The unrelenting industrialization of America in the 19th century brought undreamed-of wealth and abundance to the nation as it emerged as a major world power after the trauma of a bloody civil war; however, the wealth was unevenly distributed, and industrialization inevitably produced the undesirable side effects of overcrowded tenement life, pollution, and the general degradation of the environment. This, in turn, set some of the nation's great thinkers on the path to coming up with answers to alleviate the ill effects of a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing society. Frederick Law Olmsted's answer in 1868 was the conception of a suburb for Chicago that combined the best aspects of urban life with that of rural life. So, he created Riverside, an ideal environment for civilization to flourish.
