Urban growth...up

I find it interesting that the advent of the skyscraper happened very quickly. In less than 20 years, the cityscape of the major US cities was transformed by the construction of these structures. I understand that there was a great deal of one-upmanship happening between the very rich businessmen, that it was a point of pride to have the biggest and the tallest of the buildings. I assume that the need for these buildings was validated by the people that moved their offices and homes into these structures. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would relocate to this type of living out of anything short of absloute necessity. The origins for the American way of life was to have a home of your own with land. These cities were the antithesis of this concept, we quickly created similar conditions that existed in Britain during their industrial boom. -- large crowded cities where the majority of conditions and daily activities were controlled by a few.