Union Army Data - HUE

Historical Urban Ecological

The Historical Urban Ecological (HUE) data set describes ward-level health and environmental conditions in seven of America’s largest cities--Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York (Manhattan), and Philadelphia--from 1830 to 1930.

By downloading a Union Army or Early Indicators dataset, a user is agreeing to abide by the Union Army Data User Access Agreement.

The data set is broken down into three main components:

• Historical GIS ward boundaries covering all changes and annexations from 1830 to 1930
• Historical GIS street networks c.1930 reconstructed from period maps
• 3,365 tables of ward-level data, digitized from annual reports of municipal departments covering vital statistics, crime, disease, property values, education, election results, sanitation infrastructure, and more.

Users can download geographies and variables of interest below. The data are compatible with major GIS software packages. A join on ward_num will link the tabular data to the desired ward geographies.

Researchers selected the HUE study cities and variables in order to best analyze the effects of intra-urban health disparities and public health interventions on individual mortality and longevity as observed through the Union Army and US Colored Troops cohorts. The general utility and diversity of the HUE resources, however, enable applications well beyond the Early Indicators project.

HUE DOCUMENTATION

The most vital piece of documentation is the HUE Codebook, which describes data sources and collection methodology and how to use the collected HUE data.

The complete HUE data set is also available on the ICPSR web site.

Other documentation

Descriptions of the HUE GIS files, historical sources, and assorted methodologies developed for the Early Indicators project, such as historical geocoding with the HUE street centerlines.

Please note that while preliminary data is available for Pittsburgh, it could not be included in the final project due to multiple floods destroying ward boundaries.

• Baltimore Ward History
• Baltimore Ward Changes
• Boston Ward History
• Brooklyn Ward History
• Chicago Ward History
• Cincinnati Ward History
• Manhattan Ward History
• Philadelphia Ward History
• Geocoding the UA and USCT
• HUE Sanitation Data Entry Guide
• HUE Shoreline Sources
• HUE Variables Grouped by Type

WARD-LEVEL BULK DOWNLOADS

The full set of HUE ward-level data is available for download as digitized. Broken down by city, these files are Excel format copies of the original historical documents used to create the HUE data set.

• Baltimore Data
• Boston Data
• Brooklyn Data
• Chicago Data
• Cincinnati Data
• New York City Data
• Philadelphia Data
• Pittsburgh Data - Pittsburgh was included in the pilot but not the full project due to ward changes caused by flooding

HISTORICAL GIS FILES

The historical GIS files including ward boundaries, street centerlines, and urban sanitation systems are available for download in shapefile and geodatabase formats.

Geodatabases by City

• Baltimore Geodatabase
• Boston Geodatabase
• Brooklyn Geodatabase
• Chicago Geodatabase
• Cincinnati Geodatabase
• Manhattan Geodatabase
• Philadelphia Geodatabase

Street Centerlines by City

• Baltimore Street Centerlines
• Boston Street Centerlines
• Brooklyn Street Centerlines
• Chicago Street Centerlines
• Cincinnati Street Centerlines
• Manhattan Street Centerlines
• Philadelphia Street Centerlines

Ward Boundaries by City

• Baltimore Ward Boundaries
• Boston Ward Boundaries
• Brooklyn Ward Boundaries
• Chicago Ward Boundaries
• Cincinnati Ward Boundaries
• Manhattan Ward Boundaries
• Philadelphia Ward Boundaries

Sanitation Systems by City

• Baltimore Sanitation
• Boston Sanitation
• Brooklyn Sanitation
• Chicago Sanitation
• Manhattan Sanitation
• Philadelphia Sanitation

Hormer-Hoyt Land Values

Hoyt Shapefiles

Additional Tools Used for Final Data

Stata Tools Files for All Cities

Shapefile Tools Files for All Cities and Years