Village Improvement and the Development of Small Town America,1853–1893

Abstract

Archival research shows that village improvement was not simply a prequel to City Beautiful, but part of a larger rural reform movement responsible for developing small town American in the late nineteenth century. This article presents a detailed historical account of the Laurel Hill Association in Stockbridge, MA, and an overview of the scope of improvement theory and practice at the national level between 1853 and 1893, the period of village improvement’s greatest impact on the development of small town America. This fuller history of village improvement offers important distinctions and emphases that have been previously neglected or not recognized in planning history literature. Further, in light of recent interest in small town America as a precedent for contemporary urban design, this research offers practitioners greater understanding of this archetype’s planning history.