Leisure Time

The American middle class from all over the nation experienced many new leisure activities, nationwide the advertised campaigns in the rise of consumers culture began to a level of regional differences. Many people fought off city congestion and dull industrial work by enjoying simple things like sports, amusement parks and theater.

Activities & Hobbies


The most popular activities and hobbies included amusements parks, bicycling, and new forms of theater.  As Chicago, New York City, and other cities reserved land for outdoor enjoyment.  Smalle cities usually had built playgrounds and playing fields throughout their neighborhoods for those who lived in the surrounding area.  Another activity that is well thought of to this day is the amusement parks. These parks had often been built by trolley-car companies striving for more passengers who bragged of the picnic grounds and its variety of rides.  Coney Island had drawn many risk-taking customers to its location in 1884.  And the first Ferris Wheel brought crowds to the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.