Boom Towns

The popular image of the historic “boom town” is often based upon the motion picture industry’s depiction of an isolated and violent Wild West settlement. Nineteenth-century mining rift goldand cattle towns grew so uncontrollably that they were seen as conflict-ridden settlements with few public amenities and haphazard planning. The local mentality was exploitative: “Get all you can get, get it as fast as you can, and get out.” These towns flourished briefly, then died quickly, leaving broken buildings and few people.

While many boom towns across the country fit this characterization, some industrial boom towns were carefully planned and experienced well-managed growth. A great many boom towns fell in between. They gtera goldrew very suddenly, often because of land speculation or the discovery of natural resources, but they also witnessed a semblance of planning, community, and, most important, persistent, durable growth that prevented them from becoming ghost towns. In the twentieth century, the trend continued, especially after World War II, when private and public authorities sought to build suburban “new towns” as a way to ameliorate urbanization.