The Two New Bedfords: Spatial and Social Analysis of the City, 1800-1870

Conclusion

Uphill, upper-class New Bedford citizens built lavish homes and gardens; downhill, the waterfront became the working waterfront as mariners and middle-class artisans worked to fuel the industry. New Bedford citizens used their newfound prosperity to establish community and corporate identities within public space. As New Bedford grew in population and infrastructure, the city’s dynamics changed and power shifted. 

The influence of mariners, especially immigrants and the African-Americans, on the predominantly white Quaker community, while not always explicitly addressed in textual proceedings, is evident in the spatial development of the historic waterfront district and the city itself. The transient population and the maritime community that supported them – the brothels, the taverns, the boardinghouses, the dance halls – forced upper-class New Bedford to confront the cultural changes occurring on the waterfront. 

Exploring contemporary perceptions of the waterfront from 1800 to 1870, we can start to see how that tension played out on the streetscapes and within the community. The whaling industry transformed the social and spatial landscapes of New Bedford, in a way still present in the modern development of the city. 

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