Innovations In The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age was a birthplace for innovation in many sectors of the nation. In Chicago, the World Fair sprouted the creation of new products and services. For example, the Fair caused the creation of a structured and efficient police force, the Colombia Guard, which at the time was a concept that was rare in the U.S. In the public health sector, improved water systems were built to combat the large amounts of diseases in the Chicago water. Other parts of the U.S, such as the West, witnessed innovations such as the massive amount of new railroads being built and also the bonanza farms, which were large industrial farms. Also, the industrial sector saw an innovation, the merging of companies, which would greatly affect businessmen and consumers.
Consumers and laborers suffered due to the little regulations and alternatives that these “monopolies” caused. Communication was also innovated by the construction of the Atlantic Cable, which facilitated telegraph communication between North America and Europe. On the other hand, many negative innovations were born out of the Gilded Age. Two of these innovations directly pertain to Holmes, the murderer in The Devil in the White City. Holmes had built a furnace to burn his victims but discovered it could not achieve the heat necessary to accomplish this, so he had a new piece of equipment installed that could greatly increase the heat inside the furnace. Also, when Holmes was in jail, he wrote an autobiography that he wanted the public to read, in which he said he was innocent. This was an innovation, as it was very rare for criminals to use these tactics of public sympathy to pressure the government to release