A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons, such as a proximity to a major metropolitan area, huge construction project, or attractive climate.
Early boomtowns, such as Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester, experienced a dramatic surge in population and economic activity during the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 19th century. In pre-industrial England these towns had been relative backwaters, compared to the more important market towns of Bristol, Norwich, and York, but they soon became major urban and industrial centres. Although these boomtowns did not directly owe their sudden growth to the discovery of a local natural resource, the factories were set up there to take advantage of the excellent Midlands infrastructure and the availability of large seams of cheap coal for fuel.[1]
Another typical boom town is Trieste in Italy. In the 19th century the free port and the opening of the Suez Canal began an extremely strong economic development. At the beginning of the First World War, the former fishing village with a deep-water port, which used to be small but geographically centrally located, was the third largest city of the Habsburg monarchy. Due to the many new borders, World War II and the Cold War, the city was completely isolated, abandoned and shrank for a long time. The handling of goods in the port and property prices fell sharply. Only when the surrounding countries joined the EU did Trieste return to the economic center of Europe.[2][3][4]
In the mid-19th century, boomtowns that were based on natural resources began to proliferate as companies and individuals discovered new mining prospects across the world. The California Gold Rush of the Western United States stimulated numerous boomtowns in that period, as settlements seemed to spring up overnight in the river valleys, mountains, and deserts around what was thought to be valuable gold mining country. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, boomtowns called mill towns would quickly arise due to sudden expansions in the timber industry; they tended to last the decade or so it took to clearcut nearby forests. Modern-day examples of resource-generated boomtowns include Fort McMurray in Canada, as the extraction of nearby oilsands requires a vast number of workers, and Johannesburg in South Africa, based on the gold and diamond trade.
Attributesedit
Boomtowns are typically characterized as "overnight expansions" in both population and money, as people stream into the community for mining prospects, high-paying jobs, attractive amenities or climate, or other opportunities. Typically, newcomers are drawn by high salaries or the prospect of "striking it rich" in mining; meanwhile, numerous indirect businesses develop to cater to workers often eager to spend their large paychecks. Often, boomtowns are the site of both economic prosperity and social disruption, as the local culture and infrastructure, if any, struggles to accommodate the waves of new residents. General problems associated with this fast growth can include: doctor shortages, inadequate medical and/or educational facilities, housing shortages, sewage disposal problems, and a lack of recreational activities for new residents.[5]
The University of Denver separates problems associated with a mining-specific boomtown into three categories:[5][6]
deteriorating quality of life, as growth in basic industry outruns the local service sector's ability to provide housing, health services, schooling, and retail
declining industrial productivity in mining because of labor turnover, labor shortages, and declining productivity
an underserving by the local service sector in goods and services because capital investment in this sector does not build up adequately
The initial increasing population in Perth, Western Australia, Australia (considered to be a modern-day boomtown) gave rise to overcrowding of residential accommodation as well as squatter populations.[7] "The real future of Perth is not in Perth's hands but in Melbourne (and London) where Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton run their organizations", indicating that some boomtowns' growth and sustainability are controlled by an outside entity.[7]
Boomtowns are typically extremely dependent on the single activity or resource that is causing the boom (e.g., one or more nearby mines, mills, or resorts), and when the resources are depleted or the resource economy undergoes a "bust" (e.g., catastrophic resource price collapse), boomtowns can often decrease in size as fast as they initially grew. Sometimes, all or nearly the entire population can desert the town, resulting in a ghost town.
This can also take place on a planned basis. Since the late 20th century, mining companies have developed temporary communities to service a mine-site, building all the accommodation shops and services, using prefabricated housing or other buildings, making dormitories out of shipping containers, and removed all such structures as the resource was worked out.[citation needed]
Wenatchee, Washington and other towns in the area are currently undergoing massive electrical infrastructure growth to support bitcoin mining due to the cheap local electricity[9]
Dubai, UAE - due to economic policies favoring zero income taxes, regulation-free banking, tax incentives, free trade, real estate investment, pro-Western diplomacy (sanctuary for international navy ships to dock at ports).
Dublin, Ireland - due to catering to genealogical tourism of Americans descended from emigrés from previous centuries
^Aswad, Ed; Meredith, Suzanne M. (2003). Endicott-Johnson. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. p. 43. ISBN978-0738513065. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
^Roberts, Paul (March 2018). "This Is What Happens When Bitcoin Miners Take Over Your Town". Politico. from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
^"Boomtown Leipzig – Der neue Hype im Osten". ARTE Info. from the original on 2015-08-26.
^Immobilien, Dima (15 April 2016). "Boomtown Leipzig– Immobilienmarkt explodiert– Dima Immobilien". dima-immobilien.de. from the original on 2018-05-10.
^Strikwerda, Carl (1984). "Regionalism and Internationalism: The Working-Class Movement in the Nord and the Belgian Connection, 1871–1914". In Sweets, John F. (ed.). Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History. Vol. 12. p. 221. hdl:2027/mdp.39015012965524. ISSN 0099-0329. Contemporaries never tired of calling Roubaix an "American city," because of its raw, fast-growing character, or of referring to Roubaix and its sister cities of Lille and Tourcoing as the "French Manchester."
^Clark, Peter (2009). European Cities and Towns: 400–2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 246. ISBN978-0199562732. from the original on October 4, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-01. Roubaix was another new town, originally a craft village, whose many textile mills attracted a population of 100,000 and generated massive social and environmental problems.
External linksedit
Look up boomtown in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Boom towns are usually established in 5-12 years
November 03, 2023
boomtown, this, article, about, boomtowns, demography, other, uses, disambiguation, boomtown, community, that, undergoes, sudden, rapid, population, economic, growth, that, started, from, scratch, growth, normally, attributed, nearby, discovery, precious, reso. This article is about boomtowns in demography For other uses see Boomtown disambiguation A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth or that is started from scratch The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold silver or oil although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons such as a proximity to a major metropolitan area huge construction project or attractive climate Ornamental oil derricks in Kilgore Texas United States Contents 1 First boomtowns 2 Attributes 3 Examples 3 1 Australia 3 2 Brazil 3 3 Canada 3 4 United Kingdom 3 5 United States 3 6 Others 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksFirst boomtowns edit nbsp Trieste Italy from the opening of the free port a boomtown of Central Europe in the northernmost part of the Adriatic nbsp California attracted tens of thousands of gold prospectors during the Gold Rush of 1849 Early boomtowns such as Leeds Liverpool and Manchester experienced a dramatic surge in population and economic activity during the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the 19th century In pre industrial England these towns had been relative backwaters compared to the more important market towns of Bristol Norwich and York but they soon became major urban and industrial centres Although these boomtowns did not directly owe their sudden growth to the discovery of a local natural resource the factories were set up there to take advantage of the excellent Midlands infrastructure and the availability of large seams of cheap coal for fuel 1 Another typical boom town is Trieste in Italy In the 19th century the free port and the opening of the Suez Canal began an extremely strong economic development At the beginning of the First World War the former fishing village with a deep water port which used to be small but geographically centrally located was the third largest city of the Habsburg monarchy Due to the many new borders World War II and the Cold War the city was completely isolated abandoned and shrank for a long time The handling of goods in the port and property prices fell sharply Only when the surrounding countries joined the EU did Trieste return to the economic center of Europe 2 3 4 In the mid 19th century boomtowns that were based on natural resources began to proliferate as companies and individuals discovered new mining prospects across the world The California Gold Rush of the Western United States stimulated numerous boomtowns in that period as settlements seemed to spring up overnight in the river valleys mountains and deserts around what was thought to be valuable gold mining country In the late 19th and early 20th centuries boomtowns called mill towns would quickly arise due to sudden expansions in the timber industry they tended to last the decade or so it took to clearcut nearby forests Modern day examples of resource generated boomtowns include Fort McMurray in Canada as the extraction of nearby oilsands requires a vast number of workers and Johannesburg in South Africa based on the gold and diamond trade Attributes editBoomtowns are typically characterized as overnight expansions in both population and money as people stream into the community for mining prospects high paying jobs attractive amenities or climate or other opportunities Typically newcomers are drawn by high salaries or the prospect of striking it rich in mining meanwhile numerous indirect businesses develop to cater to workers often eager to spend their large paychecks Often boomtowns are the site of both economic prosperity and social disruption as the local culture and infrastructure if any struggles to accommodate the waves of new residents General problems associated with this fast growth can include doctor shortages inadequate medical and or educational facilities housing shortages sewage disposal problems and a lack of recreational activities for new residents 5 The University of Denver separates problems associated with a mining specific boomtown into three categories 5 6 deteriorating quality of life as growth in basic industry outruns the local service sector s ability to provide housing health services schooling and retail declining industrial productivity in mining because of labor turnover labor shortages and declining productivity an underserving by the local service sector in goods and services because capital investment in this sector does not build up adequatelyThe initial increasing population in Perth Western Australia Australia considered to be a modern day boomtown gave rise to overcrowding of residential accommodation as well as squatter populations 7 The real future of Perth is not in Perth s hands but in Melbourne and London where Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton run their organizations indicating that some boomtowns growth and sustainability are controlled by an outside entity 7 Boomtowns are typically extremely dependent on the single activity or resource that is causing the boom e g one or more nearby mines mills or resorts and when the resources are depleted or the resource economy undergoes a bust e g catastrophic resource price collapse boomtowns can often decrease in size as fast as they initially grew Sometimes all or nearly the entire population can desert the town resulting in a ghost town This can also take place on a planned basis Since the late 20th century mining companies have developed temporary communities to service a mine site building all the accommodation shops and services using prefabricated housing or other buildings making dormitories out of shipping containers and removed all such structures as the resource was worked out citation needed Examples editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Boomtown news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Australia edit nbsp Canvas Town South Melbourne Victoria Temporary accommodation for the thousands who poured into Melbourne each week in the early 1850s during the Victorian gold rush Ararat 1850s Victorian Gold Rush Ballarat 1850s 1880s Victorian Gold Rush Bathurst 1850s Australian gold rushes Bendigo 1850s 1880s Victorian Gold Rush Broken Hill 1880s silver lead zinc boom Castlemaine 1850s Victorian Gold Rush Charters Towers 1870s gold rush Gold Coast 1980s 2000s due to internal Australian migration trends Kalgoorlie 1890s gold rush Melbourne 1850s 1880s Victorian Gold Rush and associated speculative land boom PerthBrazil edit Altamira Para Balsas Maranhao Brasilia Federal District development of capital Goiania Goias Laranjal do Jari Amapa Luis Eduardo Magalhaes Bahia Ouro Preto Minas Gerais Ouro Preto Gold Rush Palmas Tocantins Parauapebas Para Rondonopolis Mato Grosso Serra Pelada District Curionopolis Para Serra Pelada Gold Rush Sinop Mato Grosso Sorriso Mato Grosso Tucurui Para Sao Paulo Sao PauloCanada edit Calgary Alberta during the 1970s oil boom in the province of Alberta Dawson City Yukon Klondike Gold Rush Edmonton Alberta Elliot Lake Ontario Estevan Saskatchewan Faro Yukon Fisherville British Columbia gold rush boom town of 1864 1865 Barkerville British Columbia Fort McMurray Alberta oil Greater Sudbury Ontario Halifax Nova Scotia as a port city during the First World War prior to The Halifax Explosion Kirkland Lake Ontario Oil Springs Ontario Petrolia Ontario Sept Iles a city in the Cote Nord region of eastern Quebec Canada Shawinigan Quebec Sydney Nova Scotia Yellowknife Northwest TerritoryUnited Kingdom edit Aberdeen North Sea oil boom known as the oil capital of Europe Barrow in Furness late 19th and early 20th centuries as the world s largest steelworks and major shipyard Belfast Northern Ireland fastest growing settlement in the British Isles in the 19th century due to industry and its port Consett Jarrow Leeds Liverpool industry and shipping emigrants Manchester rapid economic growth in the early 19th century Preston Lancashire the boomtown of the Industrial Revolution Winster Derbyshire England 17th century lead mining community United States edit nbsp San Francisco in 1851 during the heyday of the California gold rush Anderson Indiana automotive industry Atlanta Georgia rapidly rebuilt and became a commercial center in the years following the Civil War Atlantic City New Jersey resort boomtown 1870 1940 Basic City Virginia railroads and mining 1880s 1900s Beaumont Texas oil Belleville California gold mining boomtown 1860 1870 Birmingham Alabama coal and iron ore 1880s Bodie California Borger Texas Buffalo New York shipping via Erie Canal steel production 1825 1890 Burkburnett Texas Butte Montana copper and other resources Caldwell Kansas Cement California 1902 1927 Central City Colorado Chicago Illinois railroads commodity resources business Cincinnati Ohio trade shipping Colstrip Montana Columbia California Cripple Creek Colorado Deadwood South Dakota Denver Colorado Detroit Michigan rise of the automobile industry 1910 1950 Dodge City Kansas El Paso Texas Elkhart Indiana recreational vehicle and manufactured housing industry Ellsworth Kansas Endicott New York shoe manufacturing boomtown 1900s 1920s 8 Fairbanks Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush and the building of the Trans Alaska Pipeline Gary Indiana steel Gillette Wyoming Goldfield Nevada Graysonia Arkansas Guthrie Oklahoma oil Hancock Michigan Harrisburg Illinois Holyoke Massachusetts paper silk and wool textiles 1860 1914 Houghton Michigan Humble Texas Idaho City Idaho gold rush 1860s Jeffrey City Wyoming Kilgore Texas La Paz Arizona gold mining boomtown 1862 1864 Leadville Colorado Minneapolis Minnesota Lumber Industry 1852 1880 Newport Wisconsin sprang up because of a bridge expected to be built across the Wisconsin River there New Bedford Massachusetts whaling Nome Alaska Odessa Texas oil Pittsburgh Pennsylvania steel trade Pocatello Idaho railroad 1870s 1920s Richland Washington Rochester New York starting in the 1820s with the opening of the Erie Canal Sacramento California St Joseph Florida San Francisco California US settlement after winning Mexican War Salt Lake City Utah San Luis Arizona Seattle Washington became a prosperous port city during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897 subsequently after its great fire which also brought in an influx of jobs and newcomers Sioux City Iowa Tombstone Arizona Texarkana TX AR Virginia City Nevada silver mining boomtown 1860s Wenatchee Washington and other towns in the area are currently undergoing massive electrical infrastructure growth to support bitcoin mining due to the cheap local electricity 9 Wentzville Missouri Williston North Dakota oilOthers edit Batam Indonesia free trade Carbonia Italy Dubai UAE due to economic policies favoring zero income taxes regulation free banking tax incentives free trade real estate investment pro Western diplomacy sanctuary for international navy ships to dock at ports Dublin Ireland due to catering to genealogical tourism of Americans descended from emigres from previous centuries Dunedin New Zealand due to the 1860s Gold Rush Bangalore India due to outsourcing of call centers and the IT industry Hyderabad India due to outsourcing of call centers and the IT industry New Town Kolkata due to growth of IT industry Johannesburg South Africa Gold silver diamond rush Karachi Pakistan manufacturing Kimberley South Africa diamonds and gold Leipzig Germany 10 11 Monterrey Nuevo Leon Mexico industrialization due to metallurgic and brewing industries and their related supply chains Nizhnevartovsk Russia oil Novosibirsk Russia planned development as a scientific and industrial center hosted evacuated population and industry during World War II Roubaix France 12 13 Shenzhen ChinaSee also editYellowcake boomtown Zoom townReferences edit Brooks Ann Haworth Bryan 1993 Boom town Manchester 1800 1850 Manchester Portico Library Triest und die neue Seidenstrasse Triest ungelostes Hafenproblem Die OBB und der Hafen Triest verstarken Zusammenarbeit In Wiener Zeitung 18 03 2019 a b No 2 Controlling Boomtown Development Case Studies on Energy Impacts 1976 Duff Mary K Gilmore John S 1975 Boomtown Growth Management The University of Denver Research Institute a b Weller Richard 2009 Boomtown 2050 Aswad Ed Meredith Suzanne M 2003 Endicott Johnson Charleston SC Arcadia p 43 ISBN 978 0738513065 Retrieved 26 February 2015 Roberts Paul March 2018 This Is What Happens When Bitcoin Miners Take Over Your Town Politico Archived from the original on 9 March 2018 Retrieved 9 March 2018 Boomtown Leipzig Der neue Hype im Osten ARTE Info Archived from the original on 2015 08 26 Immobilien Dima 15 April 2016 Boomtown Leipzig Immobilienmarkt explodiert Dima Immobilien dima immobilien de Archived from the original on 2018 05 10 Strikwerda Carl 1984 Regionalism and Internationalism The Working Class Movement in the Nord and the Belgian Connection 1871 1914 In Sweets John F ed Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Western Society for French History Vol 12 p 221 hdl 2027 mdp 39015012965524 ISSN 0099 0329 Contemporaries never tired of calling Roubaix an American city because of its raw fast growing character or of referring to Roubaix and its sister cities of Lille and Tourcoing as the French Manchester Clark Peter 2009 European Cities and Towns 400 2000 Oxford Oxford University Press p 246 ISBN 978 0199562732 Archived from the original on October 4 2015 Retrieved 2015 10 01 Roubaix was another new town originally a craft village whose many textile mills attracted a population of 100 000 and generated massive social and environmental problems External links edit nbsp Look up boomtown in Wiktionary the free dictionary Boom towns are usually established in 5 12 years Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Boomtown amp oldid 1173588930, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
