The flat boomers of Gotham
Subject(s): Apartment houses, Building--Design and construction, New York (State), New York (State)--New York, Real estate development
Click on image to zoom in
A crowd of people, many with belongings in tow, wait for the rope to drop so they can dash for available apartments. In the background, apartment buildings are being constructed, all indicating that they will be finished in a very short period of time, to meet the rising demand for housing. Caption: The rush for apartments is getting very Oklahoma.
Comments and Context
This magnificent and detailed center-spread Puck cartoon by Albert Levering comes down through history as almost a complete checklist of the day’s prominent social classes, ethnic groups, professions, “types,” and representatives of life during the Roosevelt economy. Upwardly mobile people, new home construction progressing at a fevered pace, citizens and businesspeople alike depicted as extreme stereotypes — all are represented in the cartoon, from domestic servants to thieving plumbers and rental agents.
But there is a deeper historical lesson in the cartoon, as there usually is. At the time of this cartoon, it was announced that one last land distribution in the Oklahoma Territory would be made. Unlike the famous 1889 Land Rush (from which sociologist Frederick Jackson Turner concluded that America’s frontier had ceased to exist; a psychological, more than a geography, lesson), and smaller subsequent “rushes,” the 1906 distribution would be an auction for lands in the half-million-acre Big Pasture area. President Roosevelt would declare Oklahoma to be the forty-sixth of the United States.
Hence the news about the last sort of an Oklahoma Land Rush — still a cliche today — was in the air. In Levering’s view, New York City had its own variety, just as manic.
Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Creation Date
1906-04-11
Creator(s)
Period
U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)
Repository
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Page Count
1
Record Type
Image
Resource Type
Rights
These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.
Citation
Cite this Record
Chicago:
The flat boomers of Gotham. [April 11, 1906]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278528. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Levering, Albert, 1869-1929. The flat boomers of Gotham. [11 Apr. 1906]. Image.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 19, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278528.
APA:
Levering, Albert, 1869-1929., [1906, April 11]. The flat boomers of Gotham.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o278528.
Cite this Collection
Chicago:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
MLA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. February 19, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
APA:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/library-of-congress-prints-and-photographs.
