In the 20 years after 1900, municipal reformers celebrated triumph after triumph as cities across the country adopted commission and city-manager charters. The cities of the Southwest were prominent in the movement for municipal reform. In this article, the author shows how the West was won to municipal reform and argues that the adoption of reform charters was not the product of conducive local political culture but, rather, the result of region understood as strategic location and of manipulations of the rules that advantaged advocates of charter revision.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Historical Society . 1931. American biography, a new cyclopedia. New York: Author.
2.
Austin Chamber of Commerce . 1948. Something made Austin grow. Austin, TX: Author.
3.
Banfield, E. , and J. O. Wilson. 1963. City politics. New York: Vintage.
4.
Bernard, R. , and B. Rice. 1975. Political environment and the adoption of Progressive municipal reform. Journal of Urban History1:149-174.
5.
Bridges, A.1982. Another look at plutocracy and politics in antebellum New York City. Political Science Quarterly97:57-71.
6.
Bridges, A.1987. A city in the Republic: Antebellum New York and the origins of machine politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
7.
Bridges, A.1988. Rethinking the origins of machine politics. In Power, culture, and place, edited by J. Mollenkopf, 53-71. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
8.
Campbell, B.1915. The commission form of governmentTexas Municipalities2(2): 35-48.
9.
Cline, D. I.1951. Albuquerque and the city manager plan. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
10.
Donnelly, T. C.1940. New Mexico: An area of conflicting cultures. In Rocky Mountain politics, edited by T. C. Donnelly, 218-251. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
11.
Ehrlich, K. L.1981. Arizona's territorial capital moves to Phoenix. Arizona and the West23:231-242.
12.
Hays, S. P.1964. The politics of municipal reform in the Progressive Era. Pacific Northwest Quarterly55:157-169.
13.
Hofstadter, R.1955. The age of reform. New York: Vintage.
14.
Holli, M. G.1969. Reform in Detroit: Hazen S. Pingree and urban politics. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
15.
Hunter, F.1963. Community power structure: A study of decision makers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
16.
Hunter, G. S.1968. The Bull Moose movement in Arizona. Arizona and the West10:343-362.
17.
Irwin, O.1933. Local power trust getting cold feet. Handbill, clippings file, library of the Arizona Capital.
18.
Isaac, P. E.1975. Municipal reform in Beaumont, Texas, 1902-1909. Southwestern Historical Quarterly78:409-430.
19.
Johnson, G. W.1985. Generations of elites and social change in Phoenix. In Community development in the American West: Past and present nineteenth and twentieth century frontiers, 79-109. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University.
20.
Krenkel,J. H.1978. The foundingof the Salt River Water Users Association.Journal of the West17(1): 82-90.
21.
Lee, L. B.1973. William E. Smythe and San Diego, 1901-1908. Journal of San Diego History19(2): 10-24.
22.
Lineberry, R. , and E. Fowler. 1967. Reformism and public policies in American cities. American Political Science Review60:701-716.
23.
Luckingham, B.1982. The urban southwest: A profile history of Albuquerque-El Paso-Phoenix-Tucson. El Paso: Texas Western Press.
24.
McComb, D. G.1981. Houston: A history. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
25.
Miller, G. L 1976. The San Diego progressive movement, 1900-1920. Master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
26.
News and notes . 1915. National Municipal Review3:474.
27.
News and notes1916. National Municipal Review5(1): 171.
28.
News and notes1922National Municipal Review11(1): 34.
29.
Orum, A.1987. Power, money, and the people. Austin: Texas Monthly Press.
30.
Pietzsch, L. R. , E. D. Phillips, E. D. Sanders, and G. W. Smith. 1906. The Austin electric street railway system. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
31.
Platt, H. F.1977. City-building and progressive reform. In The age of urban reform: New perspectives on the Progressive Era, edited by H. Ebner and E. M. Tobin, 28-42. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.
32.
Platt, H. F.1983. City building in the new South. Philadelphia, PA: Temple Univ. Press.
33.
Pourade, R. F.1965. The history of San Diego. Vol. 5. San Diego, CA: Union-Tribune.
34.
Proceedings on public utilities . 1922. Texas Municipalities9(4): 65-71.
35.
Rice, B.1975. The Galveston plan of city government by commission: The birth of a Progressive idea. Southwestern Historical Quarterly78:366-408.
36.
Rice, B.1977. Progressive cities. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
37.
Riker, W.1982. Liberalism against populism:A confrontation between the theory of democracy and the theory of social choice. San Francisco: Freeman.
38.
Sale, K.1976. Power shift. New York: Vintage.
39.
Schiesl, M. J.1977. The politics of efficiency, municipal administration and reform in America: 1880-1920. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
40.
Schingle, M. J. 1976. Albuquerque urban politics, 1891-1955, aldermanic vs. commission government Senior thesis, University of New Mexico.
41.
Shapers of Austin, 1896-1906 . 1985. Austin Magazine27:91.
42.
Shefter, M.1983. Regional receptivity to reform: Legacy of the Progressive Era. Political Science Quarterly98:459-483.
43.
Shefter, M.1985. Political crisis, fiscal crisis: The collapse and revival of New York City. New York: Basic Books.
44.
Sibley, M. M.1968. The port of Houston, a history. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
45.
Simmons, M.1982. Albuquerque: A narrative history. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
46.
Smith, J. C.1975. The Phoenix drive for municipal reform and charter government. Typescript, Hayden Library, Arizona State University.
47.
Smith, K. L. 1978. From town to city: A history of Phoenix, 1870-1912. Master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
48.
Smith, K. L.1981. The campaign for water in central Arizona, 1890-1903. Arizona and the West23:127-148.
49.
Smythe, W. E.1907. Responsible government for California. Out West26:456-461.
50.
Staniszewski, F. n.d. Ideology and practice in municipal government reform: A case study of Austin. Paper no. 8, Studies in Politics Series 1: Studies in Urban Political Economy. University of Texas at Austin.
51.
Stone, H. A. , D. K. Price, and K. H. Stone. 1950. City manager government in nine cities. Chicago: Public Administration Service.
52.
Titus, C. J.1928. Voting in California cities, 1900-1925. Political and Social Science Quarterly8:383-399.
53.
U.S. Bureau of Census . 1896. U.S. Census of Population 1890. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
54.
U.S. Bureau of Census . 1902. U.S. Census of Population, 1900. Population, Part 1, Table 23. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
55.
U.S. Bureau of Census . 1912. U.S. Census of Population, 1910. Part 2, Table 2. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
56.
U.S. Bureau of Census1922. U.S. Census of Population, 1920. Part 1, Vo. 3, Table 10. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
57.
Waltz, W. E.1940. Arizona: A state of new-old frontiers. In Rocky Mountain politics, edited by T. C. Donnelly, 252-291. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
58.
Water for Phoenix: Building the Roosevelt Dam . 1977. Journal of Arizona History18:279-286.
59.
Weinstein, J.1968. The corporate ideal in the liberal state. Boston: Beacon.
60.
Wolfinger, R. , and Field, J. O.1966. Political ethos and the structure of city government. American Political Science Review60:306-326.