The American West in 1900: The End of the Frontier

The closing of the American frontier in 1890 marked the end of one of the most dramatic eras in U. S. history, an era that had seen the expansion of European settler colonies into vast wildernesses, the collision of cultures, and the transformation of landscapes and societies. In this chapter, the gradual fade of the frontier into history is explored, emphasizing the multiple forces that contributed to its close by the dawn of the 20th century.
The American West, once a vast, seemingly endless stretch of wilderness, had undergone profound changes that would define the shape of the nation for generations to come. This transformation was driven not just by policy decisions and economic pressures but by the collective imagination of those who lived through it-the pioneers, soldiers, writers, and thinkers who shaped and were shaped by the myth and reality of the frontier.
In 1890, the U. S. Census Bureau famously declared that the frontier no longer existed. The Census had been tasked with mapping the country's population, and it concluded that the frontier line, which had been moving westward since the early 19th century, had essentially disappeared. As historian Frederick Jackson Turner would famously argue in his "Frontier Thesis" (1893), the frontier played a critical role in shaping American democracy, individualism, and national character.
Turner's thesis contended that the availability of free land on the frontier had given Americans an opportunity to reinvent themselves, escape the constraints of European traditions, and forge new forms of social, political, and economic life. The closing of the frontier, Turner suggested, would mark the end of a uniquely American chapter, forever altering the country's identity and its future trajectory.