SECONDARY COMMUNITIES 19 



6. DISTRIBUTION OF SECONDARY COMMUNITIES ABOUT CITIES 

 AND VILLAGES 



The secondary communities of the regions about Chicago are those 

 typical of the forest-border area; some of them are found throughout 

 the temperate world. The communities in and about cities are not 

 particularly different from those discussed in general terms in the pre- 

 ceding pages. This is a topic for special study and we can give but the 

 briefest outline here. 



When a city is in the village stage the communities of barns and 

 dwellings are crowded together and the area of cultivated land and park 

 is proportionally larger than in the country. As a village grows into a 

 city, usually a central area of business houses, factories, and cheap tene- 

 ments, dominated by the communities of dwellings, succeeds, practically 

 all others being excluded. This type usually radiates from this center 

 for a short distance along the principal lines of railroad and river trans- 

 portation. Except for these narrow radiations, the central business 

 section is surrounded by a belt of residences, which are of the park-lawn 

 type, usually with the garden or cultivated type very much reduced 

 or entirely eliminated. This type extends outward along all lines of 

 passenger transportation. Toward the outskirts of this, and often 

 quite irregularly arranged, are vacant lots and squares allowed to grow 

 up to weeds and shrubs, and which are usually occupied by forest- 

 margin animals. Outside of and adjoining these is the area of market 

 gardening on the lower and better soils. Other types of agricultural 

 land are usually poorly cultivated in the vicinity of cities. 



A succession of conditions dominated by one or another of the second- 

 ary communities may be seen as the pioneer farm passes into the city 

 stage. The pioneer-farm type is succeeded by the village type, with its 

 park-lawn and dwelling combination. The village gives way to the 

 business center, dominated by the "dwelling" animals. As these pro- 

 cesses take place, a succession of the various grades of human society is 

 noticeable. In dwellings probably the first resident pest is the clothes 

 moth. This is probably succeeded by the silver fish and an occasional 

 cockroach before the succession of the various grades of society has 

 begun. Cracks appear in the woodwork as the building becomes 

 "run down," and the introduction of a lower grade of society begins. 

 The bedbug next makes its appearance and marks the beginning of a 

 rapid lowering of standards on the part of occupants. The house mouse 

 makes its appearance and is followed later by rats and vermin which 

 mark the final stages in the degeneration into a cheap tenement. 



