This was a period when people fled from farm to cities. Many inmigrants left Europe and went to America and as they couldn't establish in farms, they set themselved in the cities.
Urbanization increased and with it, standard of living and Americans could spare some income for entertainment.
German immigrants tended to travel as families and carried with them skills and capital that enabled them to enter middle class trades.
In industrial northern cities, Irish immigrants formed trade unions. Labor activists organized to limit working hours and protect children in factories. Women, a dominant labor source for factories , launched some of the earliest strikes for better conditions.
