment—the migration patterns of animals, the weather, the terrain and topography—while indigenous settlement types were based on tribes’ respective lifestyles. Compare the responsiveness of this approach to the determinism of the European program, which saw settlers draw straight property lines in the sand and strategically determine where their seats of government would be located based on various external factors (property ownership, the goal of establishing a new outpost of civilization, and more abstract socio-political motivations like fleeing a government or a country). ABOVE Austin, Nevada, 1868 Photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan Courtesy of Library of Congress

The pattern of much of the landscape of the American West was largely established by federal officials as a massive grid without regard for the terrain, access or any semblance of an urban plan beyond an empty six-square-mile township with 160-acre parcels. What had for thousands of years prior been under communal

1887 126

The Dawes Act is passed, authorizing U.S. President to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Native Americans.

1889

Bison population declines to 1,091.

ABOVE The court house and street scene, Nevada City, Nevada, 1866 Photo published by Lawrence & Houseworth Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Diegueño House at Campo, ca. 1924 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

1892

Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants to the United States. 127

1893

Frederick Jackson Turner presents his Frontier Thesis to the American Historical Association.

ABOVE Westward bound, ca. 1920 Photo copyright Walter T. Oxley Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Morrison Residence on Victoria Creek near Merna, Custer County, Nebraska, 1886 Photo by Solomon D. Butcher Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Wells Fargo & Co. Express, ca. 1900 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1896

Studebaker begins experimenting with the “horseless carriage.” 128

1907

American Messenger Company, which delivers primarily by foot and bicycle, is founded in Seattle, Washington.

control or lorded over by the largest, fiercest beast in the wild, was simply carved up by imaginary lines and given to those with enough gumption to survive for a few years on the parcel under the protection of a constitution and a sheriff. NEXT Early area homestead in Nicodemus Historic District, Nicodemus, Kansas Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Camp wagon on a Texas roundup, ca. 1900 Photo by William Henry Jackson Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Main Street commercial buildings, Stockton, San Joaquin County, California, 1890 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Outside of established ports, missions and mining operations, few communities were established with any urban density during the age driven by horsepower. The offer of unencumbered, free land to those who had never owned anything, were enslaved or simply lived in an industrial slum, was tantalizing. The pioneer life would establish a tone for the West as a sparsely developed, isolated society that values ownership and boundaries above all else. Although it would be years before it was implemented, the Pacific Railroad Act was signed in 1862, only months after the Homestead Act. The railroad that would ultimately span the width of the country would provide new, faster avenues for the sale of the oversupply of public lands. The resulting transportation advances would usher in much-needed infrastructure connections to the isolated homesteaders and a new economy of interstate commerce.

1914

World War I begins. 129

1914

Horse population is about 25 million. More than half of the horses in the world live in Russia and the U.S.

TRAINS

“A railroad is like a lie—you have to keep building to it to make it stand. A railroad is a ravenous destroyer of towns, unless those towns are put at the end of it and a sea beyond, so that you can’t go further and find another terminus. And it is shaky trusting them, even then, for there is no telling what may be done with trestle-work.” – MARK TWAIN –

PREVIOUS Bird’s-eye view of Main Street from Temple Block in Los Angeles, 1886 Photo by T.E. Stanton Courtesy of Library of Congress

PREVIOUS Sioux and Arapaho Indian delegations, ca. 1877 Photo by Mathew B. Brady Brady-Handy photograph collection Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE End of track, on Humboldt Plains, Nevada, 1865 Photo by Alfred A. Hart Courtesy of Library of Congress

Beginning in the 1830s, railroad construction using British steam engine technology boomed in the eastern United States. Mostly short runs between towns began to revolutionize transportation and the movement of freight in America. Travel via stage coach was cramped and extremely uncomfortable as ruts and bumps were ever-present on the under-developed roads. Trains promised smooth, efficient transport with lots of extra room to move around. Rail would expedite transport and communication, but it would also divide many, geographically and psychologically. The relationship between 17th-century Native American trade and 19th-century commerce and development was inextricable; initially, many proposed rail routes and stops were determined based on the established location of Natives’ trading posts. Through centuries of evolutionary wayfinding, these routes had often already found the fastest and easiest pathway from point A to point B. Most of the land for the railroads had already been taken by the U.S. Government from the Native Americans, but the tracks would divide and ultimately destroy critical Native hunting grounds.

1765

James Watt invents the steam engine. 141

1814

George Stephenson builds the first practical steam locomotive.

There is no better way to comprehend just how profoundly railways altered America than by considering the simultaneous awe and vitriol that accompanied the early years of their existence. Take the vehemence with which Mark Twain condemns railroads in an 1867 letter to the San Francisco Alta California: “A railroad is like a lie—you have to keep building to it to make it stand. A railroad is a ravenous destroyer of towns, unless those towns are put at the end of it and a sea beyond, so that you can’t go further and find another terminus. And it is shaky trusting them, even then, for there is no telling what may be done with trestle-work.”

ABOVE Advance of Civilization: Scene on the Humboldt Desert, ca. 1865 Photo by Alfred A. Hart Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1842, a New York-based dry-goods merchant down on his luck took an exploratory trip to China. Asa Whitney found success in China but was extremely frustrated with the time it took to sail there around South America and back. Upon his return, he fervently lobbied Congress to build a transcontinental railroad that would link the American East to the West and ultimately facilitate a vastly more efficient trade route with Asia. Though it took a while to be realized, Whitney planted the original seed of the futuristic concept in Congress. Then in 1856, Theodore Judah, a railroad and civil engineer,

1815

The first American railroad charter is granted by the state of New Jersey to John Stephens. 142

1823

The first public railway in the world opens in England.

ABOVE End of track, near Humboldt Lake, Nevada, ca. 1865 Photo by Alfred A. Hart Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Salt Lake from Monument Point. 669 miles from Sacramento, California, ca. 1865 Photo by Alfred A. Hart Courtesy of Library of Congress

1826 143

Quincy, Massachusetts, becomes the first place in North America with a working railway. Materials are hauled by horses.

1827

First U.S. railroad corporation formed.

published a 13,000-word white paper that outlined a Pacific railroad and distributed it to Congress and influential people in government.

ABOVE Railroad at Ogden, Utah, ca. 1859 Photo by Alfred A. Hart Courtesy of Library of Congress

On July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act to “aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes.” The effort ultimately connected the eastern states to the new western states and would move materials and people between at a fraction of the time of overland travel. Although numerous routes were considered, ultimately the last leg of the railroad would be built between Omaha and Sacramento. The project was financed by the federal government at the behest of wealthy businessmen and built by Chinese, Irish and German immigrants, Civil War veterans and freed slaves. Over a period of six years, the 1,868-mile route was laid by hand, mile by excruciating mile, by two competing railroads in a race to the middle of the line. The Pacific Railroad Act and subsequent amendments provided loans to companies for each mile of track laid and land grants for two

1827 144

Railway between Baltimore and Ohio River in Virginia becomes the first of many westward railroads in the United States.

1833

A total of 380 miles of rail track are in operation in the United States.

ABOVE Hon. Leland Stanford, ca. 1873 Photo by C.M. Bell Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT East shakes hands with West at laying last rail, Promontory Point, Utah, 1869 Photo by Andrew J. Russell Courtesy of Oakland Museum of California

miles of land on each side of the tracks. It additionally established that the “United States shall extinguish as rapidly as may be the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operation of this act.” Section 3 of the act provided “five alternate sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and within the limits of ten miles on each side.” Approximately 6,400 acres of land were ultimately granted to the respective railroad companies for each mile of track constructed, as well as a loan for all the funds to complete the work. All told, by 1871 the railroads were given 10% of the entire United States of America, or the land-mass equivalent of the state of Texas. On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford, the president of the Central Pacific Railroad and later founder of the namesake university, drove the final spike into the first transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah. The route would ultimately interlink rail travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific and would drastically reduce the time to travel across the country to five days at approximately a tenth of the cost of a stage coach, which historically took three to six months of rugged travel.

1833 145

Andrew Jackson travels from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to ride the rails.

1850

More than 9,000 miles of track are in operation in the United States, as much as in the rest of the world combined.

As trains became the preferred mode of transportation for both freight and passengers, the proliferating network of rail lines led to the existence of so-called railway towns. Dense development cropped up around train stations due to new employment opportunities, efficiency and ease-of-access to resources and industries. There was deep conflict as a result of the competition for train stops. Overnight real estate values would skyrocket at the announcement of locations for new routes, and economies would inevitably flourish once the arterial blood rushed in from newly completed lines to towns. ABOVE Snow plow of the Central Pacific R.R. Company, near Cisco, California, 1866 Stereo photo by Lawrence & Houseworth, Publisher Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE The Modern Colossus of Railroads (cartoon depicting William Henry Vanderbilt, Cyrus West Field and Jay Gould), 1879 Photo by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler Courtesy of Library of Congress

The railroads themselves minted unprecedented fortunes. A collection of very few men—including Stanford, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan—was able to gain control of the rail system by building it, commanding the freight that moved on it or financing it. Historian Maury Klein, in Unfinished Business: The Railroad in American Life, describes each railroad company as a “sovereign state,” referring to the intense capitalistic character of the rail travel industry. With the proliferation of railroad companies came fierce territorial disputes and a reconfiguration. Railroads

1855

The Panama Railroad crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 148

1856

First railroad bridge over Mississippi River enables expansion of trains to the West.

became the precipitators of towns more profoundly than any other form of transportation thus far. Klein goes on to say, “Many conflicts arose as the railroad project continued westward, and the military was brought in to fight Native American tribes.” So while the railroad linked the American landscape, it was also in part responsible for dividing it into militant, discrete zones, causing tension between geographical locales.

ABOVE Entire dining car interior, ca. 1905 Photo by Geo. R. Lawrence Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

The lives of Native Americans would be forever changed with the transcontinental railroad. The tens of millions of American bison, which had inhabited the West since the last ice age and were a critical source of Native peoples’ nutrition, would be wholesale slaughtered—almost to extinction—by the extensive hunting and sport brought by the new rail lines. Railway staff and passengers alike would shoot guns blindly from the trains into the mile-long buffalo herds in an effort to get them off the tracks and to pass time. In 1867, Harper’s published an account of the “peculiarly American” sport: At this season of the year the herds of buffalo are moving southward, to reach the canyons which contain the grass they

1860

More than 30,000 miles of track are in operation in the United States. 150

1861

Overland Telegraph and Pacific Telegraph complete transcontinental system and soon merge into Western Union.

ABOVE Hunters stampeding buffalo herd, ca. 1917 Photo by J.E. Haynes Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Observation parlor on Limited, connecting New York and St. Louis, ca. 1905 Photo by Geo. R. Lawrence Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1867

Alfred Nobel invents dynamite, revolutionizing the railroad industry. 151

1869

The First Transcontinental Railroad is completed in North America, successfully bridging Pacific and central United States.

exist upon during the winter. Nearly every railroad train which leaves or arrives at Fort Hays on the Kansas Pacific Railroad has its race with these herds of buffalo; and a most interesting and exciting scene is the result. The train is ‘slowed’ to a rate of speed about equal to that of the herd; the passengers get out fire-arms which are provided for the defense of the train against the Indians, and open from the windows and platforms of the cars a fire that resembles a brisk skirmish. Frequently a young bull will turn at bay for a moment. His exhibition of courage is generally his death-warrant, for the whole fire of the train is turned upon him, either killing him or some member of the herd in his immediate vicinity.

ABOVE Geronimo’s Last Buffalo, ca. 1906 Photo by O. Drum Courtesy of Library of Congress

When the ‘hunt’ is over the buffaloes which have been killed are secured, and the choice parts placed in the baggage-car, which is at once crowded by passengers, each of whom feels convinced and is ready to assert that his was the shot that brought down the game. Ladies who are passengers on the trains frequently enjoy the sport, and invariably claim all the game as the result of their prowess with the rifle.

OPPOSITE American bison skulls waiting to be ground for fertilizer, ca. 1892 Photographer unknown Burton Historical Collection Courtesy of Detroit Public Library

1872 152

American inventor George Westinghouse patents his first automatic air brake, which soon becomes the primary brake system in all future trains.

1872

Founding of Montgomery Ward, a dry goods mailorder business serving rural customers.

ABOVE Railroad-building on the Great Plains, ca. 1875 Drawing by Alfred R. Waud Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT “Does Not Such a Meeting Make Amends?” The linking of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah, 1869 Drawing by Frank Beard Courtesy of Library of Congress

1876 154

Fred Harvey founds the Fred Harvey Company, a chain of restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality industry businesses located alongside railroads in the western United States.

1878

The railroad arrives in New Mexico, opening full-scale trade and migration from the East and the Midwest.

Bison were also systematically hunted by professionals for their hides and bones. For the Native Americans, the sight of the food they had relied on for sustenance for centuries being annihilated for sport and wealth was the ultimate insult. The slaughter reached its peak around 1873. One railroad is said to have shipped nearly 3 million pounds of bison bones on its rails. Tongues were traded at 25 cents and went for $1.25 each. Most of the animal was left to rot. A railway engineer reported that year that it was possible to walk 100 miles along the Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way in the Southern Plains by leaping from one carcass to another. By 1884, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, only 325 bison were left in America. The Native Americans ultimately were unable to survive on their sacred hunting grounds and forced to further assimilate into American society.

ABOVE Hunting the Buffaloe, 1834 Painting by Peter Rindisbacher Courtesy of Library of Congress

The perception of the West as America’s frontier changed with the advancement of the rail network: the U.S. Census Bureau declared in 1890 that the frontier advance had ended—America would now be perceived as a unified whole. The idea of an extrapolating, linear frontier—always existing just beyond where one currently stood— had ended. Trains were the engine behind this cohesiveness and the

1880

Chinese, Scandinavian and Irish immigrants lay 73,000 miles of railroad tracks in America. 155

1880

U.S. population exceeds 50 million.

nascent geographical unification of the country. Social distances were shrinking, and railroads commodified land in a way that it hadn’t been before. While the Horse Era had first cultivated the concept of national chain businesses and trade networks with the likes of the Pony Express, Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express, the train ushered in fleets of interstate commerce. These new chain businesses flew their proverbial flags along train routes and became known to passersby as well as those who settled in each locale. ABOVE American Progress (Westward the Course of Destiny), 1872 Original painting by John Gast Chromolithograph by George A. Crofutt Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Millions of Acres, 1872 Created by Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

The train companies themselves developed railway towns. In many ways, the railroad business was more about selling the real estate and developing the townsites than anything else. Companies were given the land for the railway by the federal government and controlled where the trains stopped and, for the most part, how the surrounding land was allocated and developed. Where the trains stopped inevitably led to explosive economic activity. Winners and losers of the coveted stop were mostly determined at the direction of singular rail executives, such as a Union Pacific engineer named Grenville

1890

U.S. railroad employment is 749,000. 156

1890

U.S. Census Bureau declares the “end of the frontier line,” meaning there is no longer a discernible frontier line in the West, nor any large tracts of land yet unbroken by settlement.

Dodge. These overlords single-handedly sparked the existence of scores of the towns that rose to prominence in the West, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Denver.

OPPOSITE A Million Acres for Sale, ca. 1870 Courtesy of kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

ABOVE Emigrants on the crowded lower deck of a ship, in mid-ocean, ca. 1890 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Consolidated planning by the railway companies essentially created all of these towns in a relatively short period of time and in a fundamentally similar fashion with a numbered grid system. Typically, 25 feet were allocated for merchants and 50 feet for homes. Blocks were 300 feet wide and streets were 60. The train depot would be the center of town with a commercially focused core, and residential would radiate around those blocks. Some of the later plans would focus the development on one side of the tracks. Because the railway agents often had to sell the towns’ parcels to those from far-flung regions, and because it was in their interest to increase the towns’ populations, it was generally their approach to encourage sales to specialized merchants rather than to general stores. It was also the case that should a merchant fail, his 25-footwide building would be easy to resell to any other business. This

1893

Sears is founded. 159

1900

U.S. railroad employment is 1,018,000.

pattern, perhaps by luck, ensured human-scale development and variation in architecture on every block.

ABOVE A logging train crossing a trestle in the Cascade Mountains, Oregon, ca. 1906 Photo by C.L. Wasson Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE A Home Planned Especially for the Farm, 1924 Created by Montgomery Ward & Co. Courtesy of archive.org

The rail companies set up land sales offices in the major American cities and in Europe. They went as far as Russia and Germany to aggressively recruit farmers, who were thought to be particularly strong and hardworking. As many as 12,000 Russians and Germans moved to Kansas alone. The rail companies additionally promoted tourism along the lines with the hope that the railway towns would continue to populate. Hotels were developed at train stations and, in some cases, lavish destinations such as Sun Valley were built to entice travelers out West. States and existing towns became less isolated and more interdependent now that it was possible to distribute perishable food and other important goods long distances. This meant a change in agricultural output, as well; as rail routes collapsed the distance between the different parts of the country, farms had to find ways to continue winning business and remaining relevant as regional suppliers. Farmers began to make dramatic switches in production,

1900

Rural population still outnumbers urban population in the U.S. 160

1904

The Supreme Court rules that the federal government has the right to dismantle monopolistic trusts acting collusively to restrain trade, severely impacting the railroad industry.

moving away from growing basic native crops like corn and oats (of which they were no longer guaranteed to be the sole providers in their region) to growing more exotic crops. There was a sudden need for farmers to have distinctive and niche-based production to compete with other farms.

OPPOSITE Wardway Homes, ca. 1924 Published by Montgomery Ward & Co. Courtesy of archive.org

ABOVE Interior view of Merchandise Building, pneumatic tube station—Sears, Roebuck & Company mail order plant, Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1918 Artist unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Of course, farming also changed due to the influx of emigrants coming by rail. Not only were new crops introduced as a result of this mass relocation, but it also meant that consumer tastes were no longer necessarily tied to place. Now, people living in a particular region weren’t necessarily native, and therefore didn’t always have the taste for or allegiance to their region of choice’s crop. Similarly, dry goods became interstate products. In 1872, an experienced traveling salesman recognized the frustration that rural Americans were experiencing with high prices and limited offerings in their communities. In many cases, the merchants of rural areas would sell their goods locally at negotiated prices based on creditworthiness. In response, Aaron Montgomery Ward created a direct-to-consumer mail-order business. Montgomery Ward’s new

1906

Sears opens a catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower. 163

1906

Richard Sears writes, “We do comparatively very little business in cities, and we assume the cities are not at all our field—maybe they are not—but I think it is our duty to prove they are not.”

catalog would be distributed through the mail and would bypass the middle-merchants. At launch, Ward offered 163 items for sale, which he inscribed on a single sheet of paper and distributed to farmers’ cooperatives. The goods would be shipped back to local train depots for pick-up directly by consumers or then delivered by private express via horse-drawn wagons. By 1883, Montgomery Ward’s “Wish Book” catalog sold more than 10,000 items over 200 pages. Local merchants generally derided Ward’s catalog and were said to burn copies.

ABOVE Railway Station, Pasadena, California, ca. 1900 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1893, Congress passed the Rural Free Delivery Act (RFD) which promised the roll-out of mail delivery directly to rural homes. The measure was spearheaded by then-U.S. Postmaster General John Wanamaker, who was formerly a Philadelphia department store magnate. The act was fiercely opposed by shopkeepers in small towns, who were concerned about a potential reduction in traffic from farmers. RFD promised high-quality goods and services throughout America. There was a relative explosion of entrepreneurship through the U.S. Postal Service. In particular, a young Richard Warren Sears, founder of R.W. Sears Watch Co., expanded his fledgling watch and jewelry catalog. Rebranded in

1908

Sears kit homes enter production. 164

1910

The American Bison Society Census estimates 2,108 bison in North America (1,076 in Canada and 1,032 in the U.S.). Bison in public herds in the U.S. total 151.

ABOVE Interior view of Merchandise Building, packing department, second floor—Sears, Roebuck & Company mail order plant, ca. 1920 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Post office department, parcel post, Rural Free Delivery, 1914 Photo by Harris & Ewing, Inc. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1914

Approximately 24,000 chain stores exist in the U.S. 165

1920

U.S. railroad employment is 2,076,000.

1894, Sears, Roebuck & Co. would sell sewing machines, sporting goods, musical instruments, saddles, firearms, buggies, bicycles, baby carriages and clothing to the masses. Two years later, the catalog ran over 500 pages.

OPPOSITE We Sell Houses in Any Quantity (Honor Bilt Modern Homes), 1921 Created by Sears, Roebuck & Co. Courtesy of the Winterthur Library: Printed Book and Periodical Collection

ABOVE Honor Bilt Modern Homes, 1921 Created by Sears, Roebuck & Co. Courtesy of the Winterthur Library: Printed Book and Periodical Collection

At the turn of the 20th century, an enterprising manager at Sears, Roebuck & Co., Frank W. Kushel, took over the unprofitable building supplies department. In an effort to save on storage costs and raise profits, Kushel spearheaded the creation of the Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans in 1908. The creation would sell a complete kit of parts to build a home in 22 different styles from $650 to $2,500 all across the country. Soon thereafter, Wardway Homes were offered through Montgomery Ward, and ultimately numerous other companies offered complete mail order kits or plans. An entire cargo container would be shipped by train with the pre-cut home kit and then taken by wagon to the home owner’s plot of land. By 1908, house construction in the West was no longer dependent on or defined by local materials. Lumber was being shipped in via railroads, as were other fundamental building materials—

1920

U.S. government relinquishes control of all railroads. 167

1925

The first Sears retail store opens in Chicago.

but the architectural style was still generally the product of the architects and the builders that had settled in respective towns. The proliferation of kit homes homogenized design and residential construction in America and is the foundation for derivatecture in our society, even today. Although the vast majority of kit homes of this early 20th-century vintage were built in the Midwest and on the East Coast, the cultural amplification of the designs reverberated across the iron rails of that era from coast to coast. In some cases, companies such as Standard Oil bought as many as 192 kit homes for their workers at one time. Sears alone estimates that 75,000 homes were sold and constructed just by their company. To this day in the American West, most men, women and children would sketch out some semblance of a Sears, Roebuck & Co. front facade if asked what a home looked like. ABOVE Watermelon season in Laurel, Delaware, 1905 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

The kit houses and their derivatives fit well into the burgeoning street-car suburbs that were cropping up on the East Coast and, to increasing extent, the West. Cities like Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Albuquerque had transformed existing horsedrawn rails into electrified street car lines. Neighborhoods were

1929

Approximately 150,000 chain stores exist in the U.S. 168

1933

Continuous welded rail is laid for the first time in the United States.

ABOVE View of Weber Avenue buildings, San Joaquin County, California, ca. 1895 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Colorado Street at Fair Oaks Avenue, probably Pasadena, California, ca. 1915 Published by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1934

A diesel locomotive is first showcased in the U.S. 169

1935

The Santa Fe Railroad inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago and Los Angeles.

drawn into outlying land by private developers away from downtown and the core train station. Cities of the West continued to enable non-agrarian lifestyles as they became increasingly interlinked. They grew at a pace that demanded increasing services and labor to support new populations and tourism afforded by train travel.

OPPOSITE Broadside of the Kansas Pacific Railway advertising the Golden Belt Route through central Kansas to Colorado Rocky Mountain resorts, ca. 1880 Created by Kansas Pacific Railway Company Courtesy of kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

ABOVE All Aboard for the Limited, ca. 1905 Photo by Geo. R. Lawrence Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

Trains continued to be the main form of passenger travel leading up to World War II, and dominated the transportation stage through the mid-1940s; from 1939 to 1945, trains carried over 90% of wartime passengers. As was the case in the 19th century, 20thcentury railroads were a major employer, a fact which further led to concentrated populations around stations and all along rail routes. Thanks to the invention of container cars and the quick delivery afforded by trains, people no longer needed to live near the amenities and goods they required, as they had during the majority of the human- and horse-driven periods. Increasingly, economic flow was characterized by a system of linkages between roads, rivers, railroads and man-made waterways, causing towns and cities to draw away from coasts and move closer to the interior.

1940

U.S. railroad employment is 1,046,000. 171

1945

Sears sales exceed $1 billion.

ABOVE Brochure, published by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, promoting travelers to stay at the Fred Harvey Alvarado Hotel, ca. 1909 Created by Fred Harvey Co. Courtesy of kansasmemory.org, Kansas State Historical Society

OPPOSITE Mirage on the Santa Fe, ca. 1946 Ad by Santa Fe Railway Company Courtesy of Texas Compound

The visual imagery of the American economy also changed. Before, wealth—like social progress—had existed always beyond; beginning with Vázquez de Coronado’s misguided venture to the New World driven by baseless rumors of the Seven Cities of Gold, and manifested later in the Gold Rush that pushed ever westward, riches in the American imagination had been an endgame, an ever-receding point on the horizon, always at the edge of already-developed society. In the West, railroads helped open new territory to economic exploitation, and then played a large part in the creation of the first national parks. They also pioneered modern chains of hotels, resorts and restaurants. Major means of communication physically followed major means of transportation; the two were synonymous, as seen in the development of telegraph lines along rail lines. Centers of both communication and transit, depots became epicenters of commerce and led to further centralization of life around them. Pre-existing market centers became relatively obsolete when the railway came to town and an updated depot was established.

1960

U.S. finishes transition from steam models to dieselelectric power. 172

1968

Penn Central is created from a merger of several railroads.

Even though the Train epoch aided the expansion of Homestead claims, the period promoted centralized urban development more than any other time in the history of the American West. Pedestrianfriendly districts thrived around train stations and the energy and goods that they supplied daily. Because the railway companies were granted land around the depots by the government, it was in their interest to promote density, which consequently increased land value and led to compact footprints with taller buildings.

OPPOSITE El Capitan and Super Chief advertisement, ca. 1946 Ad by Santa Fe Railway Company Courtesy of Texas Compound

ABOVE Travel the Chief Way, ca. 1946 Ad by Santa Fe Railway Company Courtesy of Texas Compound

The West itself would be immortalized in live touring shows of “Cowboys and Indians,” motion pictures and books. No longer would the railway companies have to entice easterners to its lines in the West with the promise of cheap dirt and a new start—the allure was established and all the good land sold. The West and a sanitized version of its history would itself be hawked as a packaged experience on the railways, such as the Super Chief.

1970

Penn Central goes bankrupt, signalling the end of private-sector U.S. passenger train services. 175

1971

Government-owned Amtrak is formed to replace Penn Central.

RIGHT Laguna, New Mexico, passing the depot on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Belen and Gallup, New Mexico, 1943 Photo by Jack Delano Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Welcome arch and Union Depot, Denver, Colorado, ca. 1908 Photo by Detroit Publishing Company Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Ladle Rapids, 2020 Giclée print on paper, 36” × 31” Daniel Kaven

176

1973

Sears completes construction on the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago.

1974

The world population reaches 4 billion, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau.

CARS

“Almost like a plough breaking the plains, the automobile transformed cities . . . ‘making it virtually unrecognizable from the unpaved version of the previous century.’” – MARTIN V. MELOSI –

In the mid-1890s, the chief engineer of the Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit began tinkering with horseless carriages. By 1896, he had cohesively strapped an engine to a small carriage atop four bicycle wheels that could propel a man down the street at a maximum speed of 20 mph. A tiller would cause the contraption to veer left or right. This invention was known as the Quadricycle and would be the precursor to a series of advancements that would make its creator, Henry Ford, the wealthiest man in the world, and fundamentally alter the fabric of America. PREVIOUS Toward Los Angeles, 1937 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Street scene in East Las Vegas, 1972 Photo by Charles O’Rear for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

By the early 1900s, a handful of companies, including Ford, Oldsmobile and Cadillac, were selling gasoline-propelled carriages in two- and four-seat capacities. These “pleasure mobiles” were produced in small batches and generally were the toys of the wealthy. In 1908, Henry Ford would introduce a model that would completely alter the trajectory of the industry—the Model T. Later, in his autobiography, Ford would say of his mission for the Model T: I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the

1859 184

Oil is discovered at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of petroleum as a major industry in the U.S.

1860

In the U.S., the horse-drawn car on rails widely replaces the horse-drawn “omnibus,” but the rides are expensive.

ABOVE First and ten millionth Ford, 1924 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Ford Motor Co. delivery department, ca. 1925 Photo copyright Caufield & Shook Courtesy of Library of Congress

1864 186

Idaho State Legislature passes the first law to protect the bison—though they are already gone from the state.

1873

San Francisco introduces the cable car.

individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one—and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces. Ford would go on to sell almost 15 million Model Ts globally over the next 20 years. This feat was achieved through the genius of Ford’s manufacturing efficiency. The cost of the base model of the Model T actually declined steadily to under $300 throughout the course of its 20 years in production. Although Ford did not invent the assembly line, he perfected it for the use of the Model T. He understood the power of specialization and the value of providing labor with highpaying, stable jobs. ABOVE Assembly of Model T, Detroit, Michigan, 1923 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

The Model T would lead the way in popularizing auto transport in America. Operating an automobile proved to be less expensive than traveling by rail, and the industry, through elaborate advertising campaigns, convinced the public that it was more romantic. The

1874 187

Due to Westward Expansion, Studebaker becomes the world’s largest horse-driven vehicle manufacturer.

1879

American inventor George Baldwin files the first U.S. patent for an automobile.

independence inherent in the personal ownership and operation of the automobile would be emblematic of the capitalistic culture that is America’s bedrock. In the same way that America exported the West’s horses and cowboys as a brand to the world, so too would it promote cars as a symbol of the country’s rugged independence.

ABOVE Mulberry Street, New York City, ca. 1900 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

Although the car companies did not take title of the streets in the way the U.S. government granted land to the railroad companies, they did come to control them. The streets, as platted in the early 20th century, constituted public space to freely walk, play sports and move goods at a pace no faster than a horse trotting. It would be unlikely that anyone crossing the street would ever “look both ways.” The established right-of-way conceived for more than three-anda-half centuries since the Spanish invaded America did not foresee motorized vehicles that moved at more than 40 miles per hour, as the Model T had. The car companies took the streets by sheer muscle and lack of regulation. By 1925, auto accidents accounted for as many as 60% of the deaths in cities with populations over 25,000. One third of those deaths were children.

1886

German engineer Carl Benz builds a gasoline-powered car. 188

1892

The first electric car in the United States is developed by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa.

ABOVE Automobile traffic in city street, Detroit, Michigan, 1915 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Auto accident, 1926 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Traffic, Detroit, Michigan, 1925 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1892

Rudolf Diesel applies for a patent on his compression ignition engine, now known as the diesel engine. 189

1893

Brothers Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea invent the first successful gas-powered car in the United States.

ABOVE Main Street, Burkburnett, Texas, ca. 1909 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Texas Compound

RIGHT Traffic policeman on Woodward Avenue with stop sign, Detroit, Michigan, 1930s Photographer unknown Courtesy of National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library

1895

George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile. 192

1896

In Michigan, Henry Ford builds his first automobile, called the Quadricycle.

Under assault from various local governments to put limiters on cars to make them slower, the auto industry fought back. Rather than make cars more pedestrian-friendly, the auto industry would lobby to make humans more car-friendly. They created the term “jaywalking,” which is an extension of an insulting slang term for a “hick-a-jay,” or a person who wouldn’t understand the complexity of the city. The American Automobile Association and the Boy Scouts of America would help popularize the term through their education efforts around the country, ensuring that “jaywalking” stuck. Ultimately it did, and jaywalking became a crime city by city throughout the early 20th century. The streets would no longer be for humans, they would be for cars.

ABOVE Theodore Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Arizona, 1911 Photo by Walter J. Lubken Courtesy of Library of Congress

In the early 1880s, an organized movement began to improve roads throughout America for bicycles, which had become very popular and required smoother surfaces for operation than horses. The Good Roads Movement was a coalition of bicycle enthusiasts and manufacturers established to promote and protect their interests on the roads of America. By 1892, the organization had national reach and began publishing Good Roads Magazine, which had a

1898

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is founded. 193

1899

The U.S. produces 2,500 motor vehicles, with New England manufacturers concentrating on electric and steam-powered cars while the Midwest concentrates on gasoline-powered cars.

circulation of one million within three years. By 1903, though, the advertisements in the magazine had evolved from coaster brakes and bicycle seats to steamrollers and crushing equipment for roadbuilding. The editorial content that had once centered on outlining the laws restricting the use of bicycles on roadways that had horsedrawn carriages, morphed into “Highway Maintenance in New York” and “Models of Touring Automobiles.” Many of the companies that manufactured bicycles and the journalists who promoted them became the proponents of the automobile. ABOVE Team pulling a car out of the mud, Pie Town, New Mexico, ca. 1940 Photo by Lee Russell Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Cover of Good Roads Magazine, 1893 Published by Roads Improvement Bureau of the League of American Wheelmen, New York Courtesy of Boston Public Library

In the early 20th century, only railroads were considered infrastructure worthy of federal investment. Trains moved people and goods between towns and states. The quality of roads was considered to be a county and township issue and interlinking them was thought to be futile. Most people considered the improvement of roads for “pleasure mobiles” to be only for the amusement of the wealthy. In 1912, a transcontinental highway began to take shape, which would come to be known as the Lincoln Memorial Highway. Carl Fisher,

1899

40% of cars in the U.S. are steam powered, 38% are electric and 22% are gasoline powered. 194

1899

Public transit in the U.S. mainly consists of electric vehicles on rails.

ABOVE Start of Transcontinental Tour to build public support for federally funded national highway system, 1920 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Lincoln Highway, West Wendover, Elko County, Nevada Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1900

Horace and John Dodge found Dodge Brothers in Detroit to make car parts. 196

1900

4,192 cars are in existence in the U.S.

an Indiana-based bicycle-enthusiast-turned-auto-dealership-owner (and founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) began promoting efforts for a rock highway that would lead from Times Square in New York City to San Francisco. The privately funded campaign would involve contributions from the founders of Packard Motor Company and Goodyear Tires, former President Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison. On July 1, 1913, Fisher and the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) set out on a “Trail-Blazer” tour in 17 cars and two trucks to establish a route, which would ultimately encompass ancient Indian trails and stage-coach routes. Over 34 days, the group weathered cracked axles, mud pits and boiling radiators, but arrived to a triumphal greeting and parade in San Francisco. The LHA returned to Indianapolis by rail.

ABOVE Woodrow Wilson and wife (Edith Bolling Wilson) in back seat of automobile, 1916 Photo by Harris & Ewing Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, who was an enthusiastic motorist and contributor to the Lincoln Highway Association, signed the Federal Aid Road Act. Wilson would declare at the time: “The happiness, comfort and prosperity of rural life, and the development of the city, are alike conserved by the construction of public highways. We, therefore, favor national aid in the construction of

1902

The American Automobile Association is organized in Chicago. 197

1902

Studebaker enters the car business with an electric model.

post roads and roads for military purposes.” The act, which was the first federal aid for road infrastructure, would help modernize America’s rural roads throughout the nation and further pave the way for the Rural Free Delivery Act. As World War I drew to a close in 1919, the U.S. Army led a transcontinental convoy across the Lincoln Memorial Highway, which included a young colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower. The trek was carried out by the U.S. Army Motor Transport Corps and covered 3,000 miles over the Lincoln Highway route. The largely symbolic mission would visit over 300 communities and be viewed by over 3 million. It served as recruitment for the corps and was subsidized by dealers of gasoline and tires along the route.

ABOVE Start of Transcontinental Tour, 1920 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

The Road Act was updated with the Federal Highway Act of 1921, which outlined the creation of a cohesive network of roadways between states and provided matching funds for state highway construction. The nation was comprised of a loose network of trails by the mid 1920s such as the Old Spanish Trail, the Jefferson Highway, the Lincoln Highway, the National Old Trails Road and the

1902 198

A Toledo Eight Horse, driven from Flagstaff, Arizona, becomes the first automobile to successfully reach the Grand Canyon.

1904

7% of the roads in the U.S. are surfaced.

ABOVE Lincoln Highway, Eight-mile Flat, Nevada, 1923 Photographer unknown Courtesy of University of Michigan Library (Special Collections Research Center)

RIGHT Lincoln Highway emblem embedded in the Hopley Monument, Central Ohio, 2016 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

1904 199

The U.S. passes France as the main car manufacturer in the world, with the Midwest contributing 42% of U.S. cars.

1905

Ford makes 25 cars a day.

ABOVE Dedication ceremony at Navajo Bridge, spanning the Colorado River at U.S. Highway 89, Coconino County, Arizona, 1929 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Automobiles and bicycles parked along Riverside Avenue, Riverside, California, 1915 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1905

The Society of Automotive Engineers is founded to develop standards for the automobile industry. 200

1905

The U.S. produces 25,000 cars in that year, more than any other country in the world.

Yellowstone Trail. By 1925, Congress would establish the Joint Board on Interstate Highways, which created the U.S. numbered system to replace the old trail designations.

ABOVE This steam-powered Toledo car was the first car driven to the Grand Canyon, Arizona, 1902 Photo by Oliver Lippincott Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Passing a filling station in the desert country along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Vaughn and Belen, New Mexico, 1943 Photo by Jack Delano Courtesy of Library of Congress

The cities of the East Coast had significant population and infrastructure that was rooted in the ages of Horses and Trains by the 20th century. Other than the limited outposts of some West Coast ports such as San Francisco and Seattle, the American West was largely a blank canvas. The automobile’s spatial requirements would eclipse the infrastructural needs of carriages and railroads entirely by the 1920s. The expansion of the West moving forward would be defined and powered by the automobile. On April 30, 1926, the most famous highway would officially receive its numbered designation. Route 66 would connect Chicago to Los Angeles through eight states and come to be known as the Main Street of America. The improvement of the route led to an explosion of mom-and-pop shops and service stations along the way to serve travelers and cause the business centers of every town it went through to be re-oriented toward the famous strip. The motels,

1905

The world’s first gas station is constructed in St. Louis, Missouri. 201

1907

The U.S. produces 43,000 cars in that year, or one car per 800 people.

diners and speed of Route 66 elicited an energy that found its way into the burgeoning entertainment being generated in California.

ABOVE HOLLYWOODLAND (original real estate sign), 1923 Photographer unknown Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

OPPOSITE The Moving Picture Cowboy Tom Mix Doing Stunts. The Way He Told the Story, and What He Really Did, 1914 Color lithograph by Goes Litho. Co., Chicago Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT California movie making—cars along roadside, ca. 1914 Photo by Albert M. Price Courtesy of Library of Congress

Hollywood, which had begun to establish itself as the epicenter of global entertainment at the beginning of the 20th century, would bookend Route 66 at the Pacific Ocean. For decades, the most popular genre produced in Hollywood was the Western, which told stories of the Old American West. Common plots included cowboys battling Indians, outlaw gangs, cavalry-fighting Indians or construction of the railroad and telegraph lines on the wild frontier. With the advent of the car and the popularization of Route 66, cars came to replace the horse as the trusted friend of man and the silent co-star in many of the films being made in Hollywood. Gangster films, heist movies, and later films that revolved around car chases would replace the Western genre. Many of these films included the lore of Route 66. The American West has been largely defined to this day by the stories told by Hollywood in cinemas throughout the world during the early 20th century, despite their wholesale re-write of reality.

1908

Model T production begins. 204

1908

First-year Model T production is 10,660 cars.

PREVIOUS “Diamond Lil” (Mae West) rides home from Hollywood, 1933 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Migrant auto camp, Greenfield, Salinas Valley, California, 1939 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Auto tourists camp, 1923 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1913

Ford’s employee base reaches 13,600. 210

1913

Henry Ford installs the first moving assembly line for the mass production of automobiles at his Ford plant in Michigan.

Railway towns, such as Albuquerque and Los Angeles, swelled around the Route 66 arterials that brought travelers into town. The energy that had revolved around the train stations in the dense downtowns began to shift to the vast auto-centric main streets created by Route 66. Because of the slow speeds of early automobiles and difficult terrain, highway travel necessitated frequent stops. In its infancy, Route 66 wasn’t even paved along its entire length. It would be more than a decade before all the gravel stretches, wood planks and muddy ruts were completely removed. Flat tires and camping along the road were commonplace.

ABOVE Migrant auto camp, Tulare County, California, 1938 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

Auto-centric architecture emerged in America, first along highways, and in particular on Route 66. Most car travelers couldn’t afford to stay in the established hotels that had been built adjacent to train stations, or simply couldn’t make it there during the day’s journey. Roadside auto camps developed along the route to service travelers inexpensively and conveniently. Auto camps, which were in some cases state-owned, provided camping areas, water supply, bathroom facilities and laundry facilities free of charge. As they grew in popularity and traffic increased, they were privatized.

1913

Ford’s Model T production increases from 7.5 cars per hour to 146 cars per hour. 211

1913

The first drive-in, architect-designed filling station opens, in Pittsburgh.

The first motels evolved from the roadside auto camps. These motor court-type structures celebrated the automobile and provided the ability to park your car right next to where you were sleeping. The car served as a rolling suitcase for your entire life, and parking it right next to your bed provided the ability to remove things easily and a sense of safety for your possessions. In many cases, the carport would occupy as much sheltered area as the cabin itself.

ABOVE Arkansawyers auto camp, Salinas Valley, California, 1939 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

Highways beyond 66 quickly developed offerings of auto-centric camps and cabins, the precursor to motels. In particular, the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco became popular and required overnight stays. Two or more days of driving in that era were necessary for trips. One such stopover was Lilly’s Auto Camp, which opened in the mid-1920s and provided a single-room quarters with an integral bathroom. You were able to park your car right next to the room under shelter. It was common for people to have much longer stays than just overnight. An enterprising architect created America’s first motor lodge in San Luis Obispo in 1925 to capture travelers between Los Angeles

1916

Passage of the first comprehensive zoning code, known as the New York City Zoning Resolution of 1916. 212

1916

Federal Aid Road Act is passed.

ABOVE Cabin and carport unit, Lilly’s Auto Camp, Santa Clara County, California Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Shafter, Kern County, California, 1939 Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Department of Agriculture Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

1916

National Park Service is founded. 213

1916

The U.S. produces 1.5 million cars, and 3.4 million cars exist in the U.S.

ABOVE Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo, California, 1976 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT San Miguel Mission, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

1916

Ford produces more than 700,000 Model Ts. 214

1917

Ford begins construction of the River Rouge Complex, designed by Albert Kahn, which would become the largest integrated factory in the world.

and San Francisco. Arthur S. Heineman designed the Missionstyle Milestone Mo-Tel to include both bungalows and attached apartments with parking outside each unit. Some rooms would have a private garage and the grounds would include laundry facilities, a grocery store and a restaurant.

ABOVE Preserved Harvey House, Belen, New Mexico, 2009 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Coronado had brought the Bible to the American West and the supersized architecture that came along with it to each Pueblo he and his disciples encountered. The Pony Express and Wells Fargo would make their brands the first recognizable names along wagon trails of the West. The barons of the railroad would bring the first branded architecture to their desolate railway towns in the form of kit homes by Sears and train stations with Fred Harvey hotels and restaurants. A car dealer named Edgar Lee Torrance in Waco, Texas, would create the first branded derivatecture along the roadside in 1925. Torrance recognized a desire for clean, consistent lodging along America’s increasingly busy highways. He reproduced the iconic facade of the infamous Alamo for the front of the structure and oriented all the rooms around paved auto circulation. He had created the first motor lodge, and would go on to build the same design in

1917

Glenn Curtiss demonstrates the Autoplane, a flying car, at NYC's Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition. 215

1918

Hotel La Salle Garage, considered to be the first multi-story parking garage in the U.S., is designed by architects Holabird and Roche in Chicago.

ABOVE Doorway to the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, 2014 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Alamo Plaza Motor Hotel, Houston, Texas, 1977 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

1919

The first chain restaurant in America, A&W, is founded. 216

1919

Studebaker removes wagons from its vehicle manufacturing line.

ABOVE Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts, Savannah, Georgia, 1979 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Alamo Plaza, Claremore, Oklahoma, 1982 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

1919 217

President Eisenhower is a participant in the U.S. Army’s first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the country on the historic Lincoln Highway.

1920

Number of visitors to Grand Canyon coming by automobile overtakes the number coming by train.

20 cities. The Alamo Plaza Courts would later be some of the first to include swimming pools, telephones and TVs.

OPPOSITE Family between Dallas and Austin, Texas, 1936 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Black dust clouds over the Texas Panhandle, 1936 Photo by Arthur Rothstein Courtesy of Library of Congress

On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed and brought the economy to its knees in America. Particularly hard hit was the agricultural sector in the Plains, which was populated heavily with highly leveraged farmers. What began as financial trouble was vastly compounded in the next few years by drought and extreme wind that created a dust bowl effect along the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and into parts of New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado. The Dust Bowl eroded 100 million acres of farm land and would force hundreds of thousands out of the High Plains. Most of the farmers and their families migrated to California in search of agricultural work along Route 66. The destitute families typically lived out of their old cars alongside roads and in auto camps where available. For those who could afford, the motor lodges of the era served as permanent housing. The author John Steinbeck would pen the seminal American novel on the Dust Bowl era, The Grapes of Wrath, in 1939. The book chronicled

1920

First commercial radio broadcast airs. 219

1920

Americans own 8 million cars.

the migration of the fictional Joad family on their exodus from Oklahoma to California along Route 66 in search of a hospitable life. They lived out of their Hudson Super Six sedan that had been converted to a truck, along the roadside in the auto camps of the era. The imprint on America of both the book and the era was lasting.

ABOVE Migrant agricultural worker’s family, Nipomo, California, 1936 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

In the mid-1930s, documentary photographer Dorothea Lange and her husband, who was a labor economist, were hired by the Farm and Security Administration to travel extensively throughout the West and document the effects of the Dust Bowl. Lange’s photographs of the migrant farm workers traveling along Route 66 and struggling to survive in the makeshift auto camps were distributed to newspapers around the world, bringing attention to the poverty of the era. Depicted throughout these images was the family dependence on the automobile for shelter, storage of personal effects and mobility. Cars were the shelter and continuity for the families in the exodus from the High Plains to California’s central valley. By 1930, vehicle registrations in America had spiked from 458,377 in 1910 to 23,034,753. As ownership rose, so did the requirement for parking

1920

Los Angeles has one car for every five people. 220

1920

The world produces 2.4 million cars, with the USA alone producing 2.3 million.

ABOVE Three related drought refugee families on highway near Lordsburg, New Mexico, 1937 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Auto camp north of Calipatria, California, 1937 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Dust Bowl farm, Coldwater District, Texas, 1938 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

1920

Urban population outnumbers rural population in the U.S. 221

1921

The U.S. passes the Federal Highway Act to build an immense interstate system of highways.

PREVIOUS Migrant drought refugee family stalled on an Arizona highway, 1937 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Store in Hobbs, New Mexico, oil boom town, 1940 Photo by Russell Lee Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT New Oldsmobile in front of log cabin, Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC, 1920 Picture made for Oldsmobile Sales Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

1921

Ford owns 61% of the car market in the U.S. 226

1921

America's first drive-in restaurant, Kirby’s Pig Stand, opens in Dallas, Texas.

spaces. Most streets were able to adapt their public space, previously used for walking and carriages, to auto circulation and parking spaces. New roads and highways were constructed with increased width to accommodate the size of a car and allow space to maneuver it. In contrast to the streetcar suburbs of the late 19th century, the suburbs of the 20th century would have driveways and garages.

ABOVE Carriage house at club, end view, New York City, ca. 1900 Photo by Detroit Publishing Company Courtesy of Library of Congress

The word “garage” is borrowed from the French, where it is historically described as the “docking (of a boat), place to store vehicles.” The design of the garage was drafted from coach houses and stables. Because of the unsightly mud and equine fecal matter that often accompanied the automobile from the streets, the garage was at first a detached structure as coach houses and stables had been. Magazines such as House Beautiful featured various designs for detached garages such as Tudor, Colonial and Craftsman in 1906. They were generally built as additions to existing housing stock at the turn of the 20th century. Frank Lloyd Wright, who was an early adopter and ardent promoter of the automobile, incorporated what is thought to be the first

1921

Montgomery Ward begins selling kit homes. 227

1924

Indian Citizenship Act passes: grants citizenship and free travel to all Natives born in America.

attached garage of the modern era into the design of the Robie House in Chicago. The home featured a three-car garage on the lower level complete with a mechanics’ pit and plumbing for washing the cars. The servants’ quarters were above the garage adjacent to the kitchen. In the Robie House, the car became not just an independent mode of transportation, but a collectors’ item and status symbol. One could show off not only the grandeurs of the cars themselves, but the number of garage doors and the real estate they consume.

ABOVE Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, built 1910, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, photograph 1963 Photo by Cervin Robinson Courtesy of Library of Congress

As America’s streets became cleaner due to paving and the reduction of horses, the storage of cars came to be more cohesively integrated into the design of the home. What began as retrofits to existing domiciles to accommodate the new form of transportation became increasingly inherent to the design of new houses. This indulgence of the automobile in architecture would increase decade by decade throughout America. Because much of the American West developed after 1900, what exists today was designed around an already auto-centric culture. Still scarred from the residual smells and memories of the Industrial Revolution, which manifested tenement housing in urban areas

1924 228

Calvin Coolidge becomes the first president of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

1924

The car radio is introduced.

ABOVE Frederick C. Robie House, ground floor plan, 1908 Drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife, Olgivanna, in the 1937 AC car at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona, 1948 Copyright 2022 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art I Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)

229

1925

The motel concept originates with the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo, California, originally called the Milestone Mo-Tel, constructed by Arthur Heineman.

1926

Route 66 is designated and construction begins.

marked by abhorrent sanitary conditions and over-population, the new America of the 20th century would quickly grow away from the urban cores. The car would propel this plan and enable those with means to move to suburban areas that contained better air, light and connection to nature.

OPPOSITE Economy-Bilt Homes catalog page, 1935 Published by National Plan Service Courtesy of archive.org

ABOVE The Kiss in Times Square, 1945 Photo by Lt. Victor Jorgensen for the U.S. Navy Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Following World War II, America experienced an explosion of population growth and economic prosperity fueled by the return of more than 10 million troops who had been deployed for the war effort. The teenagers who had left their parents’ homes for war returned in need of housing—but due to the rationing of supplies and the manufacturing of goods to support the allied troops, there had not been sufficient production of housing. Given that the average G.I. who returned was in his mid-twenties, many had either married just prior to departing, or had put off getting married prior to the war and were ready to do so upon return. The result was a dramatic increase in births, which in turn created great demand for new housing. In 1944, President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, more popularly known as the G.I. Bill, into law. The bill

1926

The first network of numbered interstate highways is established in the U.S. 231

1927

First successful demonstration of electronic television.

ABOVE Governmental promotion of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance under the Social Security Act, ca. 1940 Federal Security Agency, Office of War Information Courtesy of Library of Congress

provided government support for educational programs and lowinterest loans for starting a business or buying a home. The effect the G.I. Bill had on the growth of single-family residences and the suburbanization of America was profound. The low-interest loans backed by the G.I. Bill were administered under the Federal Housing Administration’s Underwriting Manual, which required properties that the U.S. Treasury backstopped to meet specific written standards. The criteria in the Manual for 1938 entirely precluded the financing of larger multi-family properties and row houses with more than four units, and placed higher value on newly built development. The requirements additionally included the following considerations, among many others that favored new suburban housing for white people: The borrower who acquires property for occupancy in a location inhabited by a class or race of people that may impair his interest in the property—and thereby affect his motivation—should be ascribed a lower rating in this feature to reflect the diminishing importance of the property to the borrower.

OPPOSITE Page from Distinctive Small Homes (a book of plans for California Modern and Ranch Style Homes), architect Guy L. Rosebrook, 1945 Courtesy of archive.org

1927

Ford has sold nearly 15 million cars. 232

1928

The first regular schedule of television programming begins.

Recommended restrictions should include provision for the prohibition of the occupancy of properties except by the race for which they are intended.

OPPOSITE Los Angeles development boom, Lakewood, California, 1952 Photo by J R Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection / Shutterstock

ABOVE Housewife shopping in supermarket, 1957 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

Given the obvious racial bias in the established FHA underwriting criteria and the promotion of new, single-family homes, the G.I. Bill essentially encouraged and bankrolled the massive buildout of white suburbs. With the massive financial engine of the U.S. Treasury in place and a federal housing emergency officially declared in 1946, the construction muscle of America was focused on building autocentric suburban homes, many of which were in the West. Although ranch-style homes emerged in the late 1930s, after World War II ended the style became widely popular, particularly in California. Mail-order plans and major home builders promoted designs featuring the automobile front and center. The garage would often become the largest street-facing component of the home. In some cases, two cars could be accommodated. The automobile and the single-family home were inextricably linked, and would become the ultimate trophy in showcasing wealth and success in the American West.

1928

Sears retail operation grows to 192 stores. 235

1929

Sears retail operation grows to 319 stores.

ABOVE Case Study House #20, Pacific Palisades, California, built 1948, architect Richard Neutra, 1958 Courtesy of Arts & Architecture Magazine, Case Study House Program

OPPOSITE Pacific Coast Gas Association advertisement, 1945 Courtesy of Arts & Architecture Magazine

In January of 1945, the California-based magazine Arts & Architecture launched the Case Study House Program, which partnered with eight modern architects to design post-WWII model homes in Southern California. These resulting residences have become perhaps the most coveted residential designs of the late 20th century and have influenced modern architects the world over into the current era. Emblematic of the program was an overwhelming deification of the automobile as the primary showcase feature. The homes additionally celebrated the connection to the sprawling suburban landscape with large floor-to-ceiling panes of glass and an interplay with the landscape inside and outside of the structures. The homes, some of which still exist, exemplify the embrace of the warm weather of Southern California and often feature pools adjacent to living spaces and large sliding-glass doors. The project was intermittently designed and published from 1945 until 1966. By 1948, the first six houses were constructed and more than 350,000 people had visited them. Of the 36 designed in total, most of the models constructed were in and around Los Angeles. Dozens of designs that were published remain unbuilt.

1931

Sears retail sales top mail-order sales for the first time. 236

1932

Ford introduces the Model B, the first low-priced car to have a V-8 engine.

ABOVE Case Study House #22, aka Stahl House, Los Angeles, architect Pierre Koenig, 1960 Photo by Julius Shulman Copyright J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

RIGHT Construction, Levittown housing, Long Island, New York, ca. 1948 Photographer unknown SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo

1933

First-ever drive-in movie theater is built on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey. 238

1933

Sears retail operation grows to 400 stores.

Five pages prior to the announcement of the Case Study Program, Arts & Architecture ran an essay by author and critic Simon Eisner titled, “Future Cities: A Challenge.” Perhaps ironic, or a counter-argument to the Case Study’s hedonistic embrace of suburban modernism, Eisner’s essay skewers the de-centralization that was underway: The disintegration of the city is well on its way. People have abandoned the most desirable commercial and residential locations in cities, close to the centers of activity, in order to escape from annoyances and inconveniences. This unplanned decentralization has created satellite communities about the periphery of all large cities, as people have tried to gain better living conditions while remaining as close as possible to the city upon which they depend for economic, social, and cultural sustenance. One of the reasons for the rebuilding of our cities is to overcome the necessity for this unplanned decentralization, otherwise we will have chaos, and the cost of providing the amenities and services required to preserve the health and general welfare of all of our people will be an impossible burden upon taxpayers.

ABOVE Case Study House, Los Angeles, architect Raphael Soriano, 1950 Photo by Julius Shulman Copyright J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

1935

Works Progress Administration is formed. 239

1935

U.S. produces 4 million cars.

The cities have shown the damage done by the unplanned, unrelated, and economically unsound subdivision and construction permitted and encouraged by the “let things take care of themselves” policies of the peace-time years. The processes of deterioration were accelerated by the construction during the “no time for planning” phase of the war effort. The war did not cause our cities to deteriorate, it merely accentuated the conflicts, confusion and inadequacies which already existed. Had a plan for the logical development of our cities been ready before the war, the housing and industrial developments constructed for the war effort would have been properly placed and would then have become a part of the assets of the community. . . . Perhaps the most important reason for our continuing to tolerate the city as it is, is the lack of understanding among the people about what we want a city to be. We have been too absorbed in producing the automobile and the airplane and becoming addicted to their uses, to see what they have done to the cities, to our homes, and to our way of living.

ABOVE Lakewood Plaza, outdoor living space, Long Beach, California, 1952 Photo by Maynard L. Parker Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

1935 240

The first American building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the OwensIllinois Glass Company.

1935

Hitler opens first section of the Autobahn network.

ABOVE Levittown houses, 1958 Photo by Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc. Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Route 70 land boom, Montgomery County, Maryland, 1965 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

1936

Route 66 terminus is extended to Santa Monica. 241

1936

Hoover Dam is completed.

ABOVE Diaper delivery, Los Angeles, 1958 Photo by Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

RIGHT Jack Frost, Tacoma, Washington, 1963 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

1937

The Golden Gate Bridge opens. 242

1938

Route 66 becomes the first highway to be completely paved.

The city has not been able to keep up with the Model-T ‘flivver’ and now we are just going to have to take time out to catch up with the technological revolutions which have taken place. The catching up process is possible and necessary, under our present social and economic system.

ABOVE Neon sign for fast-food restaurant, Hollywood, California, 1942 Photo by Russell Lee Courtesy of Library of Congress

The ownership of an automobile was inextricably linked to the American Dream as much as was owning a home. It was a roving personal symbol of status and success. Not everyone could come to see your home, but you could take your Cadillac everywhere you went. The explosion of the suburbs created long boulevards that could cultivate driver-centric architecture and advertising. Signs and buildings screaming for the attention of those cruising along invaded American cities and towns. By the 1940s and 1950s there was a plethora of buildings you could drive right into: homes, multistory parking garages, movie theaters, car washes, diners, banks. Increasingly, the architecture broadcast the business use. Each business, combined with its garish signage, had to communicate what it offered and stand out from competitors as quickly as a car could swish by. Once success was established, it was frequently the

1939 243

GM presents Futurama, a large-scale ride and exhibit of a possible model of the world 20 years into the future that includes an interstate road system.

1940

Sears ceases kit home production.

case that one of these mimetic buildings would then be stamped out in other locations. The concept seen before with motels such as the Alamo could be replicated with hamburger stands, diners, drive-in movies and coffee shops. Derivatecture had fully arrived.

ABOVE Drive-in movie theater in Oak Hills, Utah, with Charlton Heston playing Moses in The Ten Commandments, 1958 Photo by J R Eyerman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

OPPOSITE Las Vegas, 1952 Photo by Edward N. Edstrom Courtesy of Gary B. Edstrom

With the American West growing rapidly at the inflection point for derivatecture and acting as the primary stage for global cinema, the landscape of vast horizons and sunsets would be inextricably linked with the neon and sweeping facades that peppered the roadsides. Not only would fast-food define the architecture of the West, but fast would define the entire planning and construction process. Local governments would fast-track roads, development, new communities and construction. Acreage that would have taken centuries to grow in Europe would be built in years in the new West. This trend has flourished and endured to this day in most states in the West, in which most of the area is still undeveloped. The massive land bank of the United States combined with the federal government’s desire to build massive quantities of housing proved irresistible to suburban developers and politicos. Upon his

1940

Albuquerque’s telephone system is converted to dial phones. 244

1940

McDonald’s is founded in San Bernardino, California.

RIGHT McDonald’s No. 1 Store, Des Plaines, Illinois, 1980s Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Main street in the oil boom town of Hobbs, New Mexico, 1940 Photo by Russell Lee Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Filling station is the only building of modern design in the Spanish-American village of Peñasco, New Mexico, 1940 Photo by Russell Lee Courtesy of Library of Congress

1941

29,624,269 automobiles are registered in the U.S. 245

1947

The first Levittown is built.

PREVIOUS Busy street scene at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, Hollywood, California, 1952 Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo

ABOVE Men salute members of the Nazi Party during inaugural ceremonies for the newly opened Autobahn, 1936 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT The Autobahn with service station and view of the countryside, 1936 Photo by Wolf Strache Courtesy of Library of Congress

1947

The first drive-thru restaurant, Red’s Giant Hamburg, opens in Springfield, Missouri. 252

1948

The McDonalds brothers invent the “Speedee Service System,” a fast-food preparation system that copied the principles of assembly lines introduced by the car manufacturing industry.

return from World War II, General Eisenhower made a successful bid for president and brought with him concepts for a super-highway system. “After seeing the autobahns of modern Germany and knowing the asset those highways were to the Germans, I decided, as president, to put an emphasis on this kind of road building,” Eisenhower stated. “The old convoy [along the Lincoln Highway] had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land.”

ABOVE General Dwight D. Eisenhower waves from automobile in parade to people in buildings above, 1945 Photo by Fred Palumbo Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT National system of interstate and defense highways, 1958 Produced by the American Automobile Association Courtesy of Library of Congress

Eisenhower would sign his National Interstate and Defense Highways Act into law in 1956 and unleash $25 billion to construct approximately 41,000 miles of highway across America. The federal government would pay an unprecedented 90% of the cost and the states would be responsible for the balance. The funds would largely be diverted from the Defense budget, buttressed by the concept that the system would interlink our Air Force bases and provide safe passage, should we be attacked domestically. The project was to be executed over the course of ten years, but ultimately it would take decades and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

1948

Inspired by World War II fighter planes, Cadillac introduces the first automobile with tailfins. 253

1949

The term “Googie” is coined.

1950

9% of American households have a television set.

1950

Average U.S. family income: $3,300.

1950

Average U.S. house size: 1,000 square feet.

1951

Victor Gruen founds the architectural firm “Victor Gruen Associates,” which would go on to pioneer design for shopping malls in America.

1953

Denny’s is founded in Lakewood, California.

1953

Sonic Burger is founded in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

1954

The TV dinner is invented.

1955

Transistors replace vacuum tubes in computer designs, giving rise to “second generation” of computers.

1956

President Eisenhower signs into effect the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, marking the beginning of the end for Route 66.

1956

The Southdale Center, the first indoor shopping mall in the U.S., opens in Minnesota.

ABOVE New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses with a model of his proposed Battery Bridge, 1939 Photo by C.M. Stieglitz Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Aerial view of San Francisco, 1998 Photo by Frank Deras, Jr. Courtesy of Library of Congress

As the construction of new highways began to ripple across the country, communities became uneasy with the idea of the massive swaths of concrete bifurcating their communities—but local officials simply could not ignore the massive stimulus the government was providing. Not only would the funds flow into a local community of laborers and suppliers, but the effort was an opportunity to completely re-shape cities and provide the West with an interconnected network of highways to the dense populations on the East Coast. Federal highway officials and local politicians in many cases directed the flow of the freeway through povertystricken and largely minority neighborhoods in order to upend and divide them from the wealthier areas. In many cities across the nation, Eisenhower’s Highway System completely leveled established neighborhoods. Only after immense protest, led by the grassroots urban activist Jane Jacobs, was the plan for a Lower Manhattan Expressway rejected. The expressway would have run ten lanes through the storied neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown. The Albina neighborhood in Portland, where I currently work, was once a bustling home to 80% of the African-American community in the area, but was completely destroyed by the construction of I-5.

1958

McDonald’s sells its 100 millionth burger. 256

1959

100th McDonald’s restaurant opens.

ABOVE Jane Jacobs, chairwoman of the committee to save the West Village, New York, holds up documentary evidence, 1961 Photo by Phil Stanziola Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Cleveland, Ohio, 1965 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

1960

90% of American households own a television set. 258

1960

Average daily household radio use totals less than two hours.

ABOVE Los Angeles, California, 1965 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

The new highway system created a system of winners and losers. If you were not close to an exit on the freeway, you were less likely to be able to get business from those traveling through or coming in from the suburbs. The freeways were sold to small town communities in propaganda films such as We’ll Take the High Road, which was produced by the American Roadbuilders Association in 1957, and tells the story of the “pleasant and friendly” fictional town of Hilldale and its local luminaries deciding the fate of where the new interstate goes to ensure they don’t become a “ghost town.” The only instance of a non-white person in the film is a Black shoe-shine who appears unappreciative of the small sum paid by Mr. Snavely, the town specialist in “dark suspicions” who is convinced the highway is a government “boondoggle.” The film’s hero ultimately concludes, upon receiving notice of the government’s intention to bulldoze his home, that the “experts” know best, and that the townspeople need to accept the interstate in the name of progress and safety for the community. The interstate highways largely re-routed most traffic to the emerging suburban areas. A limited number of exits were installed on the new freeways so as not to slow traffic, and consequently

1961

Average daily household TV viewing totals more than five hours. 259

1962

Motel 6 corporation is founded in Santa Barbara, California.

commerce became concentrated on the streets that had exits and visibility. The new storefronts on the boulevards would be lower density, purpose-built stores and strip-malls with parking toward the road and large signs easily read from the boulevard. In response to the lack of commercial concentration in the suburbs that was popularized in the early 1950s, a socialist architect, Victor Gruen, who had fled Nazi-controlled Vienna before the war, dreamt up the concept of a pedestrian-focused shopping experience. Gruen hated cars and imagined a destination in which people would leave theirs behind and walk around shops set in close proximity, in the manner of European arcades. His new suburban concept would also include facilities with apartments, medical centers, childcare, libraries and offices. ABOVE Suburban shopping center, Maryland, near Washington, DC, 1965 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1956, the first of Gruen’s suburban community concepts would open in Edina, Minnesota. It would be the first climate-controlled shopping mall in America and proved to be an immense success. It would not include the mixed-use program as theoretically conceived by Gruen. The Southdale Center was comprised of bland, branded

1962

Walmart is founded in Rogers, Arkansas. 260

1966

The I-25 and I-40 interchange, known as “The Big I,” is completed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

ABOVE Wheaton Plaza shopping center, Wheaton, Maryland, 1965 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Monday night shoppers at Woodward & Lothrop department store, 1965 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Proposed two-level shopping mall, Fort Worth, Texas, architect Victor Gruen, 1956 Courtesy of Fort Worth Public Library

1970

Las Vegas population is 273,000. 261

1971

FedEx is founded.

ABOVE Frank Lloyd Wright in the Twin Cities, visiting Southdale Center, Edina, Minnesota, architect Victor Gruen, 1956 Photo by Minneapolis Star Journal Tribune Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society

RIGHT Northland Center, Southfield, Michigan, built 1954, architect Victor Gruen, 1961 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Gruen Associates

1973

Martin Cooper invents the first handheld cellular mobile phone while at Motorola. 264

1975

Chili's Restaurant is founded.

boxes located in the middle of a massive parking lot, designed to focus the consumer on the interior experience. The interior of the complex was oriented around a skylit center court reminiscent of European town squares, but the temperature would remain 75 degrees year-round, despite the biting cold of a Northern winter.

ABOVE Larwin Square shopping center, Tustin, California, 1964 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

The caustic American grandfather of modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, would visit the newly completed Southdale Center and ponder to a reporter, “Who wants to sit in that desolate-looking spot? You’ve got a garden court that has all the evils of the village street and none of its charm.” Regardless of Wright’s disdain for the newly conceived shopping mall concept, it was a major success. Approximately 180,000 passed through the sunlit central court of the mall in the first week. Gruen’s firm would go on to design more than 50 malls across the nation largely based on the Southdale concept. None of them included the additional programming, such as housing, that Gruen had originally conceived to encourage a pedestriancentric lifestyle, as the immense profitability of the mall retail space precluded their introduction.

1978

Average U.S. house size: 1,755 square feet. 265

1978

Victor Gruen disavows modern-day shopping mall developments as having “bastardized” his ideas from the 50s and 60s.

Main Street business in downtowns across America, which had continued to prosper with the popularization of the car in the first half of the 20th century, eroded after the creation of the Interstate Highway System and the rise of destination malls. Established downtowns simply couldn’t compete with the immediacy, cleanliness and temperature control of malls like Southdale. Large chain stores flourished at malls. Generally, developers would secure national retailers such as Sears, Macy’s or Dayton’s as anchor tenants at the onset of planning and design the entire mall around their inclusion in the project. The smaller concerns on Main Street weren’t able to compete on price with the incoming national retailers. Increasingly the Main Streets of America became undesirable as spaces for shopping on or living near for those who could afford newly built single-family residences. This was particularly the case in the West, where an abundance of land had allowed for rapid suburbanization. ABOVE Woman shopping at a Super Giant supermarket in Rockville, Maryland, 1962 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1964, a World’s Fair was held in Queens, New York. At the helm was Robert Moses, a master builder who had been in charge of much of the public works construction of highways and parks in New York City. It was there, over the fair’s 646 acres, that the largest corporations

1980

Average U.S. house size: 1,740 square feet. 266

1981

Launch of the IBM Personal Computer.

ABOVE Macy’s department store, 1964 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Teenagers shopping at a record store, 1964 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

1982

The term “Internet” is coined. 267

1984

The first Macintosh computer is sold.

would make their case for the future of the universe to throngs of visitors from around the world. General Motors was responsible for the most popular exhibit, Futurama II, which was an experiential moving ride through GM’s concept of the near future. Over the two-year run, 27 million people would visit the massive and detailed 3-D models of Futurama, which outlined what their engineers imagined the cities of the future would be like. The exhibit foretold bridgeheads on the moon, multi-national exploration of Antarctica, plentiful agriculture in the American desert via de-salinated water from the ocean, cities with plazas of urban living over freeways and moving heated walkways.

ABOVE New York World’s Fair, 1964 Photo by Anthony Conti Courtesy of Pete Conti, Jr.

The pavilions and futuristic exhibits would largely be designed in a “Googie” style, a term coined after the design of California architect John Lautner’s coffee shop of the same name. The aesthetic features swooping curves and angled shapes indicative of objects in motion, such as cars. It is probably for this reason that GM thought the style was so well suited to their concept of the future. Googie style had mainly only been seen along roadsides as part of iconic branded architecture for diners, motels and filling stations. It was at the 1964 World’s Fair that many Americans would interact with computers for the first time and foresee an interplanetary future. Although

1984

8.2% of U.S. households own a computer. 268

1985

Route 66 is officially removed from the United States Highway System.

ABOVE “The City of the Future,” part of General Motors’ Futurama exhibit at the World's Fair, New York, 1964 Photo by Bill Cotter Courtesy of the photographer

RIGHT A future vision of the desert in the Futurama exhibit at the World’s Fair, 1964 Photo by Bill Cotter Courtesy of the photographer

1987

Internet hosts grow to more than 10,000. 269

1989

Sears shutters its catalog business.

computer technology had been hard at work behind the scenes of large corporations and the military, the use for everyday Americans had not been realized. Simplistic experiential booths were set up so fair-goers could interact with computers. It was only a few years later that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick would release his science fiction masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which featured artificial intelligence in its infancy, interplanetary travel, videophones and touch screens.

ABOVE New York World’s Fair, 1964 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE GM Experimental Cars: Runabout, Firebird IV and GM-X, 1964 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Automobile Reference Collection

Complete domination over the landscape by automobiles had been the dream of futurists, designers and architects for many years before the 1964 Futurama II experience. There had been a 1939 Futurama I that largely described a city of stacked layers and roads. The French architect Le Corbusier had unrealized visions of a new Ville Radieuse (Radiant City) in 1930 that would relegate autos to the ground and raise all buildings and pedestrian frontages to a higher level. Other architects envisioned similar plans. Only Oscar Niemeyer, who was influenced by Ville Radieuse, would see his lofty visions built—in Brasília, which was constructed from scratch to facilitate the move of Brazil’s capital in Rio de Janeiro to a new

1990

Average U.S. residential lot size: 14,860 square feet. 270

1990

Las Vegas population is 741,459.

ABOVE Shell Oil’s “City of Tomorrow,” part of General Motors’ Futurama exhibit in 1939 New York World’s Fair, design by Norman Bel Geddes Courtesy of General Motors

RIGHT Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, 1930 Copyright F.L.C. / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2021 Courtesy of Fondation Le Corbusier

1990

Walmart becomes the largest U.S. retailer by revenue. 272

1991

The World Wide Web goes live.

ABOVE Lower Manhattan Expressway plan, New York City, architect Paul Rudolph, 1967 Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 1930 Drawing by Wilbur Henry Adams Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Construction of Brasília, architect Oscar Niemeyer, 1959 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Arquivo Público do Distrito Federal

1992

Internet hosts exceed 1 million. 273

1992

Energy Policy Act of 1992 encourages alternative-fuel vehicles.

ABOVE Frank Lloyd Wright, Broadacre City Project, model in four sections, 1934-1935 The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York) Digital image copyright The Museum of Modern Art Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY Artwork copyright 2021 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Licensed by Artist Rights Society.

RIGHT Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 1956 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

1995

The car Global Positioning System, or GPS, is introduced. 276

1999

ExxonMobil merges in a deal valued at $81 billion.

modern city. European automakers helped bankroll the auto-centric plan in Brasília. In contrast, Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of the future, Broadacre City, involved suburbs, farms and flying cars. Each family would be given an acre to develop in a manner similar to the Homestead Act—a democratized world in which each owns the dirt beneath his feet.

ABOVE Ground view of Living City (unbuilt project), architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 1958 Copyright 2022 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art I Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)

In many ways, Wright’s Broadacre City materialized in the American West, with large swaths of residential land partitioned for large individual homes and accessed by automobiles. Each acre a selfcontained individual system of life and work with distant nodes for church, commerce, school and socialization. Individualism, and perhaps isolationism, at its apex. None of Wright’s larger vision of Broadacre was ever brought to fruition, but in 1956 an oilman in Oklahoma built a skyscraper designed by Wright that largely resembled the only urban element in the Broadacre City concept—a skyscraper. Price Tower was a purpose-built headquarters for the H.C. Price Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, with additional offices and a handful of apartments. Wright, ironically, had recycled

2000

Americans own over 225 million cars. 277

2000

U.S. population is 291,421,906.

the design concept for the tower in both instances from a shelved project designed for a block in New York City prior to financial fallout of the Great Depression. The vertical construction seen by Wright in Oklahoma would be extremely limited in the growth of the West, though. The population of the American West would grow immensely in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. California alone doubled its population in 20 years from approximately 10 million to over 20 million. Phoenix, Arizona, would grow 500% in the same period to almost 600,000. Roads and homes were built in lock-step with one another. Blocks of homes were built alongside a new block of asphalt. Single-family construction and ownership was king. The affordability of cheap mortgages, cars and gas enabled the system. ABOVE Mar Vista housing development, Los Angeles, architect Gregory Ain, 1950 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Communication and entertainment advancements would additionally aid the horizontal growth pattern of housing. Television ownership in America skyrocketed from 10% of households in 1950 to 87% by 1960. The estimated 45 million televisions in homes at the time provided a portal into far-flung places and events and an

2000

Las Vegas population is 1.4 million. 278

2000

51% of U.S. households own a computer.

ABOVE A man and a woman watching a TV with footage of the Vietnam War, 1968 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Convenience food, 1965 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Man in lounge with newspaper across chest, Washington, DC, 1962 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

2000

Montgomery Ward declares bankruptcy. 279

2001

Nearly 450 million passenger cars exist in the world.

PREVIOUS Los Angeles, California, 1965 Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Manchester Mall, Fresno, California, 1969 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

RIGHT Shorecrest Homes, 1965 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

2003

Tesla is founded. 284

2003

The first alternative fuel station opens in San Diego, California.

escape from the isolation that suburban neighborhoods cultivated. Conversely, they served as reminders, consistently broadcasting evidence of the dirtiness of the city and of the safety the insulated suburbs provided from fraught and dangerous times.

ABOVE Hacienda Homes, Anaheim, California, 1968 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

The new wide boulevards of the West streamed off the freeways, accommodating recently constructed malls and collecting new and older brands like McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The similarity of the local conditions and business models would ensure that each new location looked just the same as the last in whatever Western state it was built. Consolidated national corporations wanted to ensure that their customers knew they would get the same quality and value for their respective brand everywhere, and having each branch look exactly the same was a visual cue to those approaching by car. Rather than an architecture that would be defined in styles like Streamline Moderne, Googie or modern, derivatecture would be defined only by its brand. A Dairy Queen or a Kentucky Fried Chicken or a Long John Silver’s each has its own respective style by design—and they share only the commonalities of being loud, colorful and easily accessible by car.

2005

Las Vegas builders pulling permits for 30,000 new homes a year. 285

2008

The Tesla Roadster, which is the first legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, becomes available to consumers.

While Main Street America eroded, Anywhere, America became the emerging pattern as we expanded along the interstates. Each new arterial off an exit allowed for destination malls, strip malls, fast-food restaurants and big-box stores. Homes were often tucked deep away from the wide boulevards without any reasonable path or pattern that would provide pedestrian access. Public transportation, if available in the new areas, would be relegated to buses along the boulevards. Offices were built in expansive parks with no adjacency to support services like restaurants or stores.

ABOVE Colonel Sanders, Daly City, California, 1978 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

Commercial architecture of the 1970s, 80s and 90s largely followed the Anywhere, America pattern in the West. Only flourishes in branding, colors or accoutrements set the stage for the vintage of the architecture itself. This is the age, of course, that I was born into, and I understand acutely how disposable it has been. Throughout Albuquerque any commercial building of this era is considered ready to be torn down or completely remodeled once the latest and greatest brand has run its short course of life through its walls. Little strip malls with bakeries and barber shops get completely torn down to become Walgreens. Safeways become Smiths. Smiths become

2009

Average American family watches eight hours and 55 minutes of TV per day. 286

2009

6.6% of U.S. manufacturing workforce is employed by motor vehicle industry.

ABOVE Line at the pumps, 1973 Photo by David Falconer for the Environmental Protection Agency Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

RIGHT Carl's Jr. Char-Broiled Hamburgers, ca. 1970 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Carl’s Jr.

NEXT Indeterminate Facade, BEST Products Company retail store, Houston, Texas, architect James Wines / SITE Architecture, 1975 Courtesy of SITE New York

2010

77% of U.S. households own a computer. 287

2013

Average family home is 2,598 square feet.

ABOVE Long John Silver’s Restaurant, Yuma, Arizona, 2003 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Whataburger, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 2003 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

2013

The 1 billionth McDonald’s hamburger is sold. 290

2014

Las Vegas population is 2 million.

ABOVE Wiener Schnitzel restaurant, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 2003 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Strip mall, Burlington, Iowa, 2003 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

2015

Median household income in New Mexico is $45,119. 291

2015

U.S. is declared the world’s third-largest producer of crude oil.

ABOVE Malls across America, 1980s Photo by Michael Galinsky Courtesy of photographer

RIGHT Family shopping, 1980s Photo by Michael Galinsky Courtesy of photographer

2016

Average of 140 minutes of internet viewing spent per day worldwide. 292

2017

Sears closes 150 stores.

ABOVE Shopping mall and hotel lobby, 1980s Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress NEXT Outlets, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

NEXT Boise, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

Dollar Trees. K-Marts become parking lots. Each incarnation leaves nothing perceptible behind. New exterior gingerbread is cooked up for a new beginning on the front facade or the entire building is bulldozed and hauled away to be largely replaced by the same sized structure. The pattern has been unchanged since Eisenhower rolled out the National System of Defense and Interstate Highways: interstate, exit, parking lots, fast-food, strip malls, walled-in residential communities, repeat.

NEXT Standoff at Exxon, 2019 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven NEXT Los Angeles County Line, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

NEXT Los Angeles, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

2017

Nominal median income per capita in the U.S.: $31,786. 293

2017

272.48 million vehicles are registered in the U.S.

AIRPLANES

“Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.” – SOCRATES –

Humans have been fascinated by birds in flight gliding through canyons and diving to the Earth’s surface in pursuit of prey for thousands of years. These feathered creatures served as blueprints for how we would ultimately conquer the skies. As far back as the life of Leonardo da Vinci, documentation exists outlining the basic concepts of how man would elevate into the clouds based on the study of birds. Primitive flight was achieved with limited success with bird-like skeletal suits from high perches. More successfully in the 18th century, flight was achieved with gaseous or hot-air balloons in Europe. By 1785, a French inventor, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, had flown over the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon, but sustained flight with heavier-than-air mechanics remained elusive until the 20th century.

OPPOSITE Otto Lilienthal gliding experiment, 1895 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

In 1903, two adventurous and inquisitive brothers, who had further studied the movement of birds in the air, became the first to reach sustained flight in a fixed-wing aircraft. The well documented historic event in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, would establish Orville and Wilbur Wright as the fathers of the airplane and be the catalyst for the rapid evolution of travel, communication, warfare and trade.

1458

Leonardo da Vinci draws concept for the human flying machine. 305

1793

First balloon flight in America.

It would be many decades before the Wright brothers’ first flights resulted in widespread adoption of air transit, though. Dirigible balloons made primarily by the German enterprise Zeppelin would become the first to transport passengers en masse. The German concern would first create airships for commercial use in Europe and then weaponize them for Nazi Germany and other militaries around the world, even becoming partners with the American company Goodyear prior to World War II. The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin would become the first transatlantic flight service in the world by 1928, but airships would be largely eliminated after a number of high-profile explosions like that of the Hindenburg in 1937.

ABOVE Wilbur and Orville Wright with glider, 1901 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Airplanes would first revolutionize the distribution of mail, as the initial technology prohibited aircraft from flying more than a few people. Air Mail was glorified as a romantic and extremely fast way to send letters, and the pilots were highly respected in a job that proved to be dangerous. As the first airfields did not have lights for landing and technology didn’t exist for navigation, planes flew only during the daytime and relatively close to the ground along a

1836

First long-distance balloon flight travels from London to Weilburg in Germany, taking 18 hours. 306

1900

Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August von Zeppelin makes first successful flight of his lighter-than-air airship LZ 1.

ABOVE First landing of the Hindenburg in the U.S., Lakehurst, New Jersey, 1936 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Wide World Photos / Minneapolis Sunday Tribune

RIGHT Hindenburg disaster, 1937 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Murray Becker / Associated Press via Wikimedia Commons

NEXT First flight, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1903 Photo by John T. Daniels Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Biplane over Miami Beach, 1918 Photo by Albert M. Price Courtesy of Library of Congress

1903

Wright Brothers’ first flight. 307

1909

Army Airfield, the longest continuously operating airport in the world, is established at College Park, Maryland.

ABOVE Barnstormer Philip “Jersey” Ringel with camera on top wing, 1921 Photo by Walter M. Cline Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Postmaster Edward M. Morgan, Postmaster General Frank Harris Hitchcock and aviator Earle Lewis Ovington, first air mail flight, 1911 Photo by Bain News Service Courtesy of Library of Congress

1909

The Zeppelin LZ 6 becomes the first zeppelin used for commercial passenger transport. 312

1910

Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly on an airplane.

combination of existing roadways and over massive arrows built into the landscape for visual reference. Flight technology would additionally revolutionize warfare. Beginning in World War I, militaries used airplanes to bomb targets, distribute propaganda and drop supplies in enemy territory. Small aircraft were heavily used in both World War I and World War II. Imperial Japanese dive bombers took the United States into the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Enola Gay, a Boeing Superfortress Bomber, would carry to Japan the atomic bomb that would end it.

ABOVE Mills Field, San Francisco Airport, 1928 Photo by William Larkins Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Because of the size and danger associated with airplanes, airfields— and later airports—were generally developed at the outer fringes of urban areas or along water. Whereas train travel typically terminated at the epicenter of commerce and density, particularly in the West as towns were completely developed around the train stops, air travel demanded immense amounts of bare land and would be initially serviced only by automobile from urban areas. During the late 1920s, cities throughout the West built airfields and ultimately terminals on

1914

During World War I, both sides use balloons for military observation. 313

1918

National Air Mail service is inaugurated.

the edge of town. In cities such as Albuquerque, the airport was built in the middle of the desert on a mesa to the west of town. Until 1926, air travel in the United States was completely unregulated. Only after high-profile accidents by barnstormers (aerial artists who performed dangerous mid-air stunts) did Congress pass the Air Commerce Act. Ultimately, the federal government would highly regulate mail routes and control competition for passenger travel, which would result in decades of very expensive air transport. Traveling by air immediately became a signifier of social status.

ABOVE Aerial view of Pan American Airways “China Clipper,” 1936 Photo by Clyde H. Sunderland Courtesy of Library of Congress

By the late 1920s, regional airlines began offering regularly scheduled passenger flights and a pair of Air Corps Majors formed Pan American Airways, which would become the unofficial flag carrier of the United States for many decades. While most cities continued to lack adequate airstrips to land larger planes, Pan Am flew a fleet of flying boats called Clippers throughout the 1930s and 1940s to provide international service to harbors in South America and Europe. As national and international air travel took off, the affluent

1919

The school of Bauhaus is founded in Weimar, Germany, by Walter Gropius. 314

1926

Western Air Express inaugurates the “first scheduled airline passenger service” in the U.S., flying the nation’s first commercial airline passenger from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

ABOVE Commercial aviation, 1933 Photo by Harris & Ewing Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Pan American Martin Clipper, 1936 Photo by Clyde H. Sunderland Courtesy of Library of Congress

1926 315

Congress adopts the Air Commerce Act of 1926, which authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to designate air routes, develop air navigation systems, and license pilots and aircraft.

1927

Charles Lindbergh completes first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

would don their best hats, suits and furs and shuttle between regions of the United States and other countries with increasing frequency, at a fraction of the time via train or vessel.

OPPOSITE Guatemala Is Only One Day Away via Pan American, 1939 Lithograph by Paul George Lawler Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Woman holding a fur coat and sombrero boarding a Pan American-Grace Airways airplane heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1939 Photo by Toni Frissell Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Exterior of Pan American Airways System Terminal Building, Miami, Florida, ca. 1934 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Air travel signaled a different kind of American movement than the automobile could offer: the kind based solely on destination. Whereas previous forms of transportation—from the epoch of Humans, Horses and Cars—required the activation of interstitial areas, the age of Airplanes was purely related to departure and arrival. The train, with its long-distance focus, could be said to be the closest in ambition to the plane, but even railroads created an interconnected web of stopping points and landscapes rather than a point-A to point-B type of trajectory relegated to the homogeneity of the sky. Even as long flights required refueling along the routes, the stops made were at remote airstrips and terminals that were largely isolated from commerce and cultural centers. Air travel would vastly expedite world diplomacy and contribute to the interconnectedness of cities and states throughout America and beyond. For the ultra-wealthy, air travel provided the opportunity to

1928

Albuquerque’s airport opens. 317

1928

Construction on Chrysler Building begins in Manhattan.

live, work and socialize between far-flung regions. For working-class Americans, airplanes provided increased trade opportunities and the economic muscle of a move toward globalization. In the West, regional airlines provided a sense of interconnectedness across the large swaths of land and mountains that divided the quickly growing regions. Airfields additionally linked rural governments to federal seats of power on the East Coast and vice versa, and faster travel times helped to coalesce a country that was still overcoming the ideological fissure of a Civil War.

ABOVE New York Municipal Airport, Queens County, New York, ca. 1940 (renamed LaGuardia Airport in 1947) Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

With the demands of physics in air flight, the design and materiality of airplanes were limited. Only a few companies produced commercial airplanes, and these designs were mass-produced and had an outsized influence on the culture of design. Many artists and architects were fascinated with the aerodynamic design of planes and the assembly line manufacturing process in which planes and cars were created. Out of the Art Deco movement came Streamline Moderne, which shared the bold curves and long horizontal lines of airplanes, automobiles and ocean liners. Many buildings around the world such as airports, bus stations and factories were designed in

1928

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin becomes first transatlantic flight service in the world. 320

1929

First flight simulator patented.

ABOVE KEHE Radio Studios, Los Angeles, built 1936, architect Stiles O. Clements, 1972 Photo by Marvin Rand Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Aquatic Park Bathhouse, San Francisco, built 1939, architect WPA, 1981 Photo by Jet Lowe Courtesy of Library of Congress

1929

Air service through UPS is introduced, using private airlines. 321

1930

Frank Whittle, a British inventor, invents the jet engine.

ABOVE Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, built 1931, architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret Copyright F.L.C. / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2021 (Le Corbusier) Copyright 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris (Pierre Jeanneret) Photo by Julien Chatelain

RIGHT Bauhaus Dessau, Germany, built 1926, architect Walter Gropius, 2011 Photo by Hjochheim Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

1931

Pair-o-Dice Club, the first casino on Highway 91 on the Las Vegas Strip, is built. 322

1932

Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo nonstop trans-Atlantic flight.

this style in the 1930s. In particular, the Aquatic Park Bathhouse in San Francisco and the Marine Air Terminal of LaGuardia Airport in New York were exemplary of this style.

ABOVE Lovell House, Los Angeles, built 1929, architect Richard Neutra, 1967 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

NEXT Interior of Pan American Airways System Terminal Building, Miami, Florida, ca. 1940 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

A similar but more minimalist movement than Streamline Moderne, dubbed International Style, emerged largely out of the German Bauhaus art school where simplistic, machine-driven forms reigned supreme. The school’s founder, Walter Gropius, famously stated to the Harvard School of Design: “Architecture begins where engineering ends.” Much of 20th-century architecture grew out of Bauhaus principles, and the globalization that was encouraged by air travel helped spread the gospel of International Style to cities throughout the world and the Western United States. California, which was rapidly growing in the 1920s and 1930s, embraced the International Style, as did European architects such as Rudolf Schindler and Richard Neutra. They helped establish a minimalist approach to modernism as a regional vernacular there. Many of the buildings designed from this era have been deemed landmarks and continue to be precedents for architects and students of the profession today.

1936

First-generation Air Traffic Control (ATC) System is born. 323

1936

San Francisco’s Aquatic Park Bathhouse, an example of the Streamline Moderne style, is built by the WPA.

As the United States and Europe continued to develop airplanes and their infrastructure ahead of other countries, design and architecture inherent to the technology was exported along established route lines and influenced a whole generation of development. Airplane cabins and international terminals were interlinked, and buildings were branded by international carriers. This phenomenon was largely established during the epoch of Trains as the railroads moved out West in America, but it had not been seen on the international stage. ABOVE Albuquerque Municipal Airport, Native American women and stewardesses, 1950 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of John Airy PA1982.180.54

OPPOSITE Los Angeles—Fly TWA!, ca. 1950 Lithograph by Robert Harmer Smith Courtesy of Library of Congress

As the railroads had done before them, airlines advertised the cultural voyeurism possible by plane. Those from urban environments such as New York, Chicago or Boston would fly out West to see the Grand Canyon or Indian pueblos; to Egypt to see the pyramids; to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. In Albuquerque, travelers decamping from the plane would be greeted by Native Americans wearing traditional clothing. In Hawaii they were lei’d by women in grass skirts. Ultimately, it would be the desire for this exotic tourism and cultural exchange that would propel the air industry and globalization forward. Each new tourist brought a specific currency

1937 326

Amelia Earhart disappears over the Central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe.

1937

First operational jet engine is made.

and ideas on how humans should live. And each tourist brought home a unique story about what life was like in the exotic city or port from which they just returned. The interior of planes became the rare communal living environment and architecture for the international affluent. Cabins flown by Imperial Air out of Britain or Pan Am out of America were equipped with beds and dining areas and influenced the tastes of travelers with each trip over the rarified air above international water and borders. Technology and artifacts had been for centuries transported by boat, but never with the frequency of air travel. It was also the case that the payload restrictions required strangers from far-flung regions to enjoy close quarters and get to know one another.

ABOVE Albuquerque Municipal Airport with TWA plane, 1940 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of John Airy PA1982.180.26

When Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. entered World War II, civilian plane production was limited by the government to support the war effort. The production of military aircraft was accelerated and glorified in the media. Government propaganda was created to encourage women to volunteer for work in factories, as so many men were dispatched to the battlefields. Airplanes were seen as

1937

First modern commercial airliner (with twin engine) is invented. 328

1937

The Hindenburg LZ 129 airship bursts into flames while landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

ABOVE Albuquerque Municipal Airport portico, 1950 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of John Airy PA1982.180.53

RIGHT Pioneer Airlines stewardess, 1950 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of John Airy PA1982.180.41

NEXT Riveter at work on consolidated bomber, Fort Worth, Texas, 1942 Photo by Howard R. Hollem Courtesy of Library of Congress

1939

Pan American begins transatlantic passenger service. 329

1941

Pearl Harbor is attacked.

ABOVE Pearl Harbor, 1941 Photographer unknown Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

RIGHT A Japanese soldier walks through leveled Hiroshima, 1945 Photo by Lieutenant Wayne Miller, USNR Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

1945

The Enola Gay becomes the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. 332

1946

Richard Neutra designs the Kaufmann Desert House, an example of the International Style, in Palm Springs, California.

critical to America’s strategy to win, and their design, materiality and manufacturing became part of our cultural DNA. The rapid development of aviation technology was considered critical to the survival of the free world. When the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, the event was heralded as the culmination of America’s wartime aeronautical development surge. The might of America and her dominance in engineering had been broadcast to the world. So compelling and destructive was the technology carried by the United States to end the war, it was impossible for every other nation in the world not to seek their own countermeasures for protection.

ABOVE Boeing Superfortress Bomber in air raid over Osaka on June 1, 1945 Photo by United States Army Air Force Courtesy of United States Air Force Historical Research Agency

The British company de Havilland would introduce a jet-powered airplane to passenger travel by 1952. It flew from London to Johannesburg nonstop on its inaugural voyage. The effect of the jet engine on aviation was profound. Jets would more cost-effectively transport cargo and passengers and would begin to democratize air travel for the less affluent classes. As air travel became accessible to the masses, destination vacations quickly became a component of

1947 333

Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose, made almost entirely of wood, becomes the largest airplane to have ever flown.

1947

U.S. Air Force officer Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier.

the American Dream. In addition to the sunny beaches of Havana, Honolulu and Acapulco, Disneyland was constructed in Southern California in 1955 and became a dream family destination. Jet travel additionally aided multi-national business development, as it substantially lowered business travel cost, increased efficiency and consequently allowed for consolidated management structures. It also lubricated the cultural exchange between countries. The Beatles landed on American soil in 1964 from Europe and embarked on a 25-city American tour. At each airport, they were bombarded by adoring fans—so much so that they were unable to land in the Chicago and Boston airports due to the hysteria their fans created.

ABOVE First appearance of prototype of de Havilland’s DH Comet 1, 1947 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Flight Global

The landscapes of both urban and rural areas were reorganized to accommodate increased air travel. Zoning requirements dictated that airport construction be pushed to the distant outskirts of cities into sites capable of tolerating heavy noise and a demand for vast amounts of space for large planes. This contributed to urban sprawl and also required the construction of extensive highway networks for travelers. In most cases the airports were serviced only by cars

1948

Toys ‘R’ Us is founded in Washington, DC. 334

1955

Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.

ABOVE Pan Am Airlines introduces the Boeing 707 airplane, 1958 Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo Courtesy of CSU Archives / Everett Collection

RIGHT The Beatles at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 Photo by Marion S. Trikosko Courtesy of Library of Congress

1958

For the first time, the total of transatlantic passengers carried by air exceeds the total carried by sea. 335

1958

Founding of the Federal Aviation Administration.

ABOVE Air steward in aircraft cabin serving first class passengers, ca. 1955 Photographer unknown Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo

RIGHT TWA Terminal with taxis, JFK Airport, New York, architect Eero Saarinen, 1962 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

1959

World population reaches 3 billion. 336

1961

American Realty and Petroleum Corporation is founded.

and buses. Often modern airports were still located near water as they had initially been built there to facilitate marine landings of the Pan Am Clippers, but new purpose-built terminals were needed to support the fast-growing air travel industry and service the new fleets of jets.

ABOVE Photographer Balthazar Korab with TWA model, ca. 1956 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Interior of TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, New York, ca. 1956 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

The concept of the TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen and constructed in 1962, is indicative of the design of the Airplane Age. The sleek terminal was decades ahead of its time and perhaps is still to this day not only the most significant airport ever built but one of the greatest public spaces of modern time. The innovative concrete shell structure is a sleek homage to the profiles of the jets that it serviced and to the branding of TWA. The building serves as a terminus for those both arriving and departing. A marvelous purgatory awaits those who can make it there through a nest of unconsidered beltways or strapped into a jet piercing through the clouds. It is an in-between space, completely divorced from the cohesiveness of the city and its ancillary businesses—conceived as a singular, branded container for waiting in limbo for a few hours.

1962

JFK becomes the first U.S. president to fly in a jet specifically designated for presidential use. 337

1962

Construction of the TWA Terminal in Queens, New York, designed by Eero Saarinen.

Saarinen additionally designed the Washington Dulles airport in the early 1960s with a similar use of lightweight concrete to achieve dramatic curves and to evoke a sense of flight. As with the TWA Terminal, Dulles was isolated from the urban portion of the city it served and primarily accessible by car.

ABOVE Night view of TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, New York, ca. 1956 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

In the West, the extended range of jets and the decrease in the cost of air travel gave rise to remote cities, which quickly became global destinations. Las Vegas, in particular, with its legalized gambling and penchant for grandiose entertainment, drew visitors in droves by air and the population grew rapidly. With little architectural history to reference prior to the founding of the city in 1905, Las Vegas would embrace the latest styles and technologies. The extreme heat of the desert and the focus of most of the area’s architecture on gambling created a unique vernacular that looked part hotel-resort and part transportation hub. Often towers of hundreds of hotel rooms sat atop vast air-conditioned casinos. Each resort also typically featured dramatic drive-way entrances, massive parking lots and monumental neon signs. Typically the interior designs and branding were designed around themes, such as Arabian Nights.

1963

First small jet aircraft enters mass production. 340

1967

The modern-day FAA is established as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

ABOVE Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia, architect Eero Saarinen, 1962 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Dulles International Airport parking, 1962 Photo by Balthazar Korab Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Photograph of Fremont Street from the Union Plaza, Las Vegas, 1970s Las Vegas News Bureau Collection Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives

1968

Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated. 341

1970

First Boeing 747 commercial flight.

ABOVE Fremont Street looking west, Las Vegas Sarah Vinci Collection Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives

RIGHT Aerial photograph of the Las Vegas Strip, 1970s Florence L. Jones Cahlan Collection Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives

1974

Watergate scandal occurs. 344

1976

Microsoft becomes a registered trademark.

The concentration of casinos and activity was originally limited to downtown Las Vegas along Fremont Street; but in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the construction of the interstates, that concentration would shift along with the re-routed tourist traffic. The move would provide huge swaths of new, undeveloped desert along U.S. 91, originally a wagon trail, to build destination structures with thousands of hotel rooms. Named after the main drag in Los Angeles, the Sunset Strip would be home to a cornucopia of architectural concepts and historical themes. Although few places in the American West resemble the garishness of the Sunset Strip, the ethos that gave rise to its creation and its success are rooted in the lawlessness and impatience that developed the entirety of the cities in the surrounding states.

ABOVE Albuquerque Municipal Airport, arrival of Duke and Duchess Alburquerque from Spain for “Enchantarama” celebration, 1950 Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum, gift of Milo Crawford PA1994.12.9

The second wave of Las Vegas along the Sunset Strip would focus on all-encompassing destination resorts. Advertising that peppered national and international cities would beckon tourists to eat, drink, shop, see shows and, most importantly, gamble at marquees such as The Dunes, The International or Caesar’s Palace. Each resort mirage would compete for tourists and endeavor to meet all their needs so

1976

Price Club is founded in San Diego, California. 345

1978

The Home Depot is founded.

they would stay put as much as possible throughout their visit. The architecture, the food and the entertainment would be international. Without an established vernacular of any sort for Las Vegas in the cultural brain trust, developers would poach what they deemed the best from the world over and import the concepts, making the city an international smorgasbord of singular destinations within a sea of parking, strip malls and massive neon signs.

ABOVE Photograph of the Las Vegas International Hotel under construction, Las Vegas, 1969 Photo by Don Knepp Las Vegas News Bureau Collection Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives OPPOSITE Newspaper advertisement for the grand opening of the International Hotel in Las Vegas, 1969 Courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Las Vegas and the West as a whole would become major tourist destinations. Other cities in the West, large and small, would follow a similar pattern. Leisure attractions, like golf, tennis or swimming, were advertised to attract tourists—and ultimately, it was the hope that many would stay, at least part time, and grow the economy. The American dream of owning a home and a car would not prove to be enough for many. The term Jet Set emerged to describe those who lived nomadically and owned homes throughout the world. Jetsetters would work and play throughout multiple cities. In some cases it wouldn’t be enough to fly first class—in the rarest air, a private jet would be required. Private jets quickly became highly customized mobile living quarters and the ultimate status symbol. Titans of

1979 346

Michael Aldrich invents online shopping by connecting a modified domestic TV to a computer via a domestic telephone line.

1980

Almost half of total flights worldwide take place in the U.S.

business, heads of state and celebrities chartered or owned their own jets. Being photographed on a private jet became a critical marker of social status and power. This lifestyle fluidity between cities, states and countries buttressed the concept of owning multiple homes in multiple places. OPPOSITE Galaxy Homes, Palm Springs, California, 1969 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

ABOVE Palm Springs Biltmore Condominiums, 1973 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

NEXT Rio Rancho Estates model home catalog cover, ca. 1962 Mowry Collection C-file Courtesy of New Mexico Digital Collections / Rio Rancho Public Libraries Local History Room

The West’s sun, arid weather and new lifestyle were sold to those in the clogged cities—like New York, Boston and Chicago—who dreamed of a different life. New outfits like the The American Realty and Petroleum Corporation (AMREP) were established to capitalize on the expanding West and the democratization of air travel. AMREP, which was formed by an Oklahoma oil company, a group of New York advertising executives and some land speculators, purchased 55,000 acres in New Mexico, just north of Albuquerque, and incorporated a new city. Rio Rancho properties were sold by AMREP salesmen to northerners as second homes, retirement opportunities or land investments over the course of free flights to visit their desert sales office, free dinners and screenings of the film Your Golden Future, which extolled the virtues of the land investment and all the activities to be expected in the new development.

1990

The first-ever web browser, WorldWideWeb, launches. 349

1994

Amazon is founded.

Thousands of snowbirds took the bait and began moving to Rio Rancho in pursuit of a sunnier and wealthier existence. When the first phase had been only partially built out, AMREP executives expanded their offering to include Rio Rancho Estates, to the west of the initial location. They flooded the market with lots and continued to sell them with their signature high-pressure pitches, despite knowing that the lots were horrible investments and that only a small percentage of the buyers would actually move there. Ultimately, Rio Rancho Estates and AMREP would be prosecuted by the federal government and four of its executives were convicted of fraud and sentenced to six months of jail time.

ABOVE Rio Rancho Estates model homes catalog page advertising houses in several sizes, ca. 1962 Mowry Collection C-file Courtesy of New Mexico Digital Collections / Rio Rancho Public Libraries Local History Room

Despite the fraud committed by development companies like AMREP and their speculative lots in the desert, the West continued to rapidly expand. Many came West in search of the sun and simply more space. Cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego continued to draw tourists en masse to their suburbs. Lacking the planning skills to support the growth, the fast-growing cities of the West would all subscribe to the Anywhere, America development model. Sprawling but walled-in housing communities were built along massive

1995

eBay is founded. 352

1997

Price Club ceases operations.

ABOVE Rio Rancho Estates model homes catalog page, ca. 1962 Mowry Collection C-file Courtesy of New Mexico Digital Collections / Rio Rancho Public Libraries Local History Room

RIGHT New Mexico tourism brochure, ca. 1965 Courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Tourism

NEXT Galaxy Homes, Palm Springs, California, 1968 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

1998

PayPal launches. 353

1999

First round-the-world balloon flight.

ABOVE BEST Products Company, Inc., Rainforest Building, Hialeah, Florida, architect James Wines / SITE Architecture, 1979 Courtesy of SITE New York

RIGHT Suburban homes built on a terraced hillside with view of the harbor, Los Angeles, 1975 Photo by Charles O’Rear for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

2000

Two million passengers travel by air every day. 356

2001

Transportation Security Administration is established in response to September 11 attacks.

boulevards with no regard for their proximity to work or commerce. These walled-in home developments would span huge tracts between freeway exits and boulevards, amongst strip malls, gas stations and fast food restaurants. No emerging ground in the West would escape this Anywhere pattern.

ABOVE Housing in Las Vegas, ca. 1972 Photo by Charles O’Rear for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

As the suburbs of America swelled, the urban core of America that had been built up throughout the epochs of Humans, Horses, and Trains continued to hollow out. Eisenhower’s freeways and inexpensive post-World War II mortgages fueled a seemingly endless flurry of construction in the West throughout deserts, valleys, mountains and coastlines. The fresh and cheap housing developments with more space were irresistible to migrating city dwellers fleeing from urban areas that had lacked reinvestment and upkeep. Largely, though, the centers of commerce and jobs remained in the urban centers and the new suburban areas required extensive commutes. The drudgery of commuting to work and the lack of investment in the central business district gave rise to suburban business parks— low-rise office complexes situated in parking lots and green spaces. These factors contributed to the decentralization of the American

2001

The first CIA drone-based kill operation takes place (Afghanistan). 357

2004

Montgomery Ward re-opens as an online-only retailer.

ABOVE Walt Whitman Bridge crossing the Delaware River, Philadelphia, 1973 Photo by Dick Swanson for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

OPPOSITE Home overlooking city, ca. 1973 Photographer unknown Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

landscape. The central business districts in such metropolises as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Denver—which were once relied on for their concentration of workers—became less desirable as the rise of in-between business centers and nodes helped to ease exhaustive commute times. However, the rise in intermediate nodes of commerce additionally compounded transportation issues, as those locations were less likely to have reliable public transport options. The focus of mass transit had for decades been on the downtowns of cities, and the new suburban business centers still lacked the required density to demand attention from local governments for trains and in some cases buses. As business districts and shopping districts continued to spread out, large, purpose-built retailers rapidly expanded and began building their own regional distribution networks in tandem with their continued interstate expansion. In some cases, retailers essentially opened their actual distribution centers as retail centers. Price Club, which would ultimately merge with Costco and become a retail behemoth, would open their first store in San Diego in an airplane hangar once owned by Howard Hughes. At Price Club there was no

2005

Annual Amazon sales total $8.49 billion. 358

2006

FAA issues first commercial drone permits, paving the way for companies or professionals to use drones in business ventures.

ABOVE First Wal-Mart storefront, Rogers, Arkansas, ca. 1962 Photographer unknown Courtesy of The Walmart Museum

RIGHT Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, California, 1979 Photo by Julius Shulman Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

2010

Amazon’s North American sales total $16 billion. 360

2011

Development of the Terrafugia, a vehicle that can both fly and be driven.

back-of-house, and the storage of goods was merged with the frontfacing customer experience, which focused on the cheapest offerings of name-brand goods. Other discount brands, such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sam’s Club, rose to prominence and also focused on a bare-bones, bottom-line approach to store presence. These warehouse retailers were additionally enabled by the increased global product offerings afforded by the innovation of shipping containerization, which was invented in the late 1950s and came of age in the 1960s. The ability to quickly load and unload an entire barge of goods in containers with cranes, rather than loading the goods by hand, reduced the cost of shipping by approximately 36-fold. The massive decrease in the cost of shipping would allow basic goods to be made far from their ultimate point of sale to capitalize on the lowest labor costs.

ABOVE Early Costco, Seattle, Washington, ca. 1983 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Costco Wholesale

As businesses scattered regionally and increasingly did business with national and international parties, the demand for fast transport of sensitive documents and goods grew. Companies such as Federal Express (FedEx) and the United Parcel Service (UPS) built fleets of jets and began aggressively rolling out delivery networks across the

2013

Amazon employee base is 117,300. 361

2014

Average U.S. house size: 2,657 square feet.

nation for businesses and retailers to move goods around. In 1981, FedEx introduced Overnight Letter, which would deliver anywhere in America or Canada in 24 hours. This incredibly fast delivery service would increasingly service residential customers and vastly increase the immediacy of purchasing goods via mail-order from outfits like L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer and Lands’ End. Companies were able to quickly and expeditiously source and manufacture products from around the world and sell them direct to consumer doorsteps across the nation via air. Both the United Parcel Service and the U.S. Postal Service would follow suit with overnight services. ABOVE Aerial of new housing development, San Diego, California, 1975 Photo by Charles O’Rear for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

OPPOSITE FedEx print ad, ca. 1977 B Christopher / Alamy Stock Photo

As cheap overseas labor became readily available to U.S. companies, Americans feverishly indulged in a new globalized market for consumer goods. The bigger homes of the suburbs simply had more space to be filled with products, and big-box retailers obliged. Land was cheap, and they filled it with parking lots and massive stores. As before with destination malls, the warehouse stores would be large, bland storefronts with branding that could be seen over parking from the street. These big-box stores would no longer specialize in grocery or electronics or housewares; they would ultimately sell everything

2016

U.S. airlines carry record 823 million passengers. 362

2016

Amazon founds Prime Air, a drone delivery service.

ABOVE Front exterior of the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, 1950s Manis Collection Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives

RIGHT The first Sam’s Club, Midwest City, Oklahoma, 1983 Photographer unknown Courtesy of The Walmart Museum

2017

Amazon’s North American sales total $80 billion. 364

2017

The term “retail apocalypse” begins gaining widespread usage.

under the sun. Other than the concept of selling goods at the lowest prices possible, it would be impossible to see how this consumerdriven derivatecture contributed positively to the landscape of the American West. In city upon city in the West, brands such as Price Club, Walmart and Home Depot were stamped out near interstate exits, floating inside monstrous carpets of asphalt.

ABOVE South Coast Plaza shopping center, Costa Mesa, California, ca. 1980 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Orange County Archives

The stranglehold that malls, chain restaurants, big-box stores and tract homes had on the Western American landscape of the 20th century is perhaps unparalleled in modern history. No other society has managed to convert more virgin land into uninhabitable and inhospitable property than the United States of America in this period.

NEXT Dulles Airport with access road, originally to accommodate tracks for a high-speed train, 1971 Photo by Warren K. Leffler Courtesy of Library of Congress

2018

Over 5,000 public-use airports exist in the U.S. 365

2018

Toys ‘R’ Us closes all U.S. and British stores.

ROCKETS

“Life, forever dying to be born afresh, forever young and eager, will presently stand upon this Earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars.” – H.G. WELLS –

Since the dawn of time, man has gazed upon the stars with amazement and wonder. Distant cultures in Egypt, Greece, Mexico, China, India and Southwestern America studied the night sky and its revolving splendor intensely. Monumental structures were erected around the orientation of the stars, gods emerged from the twinkling shapes created in the night, and the basis of time as we know it today spawned from the study of the cosmos. The black beyond Earth represents an unknown frontier so massive and unexplored most of what we know about its extents and history is pure conjecture by earth-bound, armchair philosophers and scientists scrutinizing tiny, twinkling lights from telescopes in the desert.

OPPOSITE Rocket pioneer Dr. Robert Goddard’s test setup, 1935 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

Although we have dispatched a number of unmanned space probes that have made it to Mars, Pluto and a few celestial bodies beyond our solar system, exploration of space remains elusive and still in its infancy. Just over 500 people have viewed Earth from space, but only 12 people have actually set foot on a surface beyond Earth. The Apollo moon landings between 1969 and 1972 remain the only direct human exploration beyond Earth to date.

850 368

The Chinese discover that saltpeter produces an explosion when mixed with sulphur and charcoal, leading to the invention of gunpowder.

1232

The Chinese invent fire arrows, which they use against Mongol invaders.

The most accepted explanation (called the Big Bang Theory) is that the universe has developed over the course of approximately 13.7 billion years following an explosive event. The theory, popularized in the 20th century, further assumes the creation of stars about 400 million years ago and galaxies and planets thereafter. The Big Bang does not contemplate the divinity of the hot, infinitely dense matter that comprised the origins of the universe. Scientists are split on whether the universe will continue to expand or will stop expanding, reverse course and shrink back down, perhaps either ceasing to exist or starting the process all over again. OPPOSITE Star cluster Westerlund 2—Hubble’s 25th anniversary image, 2015 Courtesy of NASA

ABOVE La guerre des mondes (The War of the Worlds), Henrique Alvim-Corrêa, 1906 Courtesy of the British Library

A fascination with rockets dates back as far as the 9th century in China, where fire arrows were used as weapons. Centuries of experimentation in Asia for military purposes brought minor advances. The primary roots of rockets propelling the human race into outer space took hold in the early 1900s. In America, that dream has its roots in the American West, or more specifically, New Mexico. In 1898, the British science fiction novelist H.G. Wells would publish a harrowing tale of a Martian invasion of planet Earth. When War

1591 371

Johann Schmidlap invents the “step rocket,” designed to carry fireworks to higher altitudes in multiple stages.

1687

Isaac Newton’s Principia, which outlines the three laws of motion, is published, laying the scientific foundation for modern rocketry.

of the Worlds came out, teenagers in Britain and America were enthralled by the story. One such 16-year-old super-fan of the novel in Massachusetts would come to be known as the father of American rocketry. Although he began his studies in Massachusetts, Robert Goddard would later emigrate to New Mexico to develop and test his explosive inventions in the expanse of the desert. There, Goddard would eventually launch as far as 9,000 feet into the sky and sow the seeds for private and government-sponsored space exploration.

ABOVE Dr. Robert Goddard with a rocket in his workshop, Roswell, New Mexico, 1935 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

In 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was founded to explore the possibilities of high-speed flight on behalf of the nation. Initially, the budget would only be a paltry $5,000 a year. By the early 1920s, though, it would aggressively promote civilian and military aviation and establish an extensive cadre of wind tunnels, flight test facilities and engine test stands. The facilities were additionally contracted out to other aeronautical companies and the military. Ultimately, the brain trust of air supremacy in World War II would be held at NACA, which would be overseen by innovators such as Orville Wright, and the agency would play an outsized role in the defeat of Hitler.

1903 372

Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky begins a series of papers discussing the use of rocketry to reach outer space, space suits and the colonization of the Solar System.

1926

Engineer Robert Goddard launches the first successful liquid-fueled rocket.

ABOVE Interior view of Dr. Robert Goddard’s workshop at the Mescalero Ranch in New Mexico, 1932 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

RIGHT Dr. Robert Goddard’s 22-foot rocket in its launching tower, 1940 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

NEXT Construction of the Ames full-scale 40 × 80 foot wind tunnel, 1943 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

1931

Rocket designer Friedrich Schmiedl attempts the first rocket mail service between two towns in Austria. 373

1939

The first video game, “Nimatron,” debuts at the World’s Fair in New York.

ABOVE Spiro Agnew and Lyndon Johnson view the liftoff of Apollo 11, 1969 Courtesy of NASA

OPPOSITE Apollo 11 liftoff from launch tower, 1969 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

In October of 1957, Russia would launch the first satellite into a low Earth orbit. In direct response to the perceived threat of Russia beating the United States in the Space Race, President Eisenhower would transition the NACA into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the following year. Although the act that Eisenhower signed to put NASA into motion was laced with language promoting the peaceful advancement of mankind the world over, the underlying directive was: “The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology.” The race to space was officially in motion and America was not going to lose to Russia. NASA, in its inaugural year, would command an annual budget of $89 million, or approximately 0.1% of the federal budget. By 1966, NASA would be firing on all cylinders and pumping $5.9 billion (45.8 billion in 2019 dollars) of taxpayer funds annually into its programs—a whopping 4.41% of the federal budget. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 would blast off from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, in front of more than one million onlookers who had made the trek just to see the Saturn V rocket carry the three astronauts into space. Americans spent the next few

1942

Ballistic missiles (V-2s) are developed by German engineers led by Wernher von Braun. 376

1947

Cold War starts.

ABOVE Moon landing, 1969 Photo by Neil Armstrong Courtesy of NASA

RIGHT Buzz Aldrin bootprint, 1969 Photo by Edwin Aldrin Courtesy of NASA

1956 378

Cinematographer Morton Heilig creates Sensorama, the first VR machine, which combined multiple technologies to stimulate all of the senses.

1957

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first satellite, signalling the beginning of the Space Race.

days glued to their televisions, awaiting a dispatch of great success or abject failure. On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon to the astonishment of 600 million people watching the broadcast live from Earth via television. Six hours and 38 minutes later, Neil Armstrong would set his boot onto the moon’s dusty surface and beam back the famous words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” About an hour later, President Nixon would speak to Armstrong and Aldrin for two minutes on live TV.

ABOVE Ground control celebration, Houston, 1969 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

The cultural impact of the moon landing was astronomical. There was zealous conversation about the colonization of the moon and beyond. The fragility of Earth had been highlighted by the advent of nuclear weapons and the Apollo missions were demonstrations that life could potentially exist beyond. But by 1972, the perceived threat of Russia colonizing space before the United States had waned. The Apollo program was extremely expensive and would be dismantled. Both Presidents Ford and Carter would take little interest in NASA’s agenda. Man has not set foot on a space rock in decades.

1958

The U.S. launches Explorer I, its first satellite. 379

1958

NASA is founded.

OPPOSITE Astronaut John Glenn leaving crew quarters prior to launch, 1961 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

ABOVE Solar collector mirror for Brayton power system, 1966 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

RIGHT Artist concept: Apollo XI, Lunar Surface, 1969 Courtesy of NASA

1958 381

President Eisenhower delivers his Christmas message from the Project SCORE satellite in orbit, marking the first voice sent from space.

1959

First photographs of the Earth from space (via NASA's Explorer 6).

Returning man to explore space has continued to be a politically complex mission since Apollo. There have been numerous trips to space to facilitate satellites and the International Space Station, but interplanetary exploration has not been on the agenda. NASA, a ferocious self-promoter, has tirelessly invested in visionary concepts to elicit support of both politicians and the taxpayers, but it has proved to be elusive. NASA’s budget is a fraction of what it was during the Apollo program.

PREVIOUS New York City Ticker Tape Parade for Apollo 11, 1969 Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

ABOVE Torus Interior AC75-2621 5718, concept by Donald Davis for Stanford University’s “Space Settlements: A Design Study” project, 1975 Courtesy of Donald Davis Public Domain Works for NASA

The lure of the unknown of space travel and colonization has remained of great fascination in terms of discourse and entertainment. The films Star Trek, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien captivated the world, and the design spearheaded by NASA, which was then drafted by film and television, had an outsized influence on architecture in both the physical world and the virtual world. Destination architecture shaped by space fantasies came into being—massive enclosed buildings serving many functions. Train stations, Disneyland, shopping malls and airports are just some of the building typologies that were advanced by transport and are

1960 384

Morton Heilig patents first Head-Mounted Display (HMD), which combined stereoscopic 3D images with wide vision and stereo sound.

1960

U.S. launches the first successful meteorological satellite, observing Earth's weather.

ABOVE Stanford Torus, a space colony planned for 10,000–140,000 inhabitants, painting by Donald Davis, 1975 Courtesy of NASA Ames Research Center

RIGHT Space colony, rendering by Rick Guidice, art program at NASA’s Ames Research Center, 1976 Courtesy of NASA Ames Research Center

1961

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space and the first to orbit Earth. 385

1961

Alan Shepard completes the first U.S.-manned space flight.

representative of destination-based architecture: co-dependent on the transport that serves them. Some train stations have managed to find new life in places that Amtrak services have left, because they were often in pedestrian-oriented locations. But car-dependent commerce and air-dependent destinations have no future without their respective transport counterparts. It remains to be seen what the age of Rockets will produce.

ABOVE View of Earth from the command module Columbia, 1969 Courtesy of NASA

The Virgin Galactic Spaceport built outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to serve as “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport,” was constructed just over 50 years after Saarinen’s TWA Terminal. It is clear that the designers at Norman Foster looked no further than Saarinen’s masterpiece as a precedent for design. The Foster-designed building does nothing to advance the architectural narrative that Saarinen spearheaded more than 50 years prior, though. What it does confirm—based on its location in the middle of the desert, hundreds of miles from civilization—is that the age of Rockets will continue to produce isolated worlds in which humans are detached from our centralized nervous system.

1961

John F. Kennedy announces that an American will land on the moon before the end of the decade. 386

1962

John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth, completing 3 orbits.

ABOVE “The Gateway” terminal at Spaceport America, 2014 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Land Rover MENA via Wikimedia Commons

RIGHT Astronaut Dale A. Gardner holds up a “For Sale” sign referring to two satellites retrieved from orbit after they failed, 1984 Courtesy of NASA

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis. 387

1965

Astronaut Ed White performs the first American spacewalk.

OPPOSITE Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

ABOVE Mars surface, image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit’s panoramic camera, 2010 Courtesy of NASA

We are still in the infancy of the epoch of Rockets. There has been global interest in space colonization. The potential of interplanetary living has led to multi-national efforts, such as the International Space Station. Rocket technology has continued to spawn advancements in satellite communication technology and mapping. Since Sputnik was launched by the Russians, about 8,100 satellites from more than 40 countries have been sent into space. It has been estimated that some 4,900 remain in orbit: of those, about 1,900 continue to be operational, while the others perpetually circulate as space debris. The satellites in a low Earth orbit move at a speed of almost 18,000 miles per hour relative to the ground, and circumnavigate the planet in its entirety approximately every 90 minutes. Since the 2000s, industry titans have taken outsized interest in the potential for space colonization and tourism just as the uber-wealthy had previously done with the railroads. Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and the late Paul Allen have poured some of their billions into their respective private space entities. Most successfully, Musk has formed an exploration company in SpaceX, which can launch

1968

Apollo 8 mission marks the first manned orbit of the moon. 389

1968

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is released.

ABOVE President Trump signs the 2020 NDAA, 2019 Photo by Shealah Craighead Courtesy of The White House

OPPOSITE President Obama visits the Kennedy Space Center, 2010 Photo by Bill Ingalls Courtesy of NASA

rockets into space for a fraction of the cost of a NASA mission and return them back to a launching pad at sea to be re-used again. Branson has been test-flying suborbital rocket-propelled planes, which would take off from the Galactic Space Station in New Mexico with wealthy tourists. These tech moguls are additionally proposing colonies in space, which would create a new epoch of transportation-informed architecture and city planning. In December of 2019, President Donald Trump signed the 2020 Defense Authorization Act which appropriated funds for our nation’s sixth official armed services branch: the United States Space Force. If we have learned anything from history it would be that the creation of this agency foreshadows a future of international conflict over the ownership and control of our galaxy above.

NEXT Atrisco Vista Sky, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

1969 390

First manned moon landing: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo 11 mission walk on the moon.

1971

Apollo 15 lands on the moon. Astronauts stay for three days, exploring the surface with the first lunar rover.

CIBOLA

“God has no intention of setting a limit to the efforts of man to conquer space.” – POPE PIUS XII –

Coronado never found the Seven Cities of Gold. He discovered, in what is now New Mexico, a vast, glorious landscape and an architecture sculpted by hand that illuminated a rich, golden hue with each electric sunset. In Coronado, the Puebloans found an alien culture accompanied by massive, otherworldly equine creatures, weaponry til-then-unimagined and a blood thirst for land and riches. The result was a violent clash of cultures, centuries of upheaval and, ultimately, the United States of America.

OPPOSITE Trinity, 2018 Giclée print on paper, 13” × 19” Daniel Kaven

While the prospect of Cibola didn’t survive the expedition of Coronado, the thirst for the riches of the unknown did and became the cornerstone of the American economy and dream. Every American entrepreneur has endeavored to solve for the unknown; the distant river valley full of gold, the carriage that could be powered by a source that never tires, the mechanical bird that could give flight to man, the experience of the moon and stars. Each obsession has been fed fortunes of time, legions of labor and the money of the wealthiest scions, in order to achieve the goal at all costs. This tirelessness has ultimately made America wealthy and powerful.

1799 395

British mechanical engineer and inventor George Medhurst submits the first patent to transport goods in tubes.

1812

Medhurst writes a book outlining his ideas for transporting passengers and goods through air-tight tubes using air propulsion.

The landscape of the West has been, and continues to be, a stoic stage for these experiments in human technology. While its Rocky Mountains, Pacific Ocean, Grand Canyon and monumental valleys were shaped over millions of years, the United States of America and her millions of homes, freeways and shopping centers were built over its belly in only the last few hundred. Most of what we live and touch today has existed only for the last 50–100 years, particularly in the West.

ABOVE Coronado Site, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

OPPOSITE Big I, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

The alteration to the virgin West since the arrival of Coronado has been staggering. Only isolated portions of the frontier remain unadulterated by the upgrades of human advancement. While most civilizations of significance found their path to the top over the course of thousands of years by hand, the West would be won in decades. Each major advancement of transportation since the 16th century has vastly accelerated the development of the buildings in which we live and the roads and vessels which facilitate our lives. This pattern imprinted upon the West by our transportation has had an outsized influence on all of our everyday touch points. The shape and mere existence of every neighborhood in America was

1868

Helium, a key gas used in space exploration, is discovered. 396

1873

Invention of the streetcar.

formed around the preferred transport at that moment in time. Each major epoch of transportation advancement (Horses, Trains, Cars, Airplanes) imposed an infrastructure over the landscape that would permanently alter the patterns of humans and living (in the case of Airplanes and Rockets, this is still evolving). OPPOSITE Ancient Hopi village of Wolpi, 1972 Photo by Terry Eiler for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

ABOVE Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. 1880 Photo by Cunningham & Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Aerial view of Las Vegas, 2009 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

Before Coronado—in the Human Age—individual land ownership scarcely existed as a concept. Perhaps hunting grounds existed for bands of Native Americans, but lines, grids and surveys did not. Pathways and semi-permanent settlements were shared resources amongst all the animals flourishing in the flora of the West. The imprint created by this era was organic and followed the original contours of the landscape. A straight line was rarely possible, given the constraints of tools available. Humans lived in groups and relied upon the collective brain trust and energy embodied in a tribal culture. The architecture reflected this communal lifestyle in the settlements of both the Ancestral Puebloans in areas like Chaco Canyon and the nomadic bands living on the Plains. Nature imposed upon humanity the paths and places that made sense to live and hunt-and-gather. The

1883 399

First Buffalo Bill’s Wild West performance, featuring Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley.

1884

Around 325 wild bison remain in the United States, including 25 in Yellowstone.

power behind movement was restricted to the muscle strength of humans, and in some cases dogs. Upon the arrival of Coronado, the age of Horses would allow for communities to spread themselves out further—find new hunting grounds, trading routes and utilize equine power to move larger materials and farm more efficiently. Horse-drawn wagons and carriages would enhance the capabilities of the Europeans to move further into the frontier and establish towns. Roads in new communities would be designed around the movement of these creatures, and buildings would additionally accommodate their eating, sleeping and security.

ABOVE Sioux chiefs, ca. 1905 Photo by Edward S. Curtis Courtesy of Library of Congress

With the Europeans also came the ability to survey and the promotion of individual ownership. They would impose this upon the West and divide the landscape. As we became an agrarian-based society, this concept of land ownership and the large sizes of the land parcels needed for individual farming would have enormous impact on the future density of our early settlements and communities.

1904

New York City’s subway system is built. 402

1904

Rocket pioneer Robert Goddard first introduces the concept of vacuum tube trains, or vactrains, which would go from Boston to New York in just 12 minutes.

ABOVE A frontier ranch, eastern Montana, ca. 1900 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Horse team, muddy road, ca. 1914 Photo by Albert M. Price Courtesy of Library of Congress

1917

Buffalo Bill dies. 403

1925

Houdina Radio Control demonstrates the radiocontrolled “American Wonder,” a Chandler car equipped with a transmitting antenna, on New York City streets.

ABOVE Power farming displaces tenants from the land, Texas Panhandle, 1938 Photo by Dorothea Lange Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Emigrants coming to the “Land of Promise,” ca. 1902 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1925

Average U.S. house size: 967 square feet. 404

1936

Alan Turing publishes his seminal paper “On Computable Numbers,” which serves as an introduction to the principles of the modern computer.

So much of America and her history has been based upon the ability to own land and make of it what you will. Most of the immigrants who flooded into a young America from Europe had never been able to own land. Monarchies controlled land in Europe, but America was made from the individual ownership afforded by metes and bounds, a constitution and the seemingly endless amount of land afforded by the West. When the Homestead Act was established and the federal government essentially gave the West away to those who would make something of it for themselves, the droves of immigrants that made the trek West were contractually required to make life succeed within the boundaries of their allotted 160 acres. The massive parcels and town sites established with the Homestead Act and the individualist mentality that it bred still shapes the West to this day physically, psychologically and politically. ABOVE Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York City, ca. 1900 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

Trains would further fuel the Homestead generation and interlink the patterns established by Horses. Because the primary reward for the private expansion of the railroad was land, the railroads were incentivized to create the most value from the allotment they were granted. This required density and the activation of the new railroad

1938

Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds broadcast. 405

1940

Henry Ford predicts: “Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”

towns. Rather than acres being sold to farm, the railroads primarily sold small parcels that could be developed into supply stores, apartments, hotels and churches. The more they could centralize and create community in their newly created towns, the greater the value of their property—and the more a growing population would need to rely on the rail line for travel, services and the import and export of goods.

ABOVE Main and El Dorado Streets, Stockton, California, 1886 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

Perhaps no more sensible or sustainable pattern has emerged or will emerge than that which was established in the epoch of Trains: centralized nodes of commerce and dense housing coupled with a fast, interconnected network of transportation that is able to move both humans and freight to and from other dense nodes. Additionally, this form of transport is centrally controlled and planned for, ensuring limited congestion, and the volume is scalable, with the ability to add and subtract rail cars on demand. Cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Denver, which were firmly established in this era prior to the invention of the automobile, remain the highest regarded architecturally in the West and continue to be popular destinations for tourism despite the

1949

Average daily U.S. family television consumption is 4 hours and 35 minutes. 406

1962

The Jetsons first airs.

ABOVE Broadway, north of City Hall, Los Angeles, California, ca. 1906 Photo copyrighted by International Stereograph Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Southern Railway, interior of car, ca. 1918 Photographer unknown Courtesy of Library of Congress

1967 407

Ralph Baer invents the “Brown Box,” a prototype video game console that allows users to play on TV screens.

1971

The Kenbak-1, widely considered to be the world's first personal computer, is released.

increasing levels of sprawl that have circled them. Any walk through a neighborhood established during the era of Trains, of which much of the architecture continues to remain, will likely be human scale and delightful. OPPOSITE Welcome arch at Union Depot, Denver, ca. 1908 Photo by Detroit Publishing Co. Courtesy of Library of Congress

ABOVE Ramada Inn, Amarillo, Texas, 1977 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

NEXT Main Street of Moab, Utah, 1972 Photo by David Hiser for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

While Trains contributed to greater centralization and density in cities, the epoch of Cars would be the antithesis. The individualism afforded by the car—to be able to go exactly where you want, when you want and at the speed you want—was all the seduction Americans needed to change course from the pattern established in the Train Age. Rather than build America (and especially the West) for the movement of humans around train depots, we would exclusively build it for cars. Humans would be demoted from the streets to only the sidewalks. Roads would need to accommodate cars exclusively, and homes would need to be equipped with on-site storage for cars. Cars would encourage rapid horizontal expansion of the towns and cities of the West. Ultimately, it was the epoch of the Car that would have the strongest imprint on American society. Save for the quaint urban

1972

Release of the Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari Pong, the first video game home consoles. 409

1982

The movie E.T. is released.

leftovers in the downtowns of the West, the automobile and the culture it drove in on tattooed itself permanently on the landscape to devastating effect. A derivatecture, consisting of fast-food restaurants, strip malls, motels and big-box stores, emerged from the decentralized sprawl created by the automobile and the Highway Act that it enabled. Due to a massive government investment in the infrastructure that built extensive roads, as well as the life savings invested by us into the suburban and exurban American dream of ownership, it is unlikely that there will be a change in this preeminent pattern without another major evolution in transport. PREVIOUS Apache Glenn, 2020 Giclée print on paper, 13” × 19” Daniel Kaven

ABOVE Main street of Hobbs, New Mexico, 1940 Photo by Russell Lee Courtesy of Library of Congress

We have yet to really see a strong new pattern emerge from Airplanes or Rockets. The airplane, and air-flight in general, is a technology that has established a massive network of economical transport throughout the world. I’m on an airplane right now as I write these words, flying home to Portland from New York. I will be in bed with my wife after having an afternoon stroll in a walkable neighborhood, home to many structures from the 19th century in the West Village. It is already an option to take a helicopter from Lower Manhattan to JFK Airport for only 2.5 times the price of taking a taxi—all booked

1984

Research on computer-controlled vehicles begins at Carnegie Mellon University. 414

1986

Carnegie Mellon designs and produces NavLab, one of the first cars controlled by a computer.

ABOVE Bed Bath & Beyond, San Luis Obispo, California, 2003 Photo by John Margolies Courtesy of Library of Congress

RIGHT Ranch-house-style home in Sun City, Phoenix, Arizona, 2018 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

1987

Term “Virtual Reality” is coined by computer philosopher Jaron Lanier. 415

1989

Nintendo releases Game Boy.

ABOVE Elvis Presley boarding the Lisa Marie, 1976 Photographer unknown Courtesy of elvispresleyphotos.com

RIGHT Madonna and Bruce Greenwood deplaning in Italy, 2002 Photographer unknown Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo

1995 416

Nintendo releases the Virtual Boy, featuring a stereoscopic 3D display that is considered one of the first attempts at VR gaming.

2002

62% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.

from your phone. This option was served up to me when looking at the Uber app on my phone. But I took the train for about $10 and got there early. We are not far away from the emergence of widespread ondemand air travel. It is my firm belief that we will soon see on-demand flight services at scale, and ultimately autonomous flight services. Perhaps this will happen before autonomous driving on the roads, as a single government body controls all the airspace in America, and would be able to roll it out and control it more effectively. Autonomous driving on roads is riddled with the complexity of hazardous situations on every block and turn, not to mention the complexity of the hundreds of local entities that own and maintain all the roads.

ABOVE Amphibious plane, Florida Keys, ca. 1914 Photo by Albert M. Price Courtesy of Library of Congress

The sky is the final frontier on Earth and is able to handle tremendous traffic at great speed. It can manage traffic in three dimensions rather than only two, which gives it a sizable safety and volume advantage. Additionally, autonomous flying is a regular feature on every jet flown in America every day. Pilots essentially just take off and land planes with the aid of an existing national tracking network. Military drones are flown all the time without

2002

NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars. 417

2004

Facebook is founded.

pilots, and consumer drone enthusiasts already control small aircraft by just inputting takeoff and landing points into smart phones. Many of the greatest economic engines since the dawn of America have been subsidized public/private deals that were in the control of the U.S. government and executed by private business. It makes great business sense that we would use this priceless federal resource to drive the next major economic expansion.

ABOVE “Painted Ladies,” San Francisco, California, 2012 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

OPPOSITE Monument Valley, Arizona, ca. 1990 Photo by Carol M. Highsmith Courtesy of Library of Congress

While I believe that autonomous on-demand flight is in the near future—and that it would be a catalyst for major economic growth—I also believe that it is a horrible idea. At the very least, it is a reprehensible concept in the absence of an epic impact study and early policies to ensure that the new pattern of society emerging after Airplanes will be actually beneficial to humanity, our culture and our livelihood. Companies like Uber are spending enormous amounts of energy and capital on the creation of on-demand flight services already. Amazon, which is virtually a monopoly in online shopping now, is developing, testing and lobbying for drones to deliver packages directly to consumers. It is these stockholder-driven businesses that unequivocally should not be shaping public policy,

2006

Nintendo Wii is released, incorporating movement into gameplay. 418

2007

Amazon employee base is 17,000.

ABOVE Uber Elevate Hive Skyport, design by The Beck Group, a finalist for Uber’s Elevate Skyport Challenge at 2nd annual Elevate Summit, 2019 Copyright The Beck Group

RIGHT Jeff Bezos pops champagne after emerging from the New Shepard capsule after his spaceflight on July 20, 2021 Courtesy of Blue Origin

2008

NASA’s Phoenix Lander confirms presence of water ice on Mars. 420

2008

Apple releases App Store, creating widespread access to mobile games.

but they will if left unchecked as Ford, Standard Oil and Goodyear Tires were in the age of Cars. The air space above America is virtually the only resource across the entirety of the country that is wholly owned by the people of America. It is a sovereign skyscape that provides the same light and sunsets to our ghettos, toniest enclaves, national parks and ocean beaches. Having grown up in the desert of New Mexico, the horizon and the expanse of the azure sky was what I looked to everyday for perspective and inspiration. The concept of that final frontier being overpopulated with buzzing Uber Elevates, Amazon drones and Ford Model Zs is perhaps the most depressing thing I can think of.

ABOVE Uber Sky Tower, design by Pickard Chilton, entry submitted for Uber skyport competition, 2018 Copyright Pickard Chilton

The epoch of Rockets in many ways will be an international and intergalactic extension of the pattern that will develop in Airplanes. Global commutes will be on demand in the palm of your hands. Increasingly, virtual reality will allow for interaction that is not recognizably virtual and will enable communication that feels physical from far-flung locales. It seems likely that we will be playing explorer for a very long time before navigating our way to any

2009

Google begins developing its self-driving car. 421

2009

85% of U.S. adults own a cell phone.

meaningful civilization beyond Earth, but there are efforts underway by very bright, well-funded individuals to make this happen as soon as possible. Some, like Elon Musk, believe Mars has the potential to host humans. Perhaps that is the case, but I believe it is doubtful that any other world will exceed the splendor of Earth. It is more likely that the near-future exploration of space will yield benefits to our life on Earth, like new sources of energy, new elements that can be mined, or biological discoveries. Save for the discovery of a planet that we can breathe on without the aid of a spacesuit, life in space seems too distant to zealously pursue. Which is why it is all the more important to focus on what we have on this magical gem of a planet that we call home.

ABOVE Woman experimenting with virtual reality goggles, 1980s Photographer unknown Courtesy of NASA

The pursuit of a colony on other planets like Mars is a fool’s errand and a waste of our time and resources without first ensuring that humans the world over have access to healthy water, modern plumbing, effective weapons to destroy asteroids in space and industrial-scale systems that sequester carbon. We need to make decisions for the sake of humanity that are in concert with our basic survival on Earth now. It is a huge risk to put our livelihood on Earth

2009

Ride-share service Uber is founded. 422

2009

Circuit City, the #2 electronics retailer in the U.S., announces the closing of all 567 of its U.S. stores.

ABOVE A mini-fleet of SpaceX Starships waiting near a Martian base, 2019 Artist rendering Courtesy of SpaceX

RIGHT Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., is photographed during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the moon, 1969 Courtesy of NASA

NEXT Replicas of the Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta sail by OV-105 on Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex, Pad 39B, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1992 Courtesy of NASA

2009

Bitcoin launches. 423

2010

Instagram launches.

ABOVE Illegal dumping off the New Jersey Turnpike, 1973 Photo by Gary Miller for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

RIGHT Construction on Lower Manhattan's West Side, just north of the World Trade Center, 1973 Photo by Wil Blanche for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

2012

Over 1 billion people use Facebook. 426

2012

The Bitcoin Foundation is launched to “accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection and promotion of the open source protocol.”

at risk without even the establishment of water or oxygen elsewhere. The amount of inherent energy and brainpower in getting humans to survive in hermetically sealed containers in space is wasted while billions of humans continue to have inadequate access to basic living essentials like water and sanitation on Earth.

ABOVE Clark Avenue and Clark Avenue Bridge obscured by smoke from heavy industry, Cleveland, Ohio, 1973 Photo by Frank J. Aleksandrowicz for the EPA Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

If we have learned anything from history, particularly American history, it is that no one can stop the evolution of technology if there is demand and money to be made. Today, we don’t want to sit in traffic and we don’t want to have a long commute. It is the pursuit of these types of basic solutions that make entrepreneurs innovate and the scions of the world invest. If on-demand flight can solve that problem at an economically viable price, it will happen. It is these pursuits in a vacuum, though, that endanger our civilization most. Historically, so little collective energy and study has been dedicated to predicting the ultimate consequences of our major advancements. There is great irony in the fact that Detroit, home to the automobile and Henry Ford’s Model T, is also home to the supreme example of the damage that car-related decentralization has done to the

2012

Elon Musk first publicly mentions Hyperloop concept. 427

2014

Facebook buys Oculus, a VR company, for $2 billion.

ABOVE Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, Michigan, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

fabric of America. In 2019, my brother and I accepted an American Institute of Architects award for the design of a home in Northern Michigan near Detroit, and we spent hours cruising the wholesale destruction of a city that was literally built on the success of the automobile and then just as handily destroyed by globalization. We went from the gilded estate of Meadow Brook Hall where the Dodge fortune had funded architectural details as finely crafted as Louis XIV’s Versailles to massive, hollowed-out factories covered in graffiti that overshadowed entire neighborhoods in which only burned, boarded-up houses remained standing. It is truly destruction I have only seen before in former war zones in Eastern Europe. Many have chosen to remain in the far reaches of Detroit in the homes their families first purchased decades before, but are increasingly isolated as the renewal of Detroit is restricted to the central district and the resources are limited to maintain the massive grid of wide boulevards and the utilities that run along them. We are at risk of this level of decay throughout America if we do not get serious about taking care of the Earth and plan our livelihood accordingly. This issue is particularly acute in the West, where

2015

Uber Elevate founding team publishes a firstprinciples analysis of aerial ridesharing. 428

2016

The augmented reality mobile game “Pokémon Go” is released.

ABOVE Abandoned houses, Detroit, Michigan, 2019 Photo by Vincent Morrelli

RIGHT Abandoned party store, Detroit, Michigan, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

NEXT Detroit, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

NEXT Crumbling House, Detroit, Michigan, 2019 Photo by Daniel Kaven

2017

Over 2 billion people use Facebook. 429

2017

The average U.S. adult spends 3.9 hours daily watching television.

OPPOSITE Westside, Albuquerque, 2021 Photo by Daniel Kaven

ABOVE Abandoned Cloverleaf Mall fountain plaza, 2011 Photo by Will Fisher Courtesy of Will Fisher

NEXT Diesel, 2017 Photo by Daniel Kaven

resources are as thinly spread across the landscape as in Detroit. Humans should not need the aid of fueled transport in order to satisfy their basic needs. It must be possible to obtain food and get to work powered by our own two legs. But what America, and in particular Detroit and much of the West, has set as a precedent is an increasing reliance on fueled transportation in order to accomplish the most mundane of tasks: going to work, going to the grocery or taking children to school. This pattern that was established primarily in the age of Cars is incredibly difficult to steer in a different direction, as a massive investment in the spatial requirements and surfaces for them to manoeuvre about has been cast on virtually every surface in America. We need to reverse-engineer our lives moving forward. We need to establish a lifestyle and pattern that puts us humans in command of our own sustainable destiny. The historical advancement of transportation is the antithesis of this mentality: it adapts the manner in which we move ourselves into a pattern that requires fueled vessels. We are not going to dig ourselves out of an energy codependency with electric cars or autonomous driving and flying.

2017

Apple Park opens to employees in Cupertino, California. 435

2017

Amazon ships over 5 billion items worldwide through Prime.

This technological evolution will just continue to rely on fuels of some ilk and will compound the decentralized pattern that emerged with Cars.

ABOVE The Jetsons Flying through Orbit City (film still from Jetsons: The Movie), 1990 Copyright 1990 Universal PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

In a world of fast autonomous cars and planes with no congestion, we will not concern ourselves much with distances. Being able to travel three or five times faster than current travel times while multitasking will exacerbate the horizontal decentralization pattern that is prevalent in the West. In the case of on-demand air flight, we won’t even concern ourselves with what is between the two data points set for travel. After quickly rising off the ground, the city, town or neighborhood below becomes insignificant and indistinguishable. Increasingly, cities would become just a collection of destinations with little to no cohesion among them. It is already commonplace to find a recommended restaurant or store on your phone and go directly there via GPS map without much regard for what is between or what else might be around the final destination. With the ability of drones to deliver directly onto properties and for ondemand flight to take off and land directly from within residential compounds, the demand for services within walking distance

2017

World population is 7.53 billion. 438

2018

Apple employee base is 137,000.

ABOVE Ad for driverless car of the future, 1957 Courtesy of Everett Collection / Advertising Archive

RIGHT Air view of Living City (unbuilt project), architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 1958 Copyright 2022 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. All rights reserved. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art I Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)

2018

46.89 million iPhones are sold. 439

2019

29 U.S. states have passed laws permitting autonomous cars.

ABOVE Souvenir shop boarded up during pandemic, Las Vegas, 2020 Photo by Aaron Mayes Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections

RIGHT “Essential Trips Only” sign on King County Metro bus in Downtown Seattle during pandemic, 2020 Photo by Bruce Englehardt Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

2019 440

An unmanned demonstration flight of the SpaceX Dragon achieves successful autonomous docking with the International Space Station.

2019

Wing Aviation, a Google offshoot company, becomes the first drone delivery service to receive Air Carrier Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.

would fade. With the erosion of walkable destinations, a reliance on exclusively virtual socialization and shopping would become status quo.

ABOVE Pandemic in Las Vegas, 2020 Photo by Aaron Mayes Courtesy of UNLV University Libraries Special Collections

The year 2020, in which I finished writing this book, has brought us the Great Pandemic with the spread of Covid-19, which has expedited the evolution of America into a fully destination-based society. What semblance we had of traditional 20th-century retail remaining is rapidly being destroyed by a preponderance of our population working from home and ordering everything online to be delivered, rather than shouldering the risk of going outside and facing an invisible virus. The Main Street experience of yesteryear has truly become a virtual screen as we scroll our way to find pizza, milk, shoes, lawn mowers and lovers, in the comfort of our living rooms while wearing pajamas. As Americans become more accustomed to this lifestyle and harbor a fear of similar pandemics happening in the future, we will continue to rely on an architecture and pattern that can facilitate a massive deployment of remote services. More and more, companies will resort to models being developed by Amazon, which include massive robotic warehouses and delivery by autonomous car or drone. Amazon’s Prime Air is

2019

96% of U.S. adults own a cell phone. 441

2019

74% of U.S. adults own a personal computer.

already under development in the United Kingdom, Austria, France and Israel. The company expects to deliver packages with small drones to your doorstep in 30 minutes from the time of order as soon as they “have the regulatory support needed to safely realize our vision.”

ABOVE Lilium Taxis, 2020 Courtesy of Lilium

In the case of eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) air taxis, there are hundreds of manufacturers globally working on widespread adoption of a new transportation technology that would completely reshape the current pattern of our lives on Earth. In addition to an entirely destination-based society structure, rooftops and elevated platforms would increasingly become activated space, and the ground and the streets we currently depend on would be rendered an archaic trail. The likelihood of a stratospheric differential in social class between those who can afford lofty dwellings and air transport compared to street dwellers is immense. This technology will be viable in the near future and will increasingly become a part of the American experience. How we plan for the pattern that will emerge from this major advancement will shape the fabric of America and our society for centuries to come. For thousands of years man has inhabited environments such as the

2020 442

NASA plans to launch mission to study the habitability of Mars in preparation for future human missions.

2020

COVID-19 is declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern with an official death toll of 171. By December 2020, the death toll is estimated to be approximately 3 million.

ABOVE London landing platform, 2020 Courtesy of Lilium

RIGHT Lilium landing pad waiting area, 2020 Courtesy of Lilium

2021

Billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launch private space tourism missions. 443

2021

The world’s tallest building, the Jeddah Tower (3,280 feet), is slated for completion.

ABOVE Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy, 2016 Photo by Daniel Kaven

RIGHT Italia, 2016 Photo by Daniel Kaven

2023

Uber's target date for the implementation of Uber Elevate, an affordable shared-flight service. 444

2024

SpaceX plans to launch a human mission to Mars.

islands around Venice, Italy, with only minor uses of transportation technology on a day-to-day basis. On any given day you can continue to watch the locals rise in the morning, get their kids to school, work and go shopping at the markets fueled only by boat or their own feet on exclusively pedestrian walkways. This continues to be the case in the 21st century there because of the pattern that was laid in stone hundreds or thousands of years ago, and millions of tourists flock annually to the storied city to experience the walking-centric lifestyle and the architecture that shapes it. It is this fuel-neutral pattern that is the most sustainable of the options that we have on Earth and the one that we need to promote the most, regardless of which new transportation technology takes off.

ABOVE Italia, 2016 Photo by Daniel Kaven

The complexity in America—in particular in the West—is that we allowed a vehicular, rather than human-centric, circulation pattern to be imprinted, which is not sustainable. In addition to our reliance on fuel to move about in our lives, the decentralized existence also produced the energy-inefficient building typologies of single-family residences and sprawling low-rise commercial buildings. In order to move toward a more sustainable existence, we need to focus on

2025

The European Space Agency plans to begin mining the moon for natural resources. 445

2025

Norway plans to ban the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars.

a systemic adaptation of this existing architecture, rather than on a different fuel type for circulation or a change in our mode of transport. This involves a unified focus on dense development around existing central business districts and public transport. This will additionally involve re-purposing less dense environs that currently only have single-family housing into dynamic mixeduse areas in which you can work and shop for basic needs. We will additionally need to better plan for and control transportation advancements, rather than the historic model in which we adapt our lives around the limitations of the technology. ABOVE Rushmore, 2017 Digital sketch by Daniel Kaven

OPPOSITE Suburbs, 2018 Photo by Daniel Kaven

The advancement of private transport from the ground to the sky seems unlikely to be stopped. Simply stated, private air travel will prove to be so provocative, uplifting and profitable that there is no possible way that it will not happen as soon as the price point is approachable. It will first be small drones delivering goods, then it will be the wealthy who can afford the beta testing and then it will be widespread. It is critical that this advancement in transport does not become the de facto replacement for cars, but a technology that can help piece back together the damage cars have inflicted on

2026

Construction of Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Família expected to be completed. 446

2030

Japanese engineering firm Shimizu Corporation predicts completion of its “Ocean Spiral” project, a giant underwater city that could accommodate up to 5,000 people.

America and the West. If thought through completely, we can create new dense infrastructure hubs for air taxis in the remote suburbs and exurbs and provide self-sustaining opportunities for work in a manner that will neutralize the need for fueled transportation dependency. OPPOSITE Cibola II, 2020 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

ABOVE Broadway Corridor redevelopment proposal by William / Kaven Architecture (Portland, Oregon), 2018 Courtesy of William / Kaven Architecture

NEXT Manhattan Project, 2021 Giclée print on paper, 19” × 13” Daniel Kaven

Regardless of when the next big evolution of our life pattern emerges, our focus needs to be on promoting a pedestrian-centric solution now and creating policy that will continue to support that pattern regardless of the next advance. Daily life cannot continue to require the fueled transportation that is common today in order for humans to survive. This issue is acute in America and will not be solved by advances in electric power, autonomous cars, private aircraft or even various forms of public transportation. Those adaptations only compound our existing pattern. Our future will be viable only if we focus on how we can re-orient our cities and our towns to live powered largely as we did in the age of Humans. The answer is, and will forever be, beneath us, regardless of what lies ahead.

2030 449

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that there may be up to 30,000 commercial delivery drones regularly operating in American airspace.

2040

NASA predicts that the cost of launching humans or cargo into space will cost only tens of dollars per pound.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” – PLATO –

Daniel Kaven (born New Mexico, 1977) is an American artist working in architecture, painting, film and photography and a co-founder of the multi-disciplinary design studio William / Kaven Architecture in Portland, Oregon. He is widely known for creating visionary architectural concepts and interventions that lie at the intersection of the built environment and art. His architecture has won a number of honors, including an Architecture MasterPrize; an International Architecture Award from the European Center for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies; and several distinctions from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Kaven’s work has been published in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Architect’s Newspaper, Dwell, Designboom, Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Dezeen and Hypebeast. Kaven is known to orchestrate an immersive atmosphere in his gallery shows wherein photographic media and installations explore a single larger narrative. In describing Kaven’s solo exhibition Divorce at Gallery 500, John Motley (Art Papers, Art in America, Frieze) writes: “What makes Kaven’s show so obsession-worthy is not the masterful way he shifts between media, but through the information he omits. With only a handful of events and scenes represented, the viewer is left to draw connections and conclusions from narrative fragments.”

452

ABOVE Skyview by William / Kaven Architecture (Portland, Oregon), 2020 Photo by Jeremy Bittermann / JBSA

RIGHT Daniel Kaven in front of his Architecture of Normal mural, 2019 Photo by Sherri Kaven

453

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – HELEN KELLER –

It takes an enormous amount of focus to finish any project, particularly in this day and age rife with constant distractions. Every piece of art I have made or building I have seen through from concept to completion is a battle with distraction and an exercise in sheer will. This book, Architecture of Normal, which spanned over four years of time to research, write and edit, was indeed a heavy lift mentally and required the support of many to arrive to you. To that end, I would like to acknowledge: All the photographers who contributed to this book, including Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Carol Highsmith and Julius Shulman, for the thoughtful and well-framed lens they turned on this world for future generations to study and enjoy. Trevor William Lewis, my brother and business partner, for the support he provided during the time I took away from our studio work to toil away on this project. To Natalie Garyet, the editor of the book, who spent an enormous amount of time helping to research, provided invaluable feedback and ensured the book’s craft and quality every step of the way to completion. To Ria Stein and the team at Birkhäuser, for their European investment in this very American story. To my children Bella, Vincent and Drake for the curiosity and stability they forever lend to my life. To my wife, Sherri Kaven, for her unwavering, lifelong support of all my projects and dreams—including this one.

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INDEX A A&W 216 Acoma Massacre 79 Acoma Pueblo (Sky City), New Mexico 46, 57, 59, 70–77 79–81, 95 Adams, Ansel 77 Agnew, Spiro 376 Ain, Gregory 278 Air Commerce Act of 1926 314–315 Air Mail 306, 312–313 airports 313–314, 320, 323, 334, 337, 340, 384, 414 air taxis 442, 449 Alamo, the 215–216 Alamo Plaza Courts (architect Edgar Lee Torrance) 215–217, 219, 244 Alamogordo, New Mexico 36, 41 Albuquerque, New Mexico 22–25, 28–30, 34–39, 41, 44, 125, 244, 260, 317, 434 Albuquerque Municipal Airport 34, 326, 328–329, 345 Aldrich, Michael 346 Aldrin, Buzz 378–379, 390, 423 Alvarado, Hernando de 29 Alvarado Train Station, Albuquerque, New Mexico 29–30, 35, 41 Alvarado Transportation Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico 41 Alvim-Corrêa, Henrique 371 Amazon 349, 358, 360–362, 364, 418, 435, 441 Amazon Prime Air (see also drones) 362, 421, 441 American Automobile Association 193, 197 American Dream, the 243, 334, 346, 414 American Institute of Architects 428, 455

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American Realty and Petroleum Corporation (AMREP) (see also Rio Rancho Estates) 35, 38, 41, 336, 349, 352 American Roadbuilders Association 259 Ancestral Puebloans 11, 20, 28, 48, 52–54, 57, 59–60, 68–69, 73, 75, 88, 91, 399 Anywhere, America 286, 352 Anza, Juan Bautista de 105 Apollo missions 368, 376–379, 381–384, 389–390, 423 Apple 420, 438 Apple Park, Cupertino, California 435 Aquatic Park Bathhouse, San Francisco (architect WPA) 321, 323 Arizona 24, 59, 93, 98, 278 Armstrong, Neil 378–379, 390 Army Airfield, College Park, Maryland 307 Art Deco 320 artificial intelligence 270 Arts & Architecture Magazine (see also Case Study House Program) 236, 239 assembly line 187, 210, 252, 320 Atari Pong 409 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company 34, 172, 176–177, 202–203 atomic bomb 36, 313, 332–333 Atsina 52 Austin, Nevada 126 auto camps (see also Lilly’s Auto Camp) 211–212, 219–220 autonomous driving 417, 435, 438, 441, 449 autonomous flight 417–418, 435, 438, 441 Avilés, Pedro Menéndez de 81

B Baer, Ralph 407 Baldwin, George 187 Baltimore, Maryland 144–145 Bauhaus 314, 322–323 Behaim, Martin 70 Bell, Alexander Graham 124 Benz, Carl 188 Beringia land bridge 11 BEST Products Company 288–289, 356 BEST Products Company, Inc., Rainforest Building, Hialeah, Florida (architect SITE / James Wines) 356 Bezos, Jeff 389, 420, 443 Big Bang Theory 371 Big I 260, 397 big-box stores 23, 81, 286, 362, 365, 414 Billy the Kid 29 Boeing Superfortress Bomber 333 branded architecture 13, 23, 113, 215, 260–265, 268, 326, 337 Branson, Richard 36, 389, 390, 443 Brasília, Brazil 270, 274–275, 277 Braun, Wernher von 376 Broadacre City (architect Frank Lloyd Wright) 276–277 Brown Box 407 buffalo (bison, American bison) 52, 150, 152, 155 Buffalo Bill 108–109, 399, 403 Bureau of Indian Affairs 111 Burkburnett, Texas 192 Burlington, Iowa 291

C Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez 60, 69, 79 Cadillac 253 Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas 345 Calamity Jane 399

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona 89 Carl’s Jr. Char-Broiled Hamburgers 287 Carnegie Mellon University 414 Casa Grandes, Chihuahua 59 Case Study House Program 236, 239 Case Study House #20, Pacific Palisades, California (architect Richard Neutra) 236 Case Study House #22, aka Stahl House, Los Angeles (architect Pierre Koenig) 238 casinos 12, 340, 345 Castañeda, Pedro de 88 Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris 57 Central Pacific Railroad 145, 148 Chaco Canyon, New Mexico 53–55, 57, 59–60, 399 chain stores 20, 156, 172, 266 Chetro Ketl 55 Chicago, Illinois 30, 201, 215, 228, 326, 334, 349 Chichen Itza 47 Chili’s Restaurant 22, 264 China 60, 101, 142, 368, 371 Chrysler Building, New York City (architect William Van Alen) 317 Cibola (see also Seven Cities of Gold) 76, 80, 395 Circuit City 422 Civil War (American) 110, 144, 320 Clements, Stiles O. 321 Cleveland, Ohio 256, 273, 427 Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, Colorado 57, 123 Coburg, Nebraska 123 Colorado Plateau 11 Colorado River 96, 200 Colosseum, Rome 12 Columbus, Christopher 71, 73

Comanche Indians 101, 105, 113 conquistadors 15, 20, 60, 68, 76, 79, 88, 93, 126 Coolidge, Calvin 228 Córdoba, Francisco Hernández de 74 Córdoba, Diego Fernández de 80 Coronado y Luján, Francisco Vázquez de 15, 20, 29, 60–61, 63, 68–69, 74–76, 80, 88, 91–94, 172, 215, 395–396, 399, 402 Coronado Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico 20, 36, 39 Cortés, Hernán 75 Costco (Price Club) 358, 365 COVID-19 441–442 Cuauhetémoc 75 Curtis, Edward S. 48, 52, 55, 61, 63, 67, 74, 81, 89, 91–92, 107, 127, 402 Curtiss, Glenn 215

D da Vinci, Leonardo 305 Dallas, Texas 226 Davis, Donald 384 Dawes Act of 1887 122, 126 decentralization 35, 239, 357, 414, 427, 438, 445 de Havilland Aircraft Company 333–334 Denny’s 255 Denver, Colorado 22, 159, 178–179, 358, 406 department stores 164 derivatecture 23, 25, 99, 168, 215, 244, 285, 365, 414 destination architecture 266, 286, 345, 362, 384, 386, 441–442 Detroit, Michigan 184, 189, 192, 427–433, 435 Diesel, Rudolf 189 diners 13, 204, 243–244, 268 Disneyland 334, 384 Dodge, Horace and John 196 Dodge Brothers 196, 428 Dodge, Grenville 156–159 drive-ins 244 drive-thrus 13 drones 417–418, 421, 438, 441–442, 446 Dulles International Airport, Virginia (architect Eero Saarinen) 340–341, 366–367 Duryea, Frank and Charles Edgar 189 Dust Bowl, the 219–220 Dutch East India Company 17

E Earhart, Amelia 322, 326 eBay 352 Edina, Minnesota 260 Edison, Thomas 125, 197 Einstein, Albert 47 Eisenhower, Dwight D. 198, 217,

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253, 255–256, 293, 357, 376, 381 Eisner, Simon 239 electric cars 435 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) 442 Ellis Island 127 Energy Policy Act of 1992 273 Enola Gay 313 entrepreneurs 101, 164, 395, 427 European Space Agency 445 Explorer I 379 exurbs 414, 449 ExxonMobil 276

F Facebook 417, 426–427, 429 Farm and Security Administration 220 fast-food architecture 12, 23, 244, 286, 293, 357, 414 Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 255 Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 197, 212 Federal Aviation Administration 335, 440, 449 Federal Express (FedEx) 261, 361–363 Federal Highway Act of 1921 198, 221 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 235 Federal Trade Commission 41 Fillmore, Millard 116 Flagstaff, Arizona 198 Ford Motors 184, 186–187, 199, 210–211, 214, 226, 232, 236, 421 Ford, Henry 39, 184, 187, 192, 210, 405, 427 Fort Worth, Texas 262–263 forty-niners 99, 102 Four Corners, the 59 Fred Harvey Company 154 Freeman, Daniel 119 Fremont Street, Las Vegas 342, 344–345 fuel neutrality 445 Futurama 243, 268–270, 272

Golden Gate Bridge 242 Good Roads Movement 193 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company 193 Googie architecture 253, 268, 285 Google 421, 440 Gould, Jay 149 Gould & Curry Mill, Virginia City, Nevada 125 Grand Canyon, the 217, 326, 396 Great Depression, the 278 Great Migration of 1843, the 97 Great Plains, the 52, 92, 219, 220, 399 Greenwood, Bruce 416 Gropius, Walter 314, 322–323 Gruen, Victor 20, 255, 260–265 Gutenberg, Johannes 17

H Han Dynasty 111 Harvey, Fred 29–30, 154, 215 Harvey House, Belen, New Mexico 215 Hawikuh 92 Heilig, Morton 378, 384–385 Heineman, Arthur S. 215, 229 Heston, Charlton 244 Hindenburg 306–307, 328 Hiroshima, Japan 332 Hitchcock, Frank Harris 312 Hitler, Adolf 240, 372 Hobbs, New Mexico 226, 246–247, 414 Holabird and Roche 215 Holladay Overland Mail & Express Co. 113 Holloman Air Force Base 41 Hollywood, California 204, 243, 250–251 Homestead Act 116, 118, 121–122, 129, 175, 277, 405 Hoover Dam 241 Hopi people 80, 82–83 horsepower 88, 129 Hotel La Salle Garage 215 Houdina Radio Control 403 Hughes, Howard 333, 358

G

I

Gadsden Purchase 24 Gagarin, Yuri 385 Galileo 17 garages 30, 215, 227–228, 235, 243 Gardner, Dale A. 387 gas stations 357 Gast, John 156 Gaudí, Antoni 446 General Motors (GM) 243, 268–270, 272 G.I. Bill 231–232, 235 Glenn, John 380, 386 globalization 320, 323, 326, 361–362, 428 Goddard, Robert 369, 372–373, 402 Gold Rush, the 99, 101, 118, 172

I-25 15 Ibarra, Francisco de 95 IBM 266 ice age 48, 150 immigrants 118, 144, 405 Indian Citizenship Act 227 Indian Plaza, Albuquerque, New Mexico 20 Indian Revolt of 1680 93 Indeterminate Facade, BEST Products Company retail store, Houston, Texas (architect SITE / James Wines) 288–289 Industrial Revolution, the 228 Inscription Rock 50–51, 96 International Space Station 384, 389

International Style 323 International UFO Museum and Research Center, Roswell, New Mexico 41 Itzcóatl 68

J Jackson, Andrew 145 Jacobs, Jane 256 Jamestown Colony, Virginia 17 Japan 313, 333 jaywalking 193 Jeanneret, Pierre 322 Jeddah Tower 443 Jefferson Highway 198 Jefferson, Thomas 94 JFK Airport, New York 336–340 John of England 57 Johnson, Lyndon B. 376 Judah, Theodore 142

K Kahn, Albert 214 Kansas 160, 219 Kansas Pacific Railroad 152 Kaufmann Desert House, Palm Springs, California (architect Richard Neutra) 332 Keet Seel, Arizona 59 Kennedy, John F. 337, 386 Kennedy Space Center, Merritt, Florida 376, 391, 424–425 Kino, Eusebio 102 Kirby’s Pig Stand 226 kit homes 167–168, 215 Kitty Hawk, North Carolina 305, 308–309 kivas 54, 70 Klein, Maury 148–150 K-Mart 20, 24, 293, 361 Koenig, Pierre 238 Korab, Balthazar 337 Kubrick, Stanley 270, 389 Kushel, Frank W. 167

L LaGuardia Airport (New York Municipal Airport) 320, 323 Lakewood, California 255 Lange, Dorothea 220, 452 Larwin Square shopping center, Tustin, California 265 Las Cruces International Airport 38 Las Vegas, Nevada 22, 159, 185, 201, 245, 261, 270, 278, 285, 290, 340, 342–347, 352, 357, 364, 400–401, 440–441 Lautner, John 268 Le Corbusier 270, 322 Leutze, Emanuel 117 Levittown housing, Long Island, New York 238, 241 Lewis and Clark Expedition 94, 97, 107 Lilienthal, Otto 304 Lilium 442–443

Lilly’s Auto Camp, Santa Clara County, California 212 Lincoln, Abraham 116, 144 Lincoln Highway 194, 196–199, 253 Lindbergh, Charles 315 Lippershey, Hans 17 Long John Silver’s Restaurant, Yuma, Arizona 290 Louisiana Purchase, the 93–94, 107 Los Angeles, California 12, 20, 30, 91, 97, 136–137, 159, 168, 201, 211–212, 220, 236, 242, 259, 283–284, 302–303, 345, 352, 358, 406–407 Lovell House, Los Angeles (architect Richard Neutra) 323 Lower Manhattan Expressway 256

M Macintosh computer 267 Macy’s 267 Madonna 416 Magellan, Ferdinand 17 Magna Carta 57 Main Street 23, 201, 211, 266, 286, 441 Maldonado, Rodrigo 92 Manchester Mall, Fresno, California 284 Manhattan, New York 36, 256, 414 Mar Vista housing development, Los Angeles 278 Mars 368, 389, 422 Marshall, James 98 Mayflower 17 McDonald’s 12, 244, 252, 256, 285, 290 Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, Michigan 428 Medhurst, George 395 Melosi, Martin V. 184 Mesa Verde, Colorado 53, 57–60, 123 Mexican Cession 93, 101 Mexican War of Independence 110 Mexico 60, 63, 80, 93, 101, 368 Mexico City 76, 96 Microsoft 344 Milestone Mo-Tel (Motel Inn), San Luis Obispo, California (architect Arthur S. Heineman) 215 mining 102, 113, 122, 129 Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zuni, Zuni Pueblo 70 Mission style 28–29, 80, 81, 129, 215 Mississippi River 93, 148 Missouri River 94, 144 Mix, Tom 205 Moab, Utah 410–411 Model B 236 Model T 184, 187–188, 204, 211, 427 Montgomery Ward 152, 161–164, 167, 227, 279, 357 Monument Valley, Arizona 419 moon landing 368, 379, 380

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Morgan, Edward M. 312 Morgan, J.P. 148 Morrison, William 188 Moses, Robert 256, 266 Motel 6 22, 259 motels 13, 23, 201, 212, 244, 268, 414 Mount Rushmore 446 Musk, Elon 389, 422, 427

N Napoleon 94 Narváez, Pánfilo de 60 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 372, 376 National Aeronatics and Space Administration (NASA) 376, 379, 381, 384, 390, 417, 420, 442, 449 National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 253 National Old Trails Road 198 National Park Service 213 Navajo Bridge 200 Nazi Germany 260, 306 Niemeyer, Oscar 270 neon 244, 340, 346 Neutra, Richard 236, 323, 332 Nevada 93, 98, 127 New Jersey Turnpike 426 New Mexico 23–25, 28–29, 34, 41 New Netherland Company 17 New Spain 60, 76, 80 New York City 20, 54, 188, 197, 227, 266, 273, 278, 326, 349, 402, 405, 414, 426 New York City Zoning Resolution 212 New York World’s Fair, 1964 266, 268–270, 272 Newton, Isaac 371 Niemeyer, Oscar 274–275 Nimatron 373 Nintendo 415–416, 418 Nixon, Richard 379 Niza, Marcos de 77 Nobel, Alfred 151 nomadic tribes 52, 54, 92, 399 Northland Center, Southfield, Michigan (architect Victor Gruen) 264

O Oakley, Annie 399 Obama, Barack 391 Ohio River, Virginia 144 Oil Creek, Pennsylvania 184 Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 122 Oldsmobile 184, 226 Old Spanish Trail 112, 198 Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico 28–29, 35 on-demand air travel 417–418, 421, 427, 438 Oñate y Salazar, Juan de 50–51, 76, 79–81, 95–96

Oraibi, Arizona 80 Oregon 48, 94, 97 Ortiz Mountains 112 Ovington, Earle Lewis 312 Owens-Illinois Glass Company 240

P Pacific Coast Gas Association 237 Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 129, 144 “Painted Ladies,” San Francisco, California 418 Pair-o-Dice Club, Las Vegas 322 Paleo-Indian period 11 Palm Springs, California 348–349, 354–355 Pan American Airways (Pan Am) 314–317, 328–329, 335, 337 Panama Railroad 148 Pantheon, Rome 25 parking lots 20, 23, 48, 265, 293, 340, 357, 362 Parthenon, Athens 15 Pasadena, California 164, 169 Patayan people 54 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 313, 328–329, 332 pedestrians 175, 193, 260, 265, 270, 286, 386, 445, 449 Peñasco, New Mexico 248–249 Penn Central 172, 175 Pickard Chilton 421 Pike, Zebulon 23 Pike’s Peak Gold Rush 117 Pioneer Airlines 329 Pius XII 395 Plains Indians 52, 92, 399 Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts 17 Pocahontas 17 Pokémon Go 428 Pony Express, the 110–111, 113, 118, 121, 156, 215 Portland, Oregon 97, 168, 256, 414, 449 Presley, Elvis 416 Price Club 345, 352 Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma (architect Frank Lloyd Wright) 276–277 private jets 346, 349 Promontory, Utah 145, 154 Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico 53–55, 57 Puebloan Revolt 101–102

Q Quadricycle 184 Queens, New York 266 Quincy, Massachusetts 143

R Ramada Inn, Amarillo, Texas 409 Red’s Giant Hamburg 252 Remington, Frederick 61 retail 265–266, 358, 361–362, 441

Rindisbacher, Peter 155 Ringel, Philip “Jersey” 312 Rio Rancho Estates, New Mexico 35–36, 38, 41, 349–353, 450–451 River Rouge Complex 214 Riverside, California 200 Robie House, Chicago, Illinois (architect Frank Lloyd Wright) 228–229 Rockefeller, John D. 123, 148 Rolfe, John 17 Rome, Italy 25 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano 231 Roosevelt, Theodore 193, 197, 312 Rosebrook, Guy L. 233 Roswell, New Mexico 36, 41 Route 66 23, 30, 32–33, 35, 41, 91, 201, 204, 211, 219–220, 229, 241–242, 255, 268 Rudolph, Paul 273 Runway 41 Rural Free Delivery (RFD) 164, 198 Russia 160, 376, 379, 389

S Saarinen, Eero 336–337, 340–341, 386 Sacramento, California 22, 114–115, 118, 143–144 Sagrada Família 446 Salt Lake 143 Sam’s Club 361, 364 San Diego, California 284, 362 San Estévan del Rey Mission Church, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico 80, 81 San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico 22 San Francisco, California 97, 101, 186, 197, 201, 212, 215, 257, 313, 323, 358, 406 San Joaquin County, California 169 San Juan de los Caballeros 95 San Luis Obispo, California 212, 214, 229, 415 San Miguel Mission, Santa Fe, New Mexico 214 Sandia Peak Tramway 39 Sands Hotel, Las Vegas 364 Santa Fe, New Mexico 29, 79, 97, 111, 124 Santa Fe Railroad 29, 155, 169, 173–175 Santa Fe R.R. streamliner, the “Super Chief” 31, 169 Santa Fe Trail 111 satellites 376, 384, 389 science fiction 270, 371 Sears, Richard 163 Sears, Roebuck and Company 159, 163–168, 171, 215, 235–236, 238, 243, 266, 269, 292 Seattle, Washington 168, 201, 406, 440 Selden, George B. 192

Semler, J. D. 118 Seven Cities of Gold 15, 60, 63, 66, 77, 79, 91, 172, 395 Shawnee, Oklahoma 255 Shell Oil 272 Shepard, Alan 385 Shimizu Corporation 446 shopping malls 260, 265, 384 Siberia 11 Sioux Indians 124, 402 SITE Architecture 288–289, 356 Sitting Bull 399 skyscrapers 277 Society of Automotive Engineers 200 Socrates 305 Sonic Burger 255 Soriano, Raphael 239 Soto, Hernando de 93 South Coast Plaza shopping center, Costa Mesa, California 365 Southdale Center, Edina, Minnesota (architect Victor Gruen) 255, 264 Space Race, the 376 Space shuttle Columbia 41, 386 Spaceport America, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (architect Foster+Partners) 386–388 SpaceX 389, 423, 440, 444 Springfield, Missouri 252 Spruce Goose 333 Sputnik 1 378 St. Augustine, Florida 81 St. Joseph, Missouri 118 St. Louis, Missouri 111, 201 Standard Oil 123, 168, 421 Stanford, Leland 145, 148 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, California 360 Star Wars 384 Steinbeck, John 219 Stephens, John 142 Stephenson, George 141 Stockton, California 112–113, 134, 406 Stonehenge 11 Streamline Moderne 285, 320, 323 streetcars 29, 30, 227 strip malls 12, 20, 22, 30, 286, 293, 346, 357, 414 Studebaker 187, 197, 216 suburbs 30, 39, 47, 168, 227, 231–232, 235–236, 239, 243–244, 259–260, 266, 277, 285, 352, 357–358, 362, 414, 449 Sun City, Phoenix, Arizona 415 sustainability 406, 435, 445 Sutter’s Mill, American River 96

T Taíno peoples 71 Taos Indians 41 Taos Pueblo 57, 399 telegraph 110, 144, 172, 204 television (TV) 219, 278, 379, 384

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tenement housing 228 Tenochtitlán 61, 63, 68, 75–76 Terrafugia 360 Tesla 284–285 The Beatles 335 The Beck Group 420 The Bitcoin Foundation 426 The Home Depot 345 The Jetsons 438 Thoreau, Henry David 107 Tiguex War 69, 93 Times Square, New York 197 tipis 52, 54, 92 Tiwa Indians 93 Tlacopán 68 tourism 36, 160, 171, 326, 328, 345–346, 352, 389–390, 406, 445 Tovar, Pedro de 80 Toys ‘R’ Us 334, 365 train stations 29, 35, 148, 160, 171, 175, 211, 215, 384, 386 Transcontinental Highway 194 Transcontinental Railroad 110, 142, 145, 150 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 98 Trinity Site, White Sands, New Mexico 36 Trump, Donald 390 Truth or Consequences, New Mexico 36, 386, 388 Turing, Alan 404 Turner, Frederick Jackson 12, 127 Twain, Mark 141–142 TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, Queens, New York (architect Eero Saarinen) 336–340, 386

U Uber 417–418, 420–422, 428, 444 Union Depot, Denver 408 United Parcel Service (UPS) 321, 361–362 United States Postal Service (USPS) 105, 164, 362 United States Space Force (USSF) 390 Upton, Dell 125 U.S. Army Motor Transport Corps 198 U.S. Census Bureau 155

V Vanderbilt, Cornelius 39, 148 Vanderbilt, William Henry 149 Vargas, Diego de 102 Venice, Italy 444–445 Versailles, France 428 Victor Gruen Associates 255 Village of the Great Kivas 57 Ville Radieuse (architect Le Corbusier) 270 Villa Savoye, Poissy, France (architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret) 322 Virgin Galactic 36, 386 Vitruvius 11 virtual reality 421

W Walmart 12, 260, 272, 360, 365 Wanamaker, John 164 Ward, Aaron Montgomery 163–164 Wardway Homes 167 War of the Worlds, The 371–372 Watergate scandal 344 Watt, James 141 Welles, Orson 405 Wells, H. G. 368 Wells Fargo 113, 121, 156, 215 West Village (Greenwich Village), New York 414 Western Air Express 314 Western Union 150 Westinghouse, George 152 Whataburger, Las Cruces, New Mexico 290 Wheaton Plaza shopping center, Wheaton, Maryland 261 White, Ed 387 White Sands Space Harbor 41 Whitney, Asa 142 Wilson, Woodrow 197 Wines, James 288–289, 356 Wing Aviation 440 Winrock Shopping Center, Albuquerque 38 Wolpi, Hopi village 398 Woodward & Lothrop department store 261 Works Progress Administration (WPA) 239, 321, 323 World War I 198, 313 World War II 30, 171, 231, 235, 253, 306, 313, 328, 357, 372 Wright Brothers 39, 305–306, 372 Wright, Frank Lloyd 122, 227–229, 264–265, 276–278, 439

Y Yeager, Chuck 333 Yellowstone National Park 201

Z Zaldívar, Juan de 79 Zaldívar, Vicente de 79 zeppelins 306, 312, 320 zoning 122, 334 Zuni 59–60, 63, 68–69, 92 Zuni Pueblo, McKinley County, New Mexico 26, 57, 59–61, 70