Model T Impact On American Society

Some people collect cars, some race cars, and some work on cars for a living. Others just use cars for what they were made for: To get from point A to point B. It seems in today's America almost everyone owns a car, but take a minute to remember when cars first changed the world. When automobiles first came along in the late 19th century, it was a common American fantasy of owning one of these mechanical carriages. Before the days of cars, one would be lucky to travel more than 15 miles from their home. Only deep-pocketed tycoons could afford the luxuries that automobiles had to offer. That was until the early 20th century. Suddenly there were huge automobile companies that started to mass produce cars. General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and

One example of this is how the Model T created the famous American suburbs. In 1910, people either lived in the city and worked for companies and businesses or lived in the countryside and farmed. However, both sides had their pros and cons. The city folk had access to the city, but had limited space to live because of the huge population. Inversely, the farmers had tons of room to live, but had limited access to the city. When the Model T was popularized with its super affordable price more people had the luxury of long distance travel. So, people that lived in the city could move to the perimeter of cities where there was more room and still be within a short drive of the city. This is how the great American suburbs were created. Another way that the Model T impacted American society was through the fuel industry. Oil and gas had already been booming when the Model T was introduced, but it gave americans a reason to buy more fuel and buy it more often. Now that millions of people had cars, all of those millions needed fuel to drive. Additionally, the Model T impacted American society by making America more connected. With the majority of people having a car in the 1920s news spread faster, people took more vacations, and cities had more people coming in. Ultimately, America was shrinking. It wasn’t this huge spaced out country that had been known for so many years. Now New York wasn’t so far from D.C.. Pittsburg was just a couple hour trip from Cleveland. Suddenly, the Model T had connected