Before the Industrial Revolution, most families lived and worked as farmers with whole families contributing to different tasks. After the revolution, the economy changed and families moved to cities for work. This led them to live in overcrowded, cheaply constructed homes with poor conditions in new urban slums. Later, some factory owners constructed "company towns" near mines and factories with multiple families living in tightly packed buildings lacking proper sanitation, leading to disease outbreaks. The Progressive Era brought reforms to address these social and housing problems.