The Builders of America: Hard Work, Innovation, and Leisure
About This Footage
Reel 2 of War Comes to America showcases the immigrants who shaped the nation and the industries they helped build. Scenes depict blacksmiths, sulfur mines, Texas oil fields, vineyards in California, coal miners, and railroad workers laying tracks. As America industrialized, footage captures the rise of early steam engines, telegraph lines, automobiles, airplanes, skyscrapers, and massive infrastructure projects like dams and bridges. The reel also explores everyday American life before WWII, with children in schools, apartment buildings, and automobiles filling city streets. Leisure activities include baseball, football, basketball, horse racing, rodeos, skiing, water sports, and boxing. The vibrant culture of the era is reflected in music, dancing, juke boxes, and marching bands, while the economic tensions of the time are symbolized by a stock market ticker crashing to the floor. A sweeping visual record of America’s growth, resilience, and innovation.