A century of "firsts"

On May 2, 1885 the first issue of Good House Keeping fled the city streets. These magazine, which caters to women was founded in the 1880s and 1890s, it provided information about running a home, a broad range of literary offerings, and opportunities for reader input. Good House Keeping quickly circulated throughout the states up north. Also, in this century, cities had their first water service. Not as successful as the electric plant, the water company had difficulty showing a profit to the stockholders while still servicing the rapidly growing City. The company suffered great losses before they got it together 100 percent. In 1903 there was a flood in the pump house and an engineer jumped into the water that was up to his head and adjusted the pump valves with his feet. During another incident in 1908, the whole water works plant was submerged and the boilers extinguished. A sprinkler truck kept Saint Mary's Hospital supplied from a well owned by Schuster Brewery. In 1910 the water company drilled its first deep well, about 418 feet deep. In the early 1890s, Rochester population consisted of several thousand people. Before the “New Lights”, kerosene and oil street lamps brighten up the city’s main streets. But times were changing and the city was beginning to grow. By the late 1880s City Council had heard of and seen the electrical power generated by municipally owned plants. City Council knew they needed safely lit streets and reliable electrical service. In 1892 Rochester constructed the first public utility: an electric lighting plant, measuring just 27 by 72 feet. Unfortunately the plant burnt down in October 1915,but was later replaced with the a new plant located on North Broadway.

By Cashia Coleman

1. www.timelines.com  

Change that caused health issues.

During the progressive era the nation was being transformed from a “rural to an urban-based economy”[1]. As more and more people moved to the cities in search of work the poor were at great risk of contracting diseases due the over crowded living conditions and the lack of adequate sanitation. No national health insurance was available at that time. "The government didn’t want responsibility for issuing or funding mandated health insurance and left it to the states, who in turn left it to private and/or voluntary programs"[2]. Health care was outside the reach of most working Americans.

By Anna Trevino

[1] Eadie, Md., James S. "American Health Care:Yesterday and Today." EM Resident Oct/Nov (2003):
n. pag. Web. 15 Feb 2011.

[2] Palmer, Karen S. "A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US.:" Physicians for a
National Health Program Spring 1999: n. pag. Web. 15 Feb 2011.

A Century of Growth and Change

It’s apparent that most saw America as a new way of life and wanted to experience some form of change. “In 1900, the population was more than seventy-six million, an increase of nearly 21 percent from the 1890 census. The population continued to grow rapidly throughout the decade as nearly nine million immigrants entered the country, with most arrivals coming from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia” (1). In the 1900s women’s rights were still not equal to men. In other areas than education, women were often looked over in their abilities other than at home. “In 1900 the salary for a female elementary-school teacher started at $600; for each additional year of experience, her salary increased $40. Male elementary-school teachers started at the same base of $600 but received an extra $150 for each additional year of experience. As a result, a male elementary school teacher with ten years of experience earned $2,100, while a woman with the same experience and same job earned $1,000 (2). In the 19th century women started to demand for equality to prove that they were just as equal to men. As no economy is perfect, in the 1900’s some had their ups and downs hoping for a better living but working conditions were rough with low wages. “Tycoons such as J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie amassed fortunes greater than many European nobility. But in the same cities, factory workers and coal miners, often children, slaved for perhaps $1 to $2 each 12-16 hour day. With no safety net, many workers just couldn't make it — nearly a third of 1900's immigrants headed back home. Awareness of poor working conditions and unfair wages increased.”(3).

By Tamra Brown

  1.  http://www.bookrags.com/history/america-1900s-business-and-the-economy/

  2.  "The 1900s: Education: Overview." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 18 Feb. 2011      <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

  3. http://www.genealogy.com/76_life1900.html

"Traveling, Technology, and Everything in Between"

I would like to give emphasis to an era of innovation and development that sprung in our country, as well as around the world that began from the 19^th century throughout the Progressive Era. New innovations during this moment in time arose that made travel a much simpler venture for the average individual. Before this era in the 19^th century travel was slow and stressful, so to make life a little easier, steam-powered stagecoaches were being introduced and became a very popular way for people to get to their destinations. Soon because of innovations in our society with vehicles; new roads were to be built in place of dirt trodden pathways, which allowed for a much more comfortable travel. The nation became more cutting-edge in the automobile industry when electric vehicles were introduced to the market at that time. In one online publication by Mary Bellis it states, “Between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first electric carriage. Electric cars used rechargeable batteries that powered a small electric motor” (Bellis). That innovation was significant to our culture because it paved the way for multiple ideas to power vehicles in our future. In the same writing by Mary Bellis, she states , in 1885 “Gottlieb Daimler invented what is often recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine - with a vertical cylinder, and with gasoline injected through a carburetor (patented in 1887). Daimler first built a two-wheeled vehicle the "Reitwagen" (Riding Carriage) with this engine and a year later built the world's first four-wheeled motor vehicle” (Bellis 1). It is amazing how Daimler’s ideas would later continue to influence motor-vehicles in the present society, regarding the four-wheeled invention. Furthermore, other ways of travel that were of importance during this time was the rail system, tramways and trollies. This was an era of invention and experimentation in vehicles and technology. In our online book it states, “The mass manufacturing of automobiles proved a boon to the economy and transferred patterns of travel, leisure and consumption” (Jones, pg.450). One has to be proud of how far we have come to where we are now with advances in technology and vehicles.

By Julian Thomas

(1)    Bellis, Mary . "The History of the Automobile: Early Steam Powered Cars." http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarssteama.htm.

(2)    Jones, et al, Created Equal, Brief Third Edition, Volume 2 with packaged with MyHistoryLab (online)