tion.
Rijeka's port underwent a tremendous development fueled by heavy Hungarian investment, becoming the main maritime outlet for Hungary and the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the fifth port in the Mediterranean, after Marseilles, Genova, Naples and Trieste. The population grew rapidly from only 21,000 in 1880 to 50,000 in 1910. A lot of major civic buildings went up at that time, including the Governor's Palace designed by the Hungarian architect Alajos Hauszmann.
Apart from the rapid economic growth, the period encompassing the second half of the 19th and up to WWI also saw a shift in the ethnic composition of the city. Kingdom of Hungary, which administered the city in that period, favored the Italian element in the city and encouraged the Italian immigration at the detriment of Croats, with whom Hungarians at the time had a difficult relationship and who claimed the city should be part of Croatia-Slavonia (while Hungarians considered the city to be a corpus separatum). At the turn of the century, Hungarians had 10 secondary schools and 4 elementary schools in the city, Italians had 5 secondary and 21 elementary schools, while Croats had no schools at all. In 1910, there were 24,000 Italians, but only 13,000 Croats in Rijeka (in addition to the 6,500 Hungarians and several thousands of other nationalities, mostly Slovenians and Germans), giving the city a decidedly Italian character.
The future mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, lived in the city at the turn of the 20th century, working at the U. S. consulate (1901-1906), and reportedly even played football for the local sports club.
The Italo-Yugoslav dispute and the Free State
Fiume (Rijeka) Port in 1909
Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary's disintegration in the closing weeks of World War I in the fall of 1918 led to the establishment of rival Croatian and Italian administrations in the city; both Italy and the founders of the new
