During the Industrial Revolution, Leeds experienced a period of rapid population expansion. Leeds was granted city status in 1893. These two maps show Leeds in 1806 (top) and 1866 (bottom) you can see the scale of expansion in the 60 years is very large.
The city's industrial growth was catalysed by the introduction of the Aire & Calder Navigation in 1699, Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816 and the railways from 1834 onwards; the first being the Leeds and Selby Railway opened on 22 September 1834. The first Leeds railway station was at Marsh Lane; the Leeds Wellington station was opened in 1848; the Central in 1854, and the New station in 1869. Little by little the town was linked up with Hull, York, Sheffield, Bradford, Dewsbury; with the Durham and Northumberland towns; with Manchester and Liverpool; and with the Midlands and London.
Leeds was home to the first locomotive steam railway, Middleton Railway, which transported coal into the centre of Leeds. The city centre of Leeds became a hub for transport and commerce. Hunslet and Holbeck became major engineering centres. Armley, Bramley and Kirkstall became milling centres and areas such as Roundhay became middle class suburbs, the building of the Leeds Tramway allowing them better connections with the rest of the city.
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