Industrial Noise

Northerners were fond of the 'hum' of industrialism and applauded the sounds of mechanization. The chatter in the streets was also associated with a democratic society. Southerners, on the other hand, felt that the noise of industry as a sign of reckless capitalism and the precurser to social revolution.

However the fondness for industrial noise was short lived. By the late nineteenth century, city noises became a problem and a major target of progressive reformers.