The West is an enormous place so generalizations are difficult to make. That said, the majority of the region was and continues to be largely urban in its settlement. Since most people in the nineteenth century did not have a horse (contrary to the Hollywood-based stereotype), people had to be able to walk to work, shopping, places of worship, places of leisure, etc. This often resulted in tightly-packed houses. There was often room in the back (for an outhouse and also for a place for chickens or growing vegetables, etc., but the idea of a large yard surrounding a house and setting it away from the road is a fairly late ideal for the West.