Built Environment :
Timeline / Chronology
Suggested by the Historical, Architectural, and Geographical record
in the Old Northwest, including Ohio (especially south-central Ohio) and vicinity
These are my thoughts on time periods and what to call them. As much as I dislike them, wars are extrememely important in cultural history, though less as to "who won" and "who lost," and more as "what changed" and "what's new" - technologies or increased infrastructure, established for the war, that now offer or threaten cultural changes.
Also, I'm tired of arbitrary divisions of history by decades (which are relevant mainly on a cultural-psychological level - if only because we count ten digits on our hands) and suggest this more culturally relevant accounting.
And yes, I am a product (victim?) of my generation, and my enculturation/engeneration influences my view of history. So if, you don't like this, feel free to let me know (or better yet, do better yorself!).
Wilderness / Pre-Settlement Era
to about 1774
A time when what few European-Americans ventured into the trans-frontier wilderness lived among and with the Native Americans, and made little or no permanent mark on the landscape.
Frontier / Pioneer Era
about 1774 to about 1795
Trans-Appalachian migration grew rapidly in the 1770s and European-Americans pioneers began moving into the trans-frontier wilderness, often stirring conflicts and battles with the Native Americans. After the 1780s, the natives scared most pioneers away from the Ohio Country (north of the Ohio River) by slaughtering them. Pioneers settlements began making slight, scattered marks on the landscape with clearings and a few towns along rivers or in old Indian clearings. Surveyors began bravely measuring off U.S. land after the Land Ordinance of 1785.
Settlement Era
about 1795 to about 1814-1820
The 1795 Greenfield Treaty opened 3/4 of current Ohio to peaceful settlement. The peace treaty between the U.S. government and Native American tribes at Ft. Greenfiled followed after the 1794 victory of "Mad" Anthony Wayne's troops over British-supported Native Americans in northwest Ohio. Statehood for the 17th state in the Union, Ohio, in 1803.
Establishment Era
about 1814-1820 to about 1825-1835
War of 1812 (1812-1814) resolved U.S. - British frictions and British aiding and abetting of Native Americans.
Commercial transportation dominated by wagons and stagecoaches on turnpikes.
Development / Canal Era
about 1825-1835 to about 1845-1850
Canal planning, design and construction irreversably change the professional and immigrant character of Ohio.
Canals offer slow but steady and heavier shipping. "Crisis of 1837" is an economic depression that delayed much growth...but not for long.
Early Industrial (Railroad) Era
about 1845-1850 to 1865-1870
Railroad lines sprouting slowly, but unstoppable harbingers of industrialization. They offer faster, steadier and heavier shipping.
Mid Industrial (Late Railroad) Era
1865-1870 to 1893-1896
American Civil War wrought irreversible industrial growth and utility, and the greater excessive consumption of the "High" Victorian Era.
Ended by national economic depression of 1893 - which was ended by the Spanish-American War in 1896.
Late Industrial [Turn-of-the-Century (ToC)] Era / Early Twentieth Century
1893-1896 to 1917-1918
The U.S. emerged as a world power after the Spanish-American War of 1896. Modern utilities and technologies, developed in the previous era, become popularly available and begin shaping (misshaping?) the landscape: telephone, electricity, automobile.
The automobile is so prevalent by the early 1910s that it begins to dominate/dictate public and large commercial planning and development.
[Between the Wars (BtW)] Era - 1918 to 1941
"Roaring Twenties" Era
1917-1918 to 1929-1933
Begun by isolationism from disenchantment of World War I (originally "the War to End All Wars"), and the cultural/economic boost cuased by it. Ended by the worst economic depression, which begun in 1929 and worsened through 1933(?).
(Yes, the Roaring Twenties "decade" does not conform to the chronology, but culture is a fickle thing!)
Great Depression
1929-1933 to 1941
Economic depression slowed or stopped most private development, and inspired some previously unusual public development (e.g. WPA, CCC activities). Wartime needs halted all development after the U.S. was finally yanked into the war in December 1941.
World War II
1941 to 1945-1947
Wartime needs halted all commercial development but fired up wartime production, yanking the U.S. out of the Great Depression. Development was prevented even after the war was over, until finally released in 1947.
The Fifties / Early Postwar
1945-1947 to 1963
The "Baby Boom" generationThe resulting burst in development was the "Fifties," which I argue began in 1947. The cultural vigor/virility/hype ended with cultural turn-arounds of 1963: the Kennedy assasination, the loss of the American Camelot; deepening engagement of the Viet Nam War; and the British invasion (yes, the Beatles were but a cultural signpost...).
Late Postwar Era - 1963 to 1980
The Sixties
1963 to 1967-1973
Cultural turmoil. The beginning of the end was the dreamscape/hallucination of the peace of Woodstock in 1967, and the final end was the economic crisis precipitated by the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. (Between those years, much "urban renewal" ('urban removal') and freeway development occurred - afterward, energy prices slowed such energy-consuming projects and even slowed the highway speed limit from 75 mph to the "double nickel" of 55 mph.)
The Seventies
1967-1973 to 1980
The "Baby Buster" generation or "Generation X"Cultural turmoil undegoing corrosion. Ended by the Republican/conservative victory of the Reagan election.
? Era - 1980 to ?
The Eighties
1980 to 1992
Almost a second "Roaring Twenties:" rapid development and accumulation of wealth, a reversal of the aftermath of the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. Ended with the Democrat/liberal victory of the Clinton election.
The Nineties
1992 to 2001
"Generation Y" (?)Continuing the second "Roaring Twenties." Ended with the Republican/conservative victory of the (G.W.) Bush election, and the cultural/national wake-up-call of the 9-11 (2001) terrorist attacks (where were all those flags before then?!).
?
2001 to ?
History falters the nearer is is to the present: It needs reflection and perspective, neither of which are available in the now...
The Generational Cycle of Preservation
The "it" can be log houses, country living, LP's, stone-ground wheat, traditional religion...what have you:Generation one has it as a mundane part of daily living.
Generation two has a replacement available and can't wait to get rid of it.
Generation three is nostalgic for it but otherwise doesn't care.
Generation four resents the new and wants to saves the old.
The trick is, though, once "it" has been rediscovered and revitalized, to enculture the next generation to be wise about it....
"Inv&Nom-chrono.html" v1.2 -
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Intrepid Historical Services - Kevin B. Coleman - Columbus, Ohio, USA
