30 January, 2006

What A Difference A Century Makes!

This was posted on another site and I thought it was really interesting, especially since this was just six years before my father was born.

It is pretty amazing to think what has happened and how things have changed in just 100 years.
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Turn the Clock back to the Year 1905.
This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!

The year is 1905.
One hundred years ago!
What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1905:
The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., 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 people, 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 U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
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.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.
Instead, they attended so-called 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 was 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 that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. 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 only 30!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. (Not sure we have improved on this one.)
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores!
Back then pharmacist said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.


What do you think things will look like in the year 2105?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

ok , i can handle all the other stuff ..but washing you hair 1 time a month?? with eggs?? eeewww!!!! LOLOL.... and in the year 2105 , we will be like the Jetsons!!!!! lolol

Anonymous said...

ROFL being Canadian originally it stood out that no poor person was permitted to enter Canada.... ROFL

what about those who were born there ROFL maybe I shoulda been kicked out? HAHAHHAHA

my goodness.

And i agree with Amy on the washing the hair thing... it goes along with only so many houses had bathtubs. lol Maybe our sense of smell has just gotten more sensative as time goes on?

Libby said...

Our house was built in the 1880's. Do think that is why we don't have a bathtub? (We do have to showers for inquiring minds that want to know.):)

Pastor Jeff said...

Wow, 70 years before I was born! My grandparents weren't even around yet, and wouldn't be for another 14 years.

Libby said...

Please forgive my typo. It is supposed to read "We have TWO showers.

Sarah said...

Libby, that was driving me NuTs! However, I bit my tongue (more specifically - my fingers) and held back any possible negative comments. =)

Henry Haney said...

In the year 2105 we will have our clones doing all our dirty work (like blogging for instance)- while we sit on a tropical island somewhere.

(I'm sorry- it's really late on a Wednesday night and I'm a little tired and punchy-though I've had no punch-LOL)

J. Stephen Conn said...

Wow, fascinating stuff. You didn't mention that the total population of Pentecostals in the United States was probably about 100 or so people.