Geography

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Start date: 1960End date: 1979

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    Land Use in Charles County
    (1962) Langen, John S.; Van Royen, W.; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
    The land use of Charles County does not basically differ from that in the past. Land in forest and land in farms are the two categories of land utilization. The great demand for tobacco on the overseas markets in the early days of the county's history, led to the introduction of this crop. Because of the favorable climate and soils, tobacco became soon the mainstay of the county's economy, a situation which still exists today. The purpose of the thesis was to determine which geographical factors and others accounted for the use of the land. In addition to field work, use was made of detailed statistical data. It was found, that the county could be divided into three sections. In the western section, land in forest was the dominating land use form. In the central section, land in forest and land in farms were about equal in areal extent, whereas in the eastern section, land in farms dominated. The reason was that soils in the western part became exhausted, and a shift to the eastern section took place. Landforms contributed much to the distribution of land in crops, especially for tobacco. Recently, a change in the use of the land is taking place. The encroachment of the Washington Metropolitan area, and the building of a major highway, connecting the North with the South, have induced farmers to sell their lands, which are converted into residential areas.
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    Land Tenure, Property Ownership, and Home Mortgages in the Late Nineteenth Century: A Case Study of Baltimore's Germans
    (1976) Vill, Martha J.; Groves, Paul A.; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
    During the late nineteenth century the rapidly expanding urban population of the United States created an increased demand for housing. At the same time, mortgage money for the finance of home purchases was in short supply because of the availability of more lucrative investment opportunities elsewhere and because there were legal restrictions on the power of banks to lend money on real estate . Recent literature has emphasized the importance of property ownership among different components of the population, including immigrant groups. Little attention has been paid to the process of property acquisition or to the patterns of land tenure which resulted. An immigrant population, handicapped in numerous ways, was likely to have limited access to available mortgage financing, thereby limiting its ability to purchase property. Yet, the literature suggests that immigrants actively acquired property. This study examines some preliminary ideas about tenure patterns and home mortgages within immigrant residential areas, using a sample of Baltimore's Germans as a case study. The argument presented is that housing acquisition was facilitated by the activities of the immigrants themselves. In view of the restrictions on the supply of mortgage money, financing for property purchases had to come from sources independent of the city's major financial institutions, and the immigrants had to generate their own sources of capital. It was expected that tenants and landlords would have common national origins, another reflection of the immigrants' reliance on members of their own group for housing. Another expectation of the study was that Germans of different origins in Germany would exhibit different tenure patterns. Arguing that the term "German" was an imprecise indicator of national origins, and that the residential patterns of immigrants from different parts of Germany were distinct, it was expected that this diversity would also find expression in tenure patterns. The selection of the sample areas in the study was, therefore, conditioned by the need to isolate areas inhabited by Germans of diverse origins. Land tenure, property ownership, and relationships between landlords and tenants were analyzed. The hoped for differences in rates of property ownership did not materialize, and home ownership was not systematically related to age, income, or family employment. The findings do indicate, however, that home ownership was within the grasp of people with relatively low income. The mechanism which enabled home purchasers to obtain mortgages was the building and loan associations which were organized and directed by men whose origins, occupations, and residences reflected those of the associations' clientele. Thus, the hypothesis that immigrants generated their own mortgage funds was confirmed. The findings of the study concerning landlords and tenants further substantiate the argument that the provision of housing was accomplished by the immigrants themselves. Landlords' residences were close to the properties they rented, and there was a marked tendency for tenants to rent from landlords who shared their German origins.
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    Colonia Incognita: The Formation of Chinatown, New York City, 1850-1890
    (1975) Tom, Henry; Muller, Edward K.; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
    The genesis of ethnic areas in cities is attributed to the process of residential concentration. For the Chinese experience in New York, however, the emergence of Chinatown occurred through the concentration of institutions. A rapid influx of Chinese into this northern industrial city followed by an occupational specialization in laundries – the coterminous place of work and residence – resulted in their widespread distribution. This spatial pattern prevented a residential concentration of the Chinese, who possessed a great cultural variance from the indigenous population. The migrational objective of returning to China with their accumulated earnings gave rise to the sojourning nature of Chinese migrants and its attendant detached status of migration without wives or families. These conditions generated a desire among the migrants to preserve their cultural identity, incurring a heavy reliance on things Chinese. In response, Chinatown had formed by 1880. Initially, a concentration of service and social institutions which fulfilled the socio-cultural needs of the dispersed Chinese population, Chinatown eventually became the basis for Chinese residential concentration.
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    Washington, D.C.'s Streetcar Suburbs: A Comparative Analysis of Brookland and Brightwood, 1870-1900
    (1979) Prince, Thomas Eugene; Groves, Paul
    The evolution of public transportation systems in the large American cities of the late nineteenth century culminated in the innovation of the streetcar. Such transportation changes affected urban structure and by the last quarter of the century had produced a distinctive residential area, the streetcar suburb. Washington, D.C. had a number of such suburbs, some the result of subdivision development associated with the extension of streetcar lines to link existing village suburbs to the downtown core, others the product of concurrent residential subdivision and streetcar development. Such suburbs were predominantly middle-class, white, residential areas. An examination of two Washington, D.C. suburbs: Brightwood and Brookland, indicated distinct physical, social, economic, and demographic structures in these village suburbs in the early 1880's. After the subsequent introduction of streetcar links to downtown Washington--an employment core characterized by much white-collar government employment--the two suburbs became increasingly similar in terms of the chosen measurements. By the end of the century, there was little in their structures to indicate the very different paths they had taken to the same end.
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    The Evolution of Symbols on Nautical Charts Prior to 1800
    (1979) Clawson, Mary G.; Wiedel, Joseph W.; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
    This study attempts to determine the way in which symbols evolved on nautical charts, the identity of originators of these symbols, the spread in their use, and the forces involved in their continuing evolution. A twofold approach is utilized to resolve these questions. First a history of nautical charts prior to 1800 is presented and second, the actual examination of over 4200 nautical charts was carried out to discover and document their symbol content. A graphic summary of the symbols used on these charts is presented along with an analysis of the data gathered in 1 ight of the history of nautical cartography. The evolution of the symbols on nautical charts was found to be closely aligned with one of the three types of symbols described by Dreyfuss (1972): arbitrary, abstract or representational. The arbitrary symbols examined in this study clearly went through an evolutionary process, whereas the abstract and representational symbols remained virtually static throughout the period. The originators of the symbols are given when identifiable and the spread and evolution of the symbols is discussed. From this study it can be concluded that this type of research is most valuable in discovering the evolution of symbols on nautical charts and that the graphic summary could be considered a standard for evaluating the evolution and use of symbols on nautical charts prior to 1800.