Around 1900, American big cities like New York and Chicago tended to be surprisingly German in population and institutions. My vague impression is that Continentals tended to be better at city living than the English, who put their best efforts into improving the countryside. I suspect the suppression of German cultural prestige in 1917-1918 damaged American potential for urban living. A reader points out a 1976 NYT book review of David Lowe’s Lost Chicago that briefly argues the same thing.
It was the Federal Government’s suppression of Germans during World War I that, more than anything else, destroyed the original nature of the city. Their pacifism became the target of a few eccentrics, and much of what was stylistically German closed its doors. As I had always suspected, it was this European quality of the city, the interest in public culture and public fun—theater, dancing, singing, beer‐drinking in halls and gardens, outdoor dining—that influenced the great architects of the late 19th century, especially [Louis] Sullivan.
