Editing Blackpool (section)

===19th century===
{{More citations needed|date=December 2023}}[[File:On the sands at Blackpool 1895.jpg|thumb|right|Blackpool sands in 1895]]
By the early 19th century, small purpose-built facilities began catering for a [[Middle class|middle-class]] market, although substantial numbers of working people from manufacturing towns were "being drawn to Blackpool's charms".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2014 |title=Blackpool's Seaside Heritage |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/blackpools-seaside-heritage/blackpools-seaside-heritage/ |work=English Heritage}}</ref> In 1846, a pivotal event marked the early growth of the town: the completion of a railway branch line to Blackpool from Poulton. This spurred development as visitors flocked in by rail, boosting the town's economy. Blackpool prospered with the construction of accommodations and attractions, fostering rapid growth in the 1850s and 1860s. A Board of Health was established in 1851, gas lighting in 1852, and piped water in 1864. The town's population exceeded 2,500 by 1851.

North Pier opened in 1863, designed by [[Eugenius Birch]] for Blackpool's "better classes", and always retained its unique qualities of being a quieter, more reflective place compared with Blackpool's other two piers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gregson |first=Juliette |date=2023-05-21 |title=Memories of 160 years of North Pier |url=https://www.blackpoolsocial.club/38213-memories-of-160-years-of-north-pier/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Blackpool Social Club |language=en-US}}</ref> The following half century included the construction of two further piers – South Pier (now [[Central Pier, Blackpool|Central Pier]]) in 1868 and [[South Pier, Blackpool|Victoria (now South Pier)]] in 1893 – the [[Winter Gardens, Blackpool|Winter Gardens]] (1878), [[Blackpool Tower]] (1894) and the earliest surviving rides at [[Blackpool Pleasure Beach]] (founded in 1896).

Blackpool's Royal Palace Gardens at Raikes Hall was a world-famous destination for variety and [[music hall]] stars from the mid-18th century. It boasted a Grand Opera House, Indian Room for theatrical and variety performances, a Niagara café with [[cyclorama]], a skating rink and fern house, an elaborate [[Conservatory (greenhouse)|conservatory]], monkey house, [[aviary]] and outside dancing platform for several thousand people. The gardens also had carriage drives and walkways with Grecian and Roman statues for promenaders to enjoy. There was also a [[boating lake]] and a racing track with [[grandstand]] for several thousand. More than 40,000 visitors passed through its gates during the opening week in 1872.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slattery-Christy |first=David |title=Royal Palace Gardens: Blackpool's Lost Victorian Pleasure Gardens |publisher=CreateSpace |year=2016 |isbn=978-1530154913}}</ref>

[[Working class|Working-class]] tourists dominated the heart of the resort, which was the go-to destination for workers from the industrial north and their families. Entire towns would close down their industries during [[Wakes week]]s between June and September, with a different town on holiday each week. Communities would travel to Blackpool together, first by [[charabanc]] and later by train.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-07-17 |title=Wakes Weeks highlight of year |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/bygones/10554380.wakes-weeks-highlight-year/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Lancashire Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> But Blackpool still catered for a "significant middle-class market during the spring and autumn" favouring the residential area of North Shore.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:The promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England, ca. 1898.jpg|thumb|[[Photochrom]] of the Promenade {{Circa|1898}}]]
Blackpool's growth since the 1870s was shaped by its pioneering use of electrical power. Electric lighting came to Blackpool in 1879, as it became the world's first municipality with electric street lighting along the promenade, setting the stage for the [[Blackpool Illuminations]]. 100,000 people congregated to see the promenade illuminated on the evening of 19 September 1879.

Work started in Blackpool on the UK's first electric public tramway on 24 February 1884 and the [[Blackpool Tramway]] officially opened on 29 September 1885.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-10 |title=History of our Tramway – Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours |url=https://blackpoolheritage.com/tours/history-of-our-tramway/,%20https://blackpoolheritage.com/tours/history-of-our-tramway/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |language=en-GB}}</ref> It established one of the world's earliest electric tramways, initially operated by the [[Blackpool Electric Tramway Company]]. By 1899, the tramway expanded, and the conduit system was replaced by overhead wires. The system still remains in service. Blackpool became one of the first towns to mark important civic events with illuminated tram-cars when five Corporation trams were decorated with coloured lights to mark the Diamond Jubilee of [[Queen Victoria]] in 1897.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Toulmin |first=Vanessa |author-link=Vanessa Toulmin|title=Lighting Festivity |url=https://www.showtownblackpool.co.uk/news/lighting-festivity |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Showtown |language=en-GB}}</ref>
[[File:Eric and Mabel Moorhouse.jpg|thumb|Holiday makers from Yorkshire, c. 1930]]
By the 1890s, Blackpool had a population of 35,000 and could host 250,000 holidaymakers. Notable structures, like the Grand Theatre (1894) and Blackpool Tower, emerged. The Grand Theatre was among Britain's first all-electric theatres. The Victorian and Edwardian period saw a significant construction of hotels and other accommodation,  including the [[Grand Metropole Hotel]] (1873 but incorporating an earlier hotel that had opened in 1785), the [[Imperial Hotel, Blackpool|Imperial Hotel]] (1867) and the [[Norbreck Castle Hotel]] (1912).<ref name="t255">{{cite book | last=Rigby | first=Janet | title=Celebrating Blackpool | publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited | date=2023-02-15 | isbn=978-1-3981-0415-0 | page=}}</ref> These hotels remain extant.<ref name="t255"/>

In 1897, [[Borough of Blackpool|Blackpool Corporation]] prohibited "[[Phrenology|phrenologists]], "[[Quackery|quack]]" doctors, [[Palmistry|palmists]], mock auctions and cheap jacks" hawking on Blackpool sands. The outliers moved onto Central Promenade where they erected stalls in front gardens. The stretch became known as the [[Golden Mile (Blackpool)|Golden Mile]] and [[sideshow]]s became one of its key features until the 1960s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Brian |title=The Blackpool Story |last2=Palmer |first2=Steve |year=1976 |isbn=0950011320 |edition=1st}}</ref>