In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, land speculators laid out numerous unplanned suburban subdivisions in outlying wards of large industrial North American cities, including a group of nineteen such subdivisions in lower Southwest Philadelphia. With few restrictions on building and land use, individual families created businesses, dwellings, and yards to meet their own needs; thus, these subdivisions were characterized by significant variations in access to modern services and in the size, style, and quality of dwellings. Residents took great pride in their neighborhoods but also valued the surviving natural landscape preserved by undeveloped blocks and lots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]