New York during the late 19th century and 20th century was thronged by immigrants from various countries. This created an exponential population growth in the city that has having a hard time providing a proper shelter for these new people. Overcrowding created a need for the establishment of tenements in the city. Tenements were often poorly maintained and below standard living spaces that was cheaply offered for these new immigrants who had nothing but the clothes that they wore on them.
Such tenements were apartment buildings that were often occupied by multiple families with quite often more than ten people occupying a space that was meant for one or two people. Along with overcrowding, disease and poverty riddled such neighborhoods due to the lack of ventilation and basic sanitation conditions for living. Jacob Riis in his book, How the Other Half Lives documented several cases of such dreadful living conditions with his muckraking photojournalism. The books showed the poorest of the poor and sought to reform the plight of these people.
One such tenement that was used during this time period by the various immigrants has been converted into a museum for educating the public about the terrible history of immigration. Named, the Lower East Tenement Museum, it features photographs, documents and artifacts from that time period. It is a place full of stories on the troubles of the people that came to live in the City.
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