Saturday, March 31, 2018

How Things Change in a Century



I was deleting some old files on my computer and came across the info below, which I thought you would enjoy. I do have to confess that I don't know where I found this originally so I don't know who to give credit to. I hope you enjoy it.


What a difference a century makes! Here are some U.S. statistics for 1902:

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven. 


Only fourteen percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.



Only eight 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 US and only 144 miles of paved roads.



The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten 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.

The average US 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 US took place at home.

Ok, so I had to sneak in a picture of my newest niece, Gracie.
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. "Ewww!"



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 were no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

One in ten US adults couldn't read or write. Only six percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

CocaCola contained cocaine. 

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.

Just think what it will be like in another 100 years. It boggles the mind.



By Vickie McDonough and six other award-winning authors

No One Is Too Tough to be Loved


Join seven Texas Rangers on the hunt for a menacing gang, who run straight into romances with women who foil their plans for both the job and their futures.




Bestselling author Vickie McDonough grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie is a best-selling author of more than 45 published books and novellas, with over 1.5 million copies sold. Her novels include End of the Trail, winner of the OWFI 2013 Booksellers Best Fiction Novel Award. Song of the Prairie won the 2015 Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Gabriel’s Atonement, book 1 in the Land Rush Dreams series, placed second in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Award. Vickie has recently stepped into independent publishing.

3 comments:

  1. Great facts about the past. Technology has changed so much this century already, it's hard to imagine 100 years from now.

    Have a joyous Easter, Vickie.

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    1. Thanks, Marilyn. I hope your Easter is going well.

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  2. How did I miss this post? I often think of the changes even in my own children's lifetimes, let alone my own, or my parents. Astounding when you think about it, and sad in some other ways. We think we've gained by technology but we surely have lost much in day to day integrity, in my view.

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