ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
The year is 1902, one hundred and three years ago years ago ...what a difference a century makes. Here are the U.S. statistics for 1902.
(The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven (47).
Only 14 percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.
The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.
More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.
Ninety percent of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
The five leading causes of death in the US were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. {Clearly, no Hallmark Card Company, either}
One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.
Wow, times have changed!
(The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven (47).
Only 14 percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.
The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.
More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.
Ninety percent of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
The five leading causes of death in the US were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. {Clearly, no Hallmark Card Company, either}
One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.
Wow, times have changed!
posted by Live, Love, Laugh | 2:48 PM
7 Comments:
I would have enjoyed being one of the 18% of Americans having a servant or domestic--someone else to take care of my dust and run the vacuum cleaner around. :^)
But not having a bathtub would really bother me and that part about washing hair....YUCK!
Penelope, I know what you mean about the hair washing thing!!, but the thing about selling heroin and marijuana in the drug store really caught me by surprise. What a world it must've been.
I think sometimes "the olden days" are so romanticized that we dream for things to be like it was. But, after reading this list, I'm pretty glad to be living today. :)
you know...the maximum speed limit you go in Atlanta at traffic hour is still 10 MPH! some things never change!
Wow - very intriguing!!
Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing! Except for the Death by Diarrhea and not shampooing my hair for A MONTH!?!! My scalp is like an oil derrick. I'm not sure which one of those is worse.
I bet those 30 people living in Las Vegas had no idea that people would be blogging about them 103 years later either.
Wow, I'm glad that times have changes. If I don't get my daily shower I become a monster.
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