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How did electric power transform daily life in the US in the late-nineteenth century?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
This is a very broad question. Every aspect of daily life was changed by the electric lightbulb and all the electrical products that followed.
Street safety
The electric streetlight was one of the first community-wide improvements to cities and towns. This increased safety and reduced crimes.
Home and Fire Safety
All homes used oil lamps or candles and most homes heated with coal and wood. Each brought fire risks in mostly wood-frame homes. Candles and lamps could easily tip over, causing fires. Sparks from fireplaces jumped protective grates.
Overheating (overfiring) of coal/wood stoves and furnaces caused numerous housefires, including through the 1970s in some areas.
Electric and gas driven furnaces reduced individual and family labor by a good 99% since they no longer had to obtain coal/wood, build a coal/wood fire, continually check on the fire, etc. As well, the house or building could stay at one consistent temperature, give or take a couple degrees. However, with wood-coal furnaces, fires went out during the night, the fire needed re-built in the morning, and it took longer to re-heat from a very cold inside temperature.
Convenience leads to personal freedom, more leisure
Women, especially, benefitted by electric power since women did most household duties. Instead of handwashing or using a manual ringer washer (which often caused injuries), washers freed women from heavy labor. Instead of hanging clothing outside to dry (although some people still prefer naturally-dried clothing), electric dryers saved time and manual labor.
Gas and electric stoves and ovens freed men and women from having to lug coal to the cook stove. Both newer stoves meant less baking times, and less fire risks with cooking.
Comfort
See above about gas / electric furnances.
Leisure
With electricity, people had more options for day, evening, and night leisure activities. Theaters and playhouses could start a show in the evening rather than just having afternoon shows. Stores could stay open longer, resulting in increased shopping and convenience. Amusement parks and circus type shows, rather than oil lamps, could add machinery ... and evenually park rides.
Transportation
In many areas, electric-run streetcars replaced horse and buggy or the most common 'transportation'-- walking.
These are just some of the ways that electricity permanently changed daily life and influenced the development of more personal products and led to vast changes in industry.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
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