20th century Lenapehoking
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In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, New York City's worst industrial disaster, took the lives of 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards.<ref name="cornell1"> Template:Cite web</ref>
By the 20th century, Philadelphia had become known as "corrupt and contented", with a complacent population and an entrenched Republican political machine.<ref>Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 535, 537</ref> The first major reform came in 1917 when outrage over the election-year murder of a police officer led to the shrinking of the Philadelphia City Council from two houses to just one.<ref>Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 563 – 564</ref> In July 1919, Philadelphia was one of more than 36 industrial cities nationally to suffer a race riot of ethnic whites against blacks during Red Summer, in post-World War I unrest, as recent immigrants competed with blacks for jobs. In the 1920s, the public flouting of Prohibition laws, mob violence, and police involvement in illegal activities led to the appointment of Brigadier General Smedley Butler of the U.S. Marine Corps as director of public safety, but political pressure prevented any long-term success in fighting crime and corruption.<ref>Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, pages 578 – 581</ref>
New York's nonwhite population was 36,620 in 1890.<ref>Ira Rosenwaike (1972).Population History of New York City, p.78.</ref> In the 1920s, New York City was a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. By 1916, New York City was home to the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition. The larger economic boom generated construction of competing skyscrapers that changed the skyline into its identifiable twentieth-century shape.
New Jersey also prospered through the Roaring Twenties. The first Miss America Pageant was held in 1921 in Atlantic City, the first drive-in movie was shown in 1933 in Camden, and the Holland Tunnel opened in 1927. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,<ref>Gerdes, Louise I. The 1930s, Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000.</ref> the zeppelin airship Hindenburg crashed in flames over Lakehurst, and the SS Morro Castle beached itself near Asbury Park after going up in flames while at sea.
New York City and vicinity (northern Lenapehoking) became the most populous urbanized area in the world in early 1920s, overtaking London. The metropolitan area surpassed the 10 million mark in early 1930s, becoming the first megacity in human history.<ref> Template:Cite web</ref> The difficult years of the Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello LaGuardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.<ref> Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1940, non-Hispanic whites constituted 86.8% of Philadelphia's population.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Through both World Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially in naval construction. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were all made in this state. In addition, Fort Dix (1917) (originally called "Camp Dix"),<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Citation needed</ref> Camp Merritt (1917)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Camp Kilmer (1941)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in the Cold War. Fourteen Nike Missile stations were constructed, especially for the defense of New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.) John F. Kennedy in World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks in Bayonne. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, the NS Savannah, was launched at Camden.
Returning World War II veterans created a postwar economic boom and the development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens. New York emerged from the war unscathed as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations Headquarters (completed in 1950) emphasized New York's political influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world.<ref> Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1951, the New Jersey Turnpike opened, permitting fast travel by car and truck between North Jersey (and metropolitan New York) and South Jersey (and metropolitan Philadelphia). The 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s were also when Robert Moses-designed parkways and freeways opened, cris-crossing New York City.
Philadelphia was not as lucky as its northern neighbor, New York City. The population of Philadelphia peaked at more than two million residents in 1950, then began to decline with the restructuring of industry, which led to the loss of many middle-class union jobs. (Deindustrialization would be particularly severe in places such as the Lehigh Valley, Camden, Jersey City, and Newark.) In addition, suburbanization had been drawing off many of the wealthier residents to outlying railroad commuting towns and newer housing. (Automobile infrastructure contributed to the bankruptcies of the railroads themselves, provoking a transportation crisis, with states being forced to create new transit agencies such as SEPTA, Metro-North, and New Jersey Transit.) White flight erupted all over Lenapehoking in the 1960s, and so did racially related violence. In the 1960s, race riots erupted in many of the industrial cities of North Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, in Newark and Plainfield. Other riots followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. A riot occurred in Camden in 1971.
As a result of an order from the New Jersey Supreme Court to fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature reluctantly passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax.<ref name=tws29decf3354>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the 1960s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates, which extended into the 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through the decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Revitalization and gentrification of Philadelphia neighborhoods began in the late 1970s and continues into the 21st century, with much of the development in the Center City and University City areas of the city. After many of the old manufacturers and businesses left Philadelphia or shut down, the city started attracting service businesses and began to more aggressively market itself as a tourist destination. Glass-and-granite skyscrapers were built in Center City. Historic areas such as Independence National Historical Park located in Old City and Society Hill were renovated during the reformist mayoral era of the 1950s through the 1980s. They are now among the most desirable living areas of Center City. This has slowed the city's 40-year population decline after it lost nearly one-quarter of its population.<ref>Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings, pages 44–45</ref><ref>A Concise History of Philadelphia, page 78</ref> Philadelphia has attracted more recent immigrants: Hispanics from Central and South America, Asian refugees from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Educated Asians from India have tended to settle in suburbs with other middle- and upper-class people.
By the 1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically in New York City due to changed police strategies, improving economy, gentrification, and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in New York City's economy. New York's population reached all-time highs in the 2000 Census and then again in the 2010 Census.
