The Middle Atlantic Seaboard Region: Great Cities Megalopolis

[Music] single city a city whose name we would recognize it does not exist think of it as a chain of connected cities and suburbs forming one huge urban community it covers an area over 200 mil in length along the Middle Atlantic Seaboard of the United States some of the larger links in this enormous chain City are Baltimore Philadelphia and New York City other smaller ones are Wilmington Camden Trenton and Newark in between these larger cities and towns are suburbs which are filling in the countryside to describe this super city which is a ing a new term has been formed the term comes from two ancient Greek words Megalo meaning great and polus meaning city the word megalopolis refers to a group of connected localities which functions as one enormous City megalopolis Grew From seeds planted nearly 300 years ago the first colonists in the new world picked locations for settlement which would make good sea ports for Ships coming from Europe rivers were the main highways of Commerce to the interior and the cities in better locations became busy ports with New York at the mouth of the Hudson River Philadelphia on the Delaware and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay today each of these cities still serves as an important gateway to our country nearly one half of America's foreign trade over 100 million tons each year is loaded and unloaded at these great ports New York City with its 500 M of Waterfront is the greatest shipping center in the world a ship enters or leaves every 10 minutes to efficiently transport Goods to and from these port cities they are linked to each other and to the rest of the nation by a network of railroads superhighways and Airlines megalopolis produces and distributes much of what is used by the nation and the world its many businesses offer a great variety of jobs which attract many many people to this area most of the nation's clothes are made here with the Garment industry employing fashion and fabric designers pattern makers Cutters tailor artists and models buyers come from all over the country to preview new Styles and to choose clothes for their local stores some of the very clothes you're wearing were probably manufactured in megalopolis and shipped by truck to the store where you bought them you may have heard or seen advertisements for those same clothes on radios or television sets which use these electronic components in school today the pencil you've been using might be one of these being made and packed here at dinner tonight you may well eat one of the enormous variety of foods processed in Mega apis and reshi to other sections of the country this machine for instance cracks over a million eggs a [Music] day the eggs mixed with other ingredients make mayonnaise which is automatically [Music] bottled also automatic IC are many of the operations in the large meat packing industry of megalopolis beef pork lamb and ve arrive from the Midwest and nearby [Music] States some of the food which pours into this enormous Market is transported overseas by ship many ships are built in megalopolis one of these the Savannah the first atomic merchant ship was built just outside Philadelphia the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard is one of Uncle Sam's largest besides building new ships the Navy repairs and maintains many ships of its Fleet here the steel used in these ships and other products manufactured in megalopolis is made in steel mills such as this one at Sparrow point in Baltimore this is the the only Coastal steel mill in the United States there are many Industries in megalopolis that use steel some of these large steel plates will be used to construct storage tanks for gas and oil at nearby refineries the refining of petroleum products is another important heavy industry in megalopolis oil is brought here from Texas and Louisiana by ocean tanker railroad tank car and pipelines the crude oil is then refined to produce gasoline lubricants and many other byproducts as businesses expand more buildings must be constructed to accommodate more employees and office equipment construction itself is one of the major industries of [Music] megalopolis the skylines of the big cities are being changed practically overnight many large companies have their headquarters or home office in megalopolis here millions of White Collar employees are engaged in the paperwork which is so vital to the orderly functioning of our society so elaborate has record keeping become that every conceivable automatic Aid is used Wall Street in New York City is the business and financial center of the Western World the pulse of national and international trade is regulated here in its banks investment corporations and brokerage houses the stock exchanges of megalopolis serve as large supermarkets for the sales and purchases of company stocks from all over the nation and the world these men are recording the buying and selling of stocks on the floor of the exchange elsewhere in megalopolis women are also going about the business of buying and [Music] selling alternative for those able to afford it the suburbs offer a different way of life living beyond the city limits suburbanites can enjoy many forms of outdoor activity the big cities are steadily losing population to the suburbs the growth of these areas is one of the major reasons for the development of megalopolis a way of life for them fast trains carry the commuters to the Heart of the City and back each day once within the heart of the Cities travel on crowded streets becomes a serious problem to avoid using private means of transportation millions of people rely on public facilities to meet these needs megalopolis has an extensive system of buses trolleys ferry boats and underground Railway that is more than all the people in Maine Kansas and Colorado together if crowds bother you it is definitely advisable to stay out of the subway during the rush hours more than people have to be transported in megalopolis the larger cities have real difficulty in just arranging for the daily pickup of garbage consider how many trucks are necessary for this job alone also related to Community Health are the medical facilities of megalopolis huge hospitals like this one must be built and maintained to care for the thousands of patients treated in them every day but while hospitals treat thousands millions of children must be given schooling megalopolis provides a free education in its Public Schools through the high school level it also supports a system of colleges which offer a higher education at very low cost there are many fine private universities such as Columbia in New York City and Princeton about halfway between New York and Philadelphia with the combined talents and money of many people megalopolis can support many valuable cultural facilities such as the guga Museum in New York City the museums encourage interest in the visual arts their collections are a constant stimulation to artists and an education for all large cities are setting aside great sums of money to build new Civic centers which will include cultural facilities as well as sports and entertainment arenas for other City dwellers an afternoon outof doors may seem more pleasant Nature has been preserved in megalopolis by the establishment of [Music] parks here families can spend a leisurely afternoon away from the confinement of apartment [Music] living in less than 300 years three small Port settlements have become busy sea ports New York on the Hudson River Philadelphia on the Delaware River and Baltimore on on the Chesapeake Bay as these cities become more crowded every need is magnified the problems of transporting huge Apartments offers one solution many city Folk take a second alternative and move out to the suburbs today the great cities with many smaller communities growing in between them are forming a megalopolis or super City in spite of the challenges and Pleasures offered to its citizens today are great tomorrow they may be even greater for the story of megalopolis is only [Music] beginning