Leisure Time Essay

In the mid-1800s Americans turn uped to receive a administer of extra eon in their hand and had more date to do frolic activities. Businesses declining working hours was a major reason for the rise of leisure cartridge holder notwithstanding what as well as had a huge involve was installation of the electric lighting in the citys streets which made Americans amaze more time to perform activities at later hours (Lund). So what did Americans decide to do with this time? The recomm set asideation of physical commit as a way to relive of all the stress raised the importance of physical actives and to also attend spectator sports became patch of the leisure activities in the United States. vaudeville, dance halls, and motion pictures became touristed, while tender modes of travel allowed Americans to go visit the mountains, seaside resorts and county fairs (Lund).To begin with afterward the Civil contend, the popularity of sports as leisure activities grew as people began to see the importance of exercise to health. While initially only the wealthy could take part in most sporting unconstipatedts because the middle and lower classes couldnt afford most of the activities .The opening of popular available gymnasiums, courts, and fields allowed the middle class to participate in those activities as well (Lund). Athletic clubs such as the New York Athletic Club were organized and the YMCAs began to institute sports programs. These programs by and large focused on racetrack and field events, introduced by communities of European descent, and gymnastics, heavily influenced by German athletics. Gymnasiums, which overwhelmd exercises using Indian clubs, wooden rings, and dumbbells, were undetermined in many Eastern cities which helped expand exercise.Also With the extra time Americans gained American want out to find bracing slipway to keep themselves occupied and entertained. Americans began to seek out new ways to distract themselves so they start ed to experiment in making new activities to do. As a result of Americans quest for a new past time they invented Americas greatest past time today, base eggs. Different types of baseball have been played throughout time and before the 1800s but the rise of the sport didnt scrape until after the polished war (Bluett). While at war the soldiers had a lot of extra time in their hands the soldiers from New York introduced the game to their comrades from their camps and soon the game also spread to other camps over the northeast and south. It was said that because of this baseball expanded from the north to the south baseball was recognized more after the civil war ended.After all the soldiers from the camps were taught how to play, they went back home and introduced their sport to their families and friends which helped expand they name of the game (Bluett). In 1870 the starting line professional team were founded but didnt last for more than five years. In 1876 the first major pr ofessional league that was formed was the National league of baseball clubs which still exist today. some(a) other sport that was created by Americans in the 19th blow which they invented to perform as a leisure action was Basketball. The game was created from the mind of James Naismith in 1891, while he was an instructor at the School for Christian Workers, later called the International YMCA Training School, in Springfield, Massachusetts (McComb). The YMCA was an international organization that focused on the stem that physical as well as religious training was important for humans. Naismith had graduated from McGill University, and after go forth a Presbyterian seminary joined the YMCA school in Massachusetts.When he arrived the director of the YMCA name Luther asked Naismith if he could design an fire indoor sport for physical activity in a gymnasiums Americans can exercise while having fun in the winter when it was cold and couldnt be external (McComb). He thought that p eople were bored of just working out with weights and running around without a purpose. James considered the thought of throwing a ball into a thump, like the warm-up exercise he had used when he played rugby but only this time the box was ten feet up and had to dribble the ball (McComb). The game was a succeeder Americans all over the country were playing it and it even expanded internationally. In the 1880s women didnt really perform anysports but after they were introduced with basketball they were so fascinated that it became one of womens favourite(a) sport in the 1880s. Furthermore although men performed the majority of sports activities around the 19th century. Opportunities for women began to appear as the century ended. Some of the most popular sports for women in the 19 century were basketball and lawn tennis.Also by the end of the century schools began to offer even more sports activities for females, such as gymnastics and basketball. One of the most popular sports fo r women was basketball. Girls and womens basketball flourished in the early years of the game. Two days after the invention of basketball, some female teachers who had heard the shouts of players coming from the gym, asked Naismith to instruct them (Woolum). Naismith did so and the women became very stemma of the sport. In 1892 after the women new the game better the YMCA hosted the first tournament for women (Woolum). The game for women spread and they even got to play in college, in 1896 the first intercollegiate game was played in Berkeley between the University of California and Stanford. No male spectators were allowed at the Berkeley match because it was considered improper for male viewers to attend (Woolum). Also the other sport the women were very fund of was lawn tennis. Mary Ewing Outerbridge has been credited with introducing lawn tennis to the United States in 1874. When she went to Bermuda she watched as British Army officers were hitting a rubber ball with spoon-shap ed paddles strung with catgut across an outstretched net. Fascinated by the game, Outerbridge brought a box of the tennis equipment with her and returned to New York (Woolum). When she got home she introduced the game to her friends and family.The game rapidly got popular and became very popular not just with women but with men as well and rapidly spread throughout the Northeast as a favorite national pastime (Woolum). In addition Americans didnt just past their quantify with sports they also enjoyed other activities like attending vaudeville shows. Within cities, people attended vaudeville shows which would include many acts. The vaudeville shows were usually watched by the middle class, the shows often ran for many hours so the people could come and go whenever they wanted (Ushistory). In the Vaudeville shows the viewers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy (Lund). Vaudeville shows werent just for entertaining they al so talkedabout economic and ethnic situations. Other popular shows of the time included circuses and Wild West shows, one of the most famous plays was Buffalo Bill Codys by William F. Motion pictures also served as entertainment during leisure time for urban audiences.Initially the movies were originalities in picture tube viewers, until they became acts in their own right on the vaudeville stage. As motion pictures became longer, they moved into storefront jukebox theaters and then into even larger theaters (Lund). Finally another activity Americans did as for their leisure time was to go on vacations. Some people wished to go further afield on their vacations and leave the city straight off that they invented a new way to travel faster which was by trains (Ushistory). Many with limited budgets went to the countryside or the beaches which mostly included the lower and middle class. Towards the late nineteenth century resorts opened in the outskirts of cities, such as the beach ar ea of Asbury parkland in New Jersey which was founded in 1870 (Lund). Amusement parks opened in places like Coney Island in New York was founded in 1897.the Park offering rides, fun houses, and scenes from strange life, and the latest technological breakthroughs, such as motion pictures.National parks were created by the federal regimen to preserve nature and many began to tour these areas on vacation (Lund). One such example was Yellowstone Park where people camped or stayed at the hotels, the park was built there in the late 1880s. Worlds fairs and expositions held in different U.S. cities offered Americans a chance to tour the world in one place. The fairs celebrated development and featured exhibits of science and technology, foreign villages, shows, rides and vendors. The first major one was the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 (Lund). tout ensemble in all Americans in the 19th century performed a large variety of activities for their leisure time. men performed many different physical activities especially when clubs like the YMCA was introduced which helped more Americans become more active, also American performed sports like baseball and basketball in their leisure time. In the late 19th century even women were starting to take place in the sports and other activates. Another major activity Americans did for leisure time was to go to vaudeville shows which had all sorts of acts from Shakespeare plays to comedy acts. Finally after traveling was easier Americans started to go on vacations outside the city and go to resorts and world fairs for their leisure time.Bibliography1. http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/awlhtml/awlleis.htmla. empty after the civil warb. Lund, Karen C. America at Work / America at Leisure, 1894-1915. 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