The Model T and Suburbanization Activity #3:

From Horseshoes to Hubcaps

Developed by the Outagamie County Historical Society with funding from Cooperative Education Service Agency 6, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and the U.S. Department of Education. © 2006 OCHS.

Goal:  Students will recognize the period between 1916 and 1922 as the birth of the automobile age and will see how the automobile affected city growth and gave birth to the city planning movement.

Objectives:

1)  Students will analyze two charts from a 1922 Appleton City Planning Study.

2)  Students will calculate the percentage of growth in the number of automobiles and trucks in Outagamie County.

3)  Students will estimate whether Calumet and Winnebago experienced lower or higher rates of growth in the number of autos owned than did Outagamie County.

4)  Students will calculate the increase in the number of autos and trucks owned for the three aforementioned counties combined.  They will then figure the percentage of increase in ownership for the counties combined.

Study the tables from a 1922 Appleton City Planning document.  This study was Appleton’s first real attempt at modern city planning.  City planning involves regulating land and building use and anticipating and planning for growth.

Table IV charts the Growth of Traffic Vehicles in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties.

1)  How many more automobiles were there in Outagamie County in 1922 than in 1916?  What was the percentage of growth in the number of automobiles between those two years?

2)  How many more trucks were there in Outagamie County in 1922 than in 1918?  What was the percentage of growth in the number of trucks in this country between those two years?

3)  Just by looking at the numbers and without actually doing the math do you estimate the percentage of growth in automobiles in Calumet County to be lower or higher than that in Outagamie County for the years shown?  What about the percentage of growth in Winnebago County?

4)  Calculate the total increase in the number of automobiles and trucks for the three counties combined.  What are the percentages of increase for autos and trucks for the counties combined?

Now look at Table V, “Traffic Vehicle Changes in Appleton”

5)  What happens to the number of autos in Appleton between 1917 and 1921?  What about the number of horses and of wagons and sleighs?

6)  What effect do you think the growth in the number of automobiles had on the City of Appleton?  Think of where people could live, the environment, traffic, roads, etc.

7)  What might the decrease in the number of horses tell us about the number of farms or the role of agriculture in Appleton in 1921?

8)  Imagine that you are a tourist in Appleton in 1917 and make a postcard of the scene you observe on College Ave.  Draw the postcard’s picture and write a note home on the back describing what you see as you stand on College Ave.  Now pretend that you are a tourist in 1922 and draw and write a postcard describing the College Ave. scene five years later.

This activity uses the primary source documents:

Table IV, Appleton City Planning Survey, 1922

Table V, Appleton City Planning Survey, 1922

Click here for a printable worksheet for this activity (PDF file)
Click here for a printable worksheet for this activity (PDF file)