In 1890, two-thirds of all Americans had lived in rural communities, but by the turn of the century that proportion started a downward slide that would never be reversed. By 1910, more than half of the population was concentrated in urban areas, lured by jobs and aided by a revolution in transportation that eased rural reliance on the railroads: Henry Ford had introduced his Model T just two years earlier, and would sell fifteen million of them over the next two decades.
