In 1900 a person was still likely to find him or herself squatting over a foul fetid hole in an outhouse or sharing a toilet with dozens of others. Even in a 'luxury' hotel or on an Ocean Liner the bathroom was down the hall and shared by dozens! These days even the poorest of the poor have access to indoor plumbing (mostly) and those with homes most often have multiple toilets.A person in 1900 most likely owned a couple of shirts, a good suit; a couple of pairs of pants, and all were either scratchy wool or cotton requiring ironing to get out wrinkles. NO polyesters or other 'modern' fabrics - - - and clothing was still scarce in 1900 with T-shirts worn beneath a button up SHIRT -- --- --- casual clothing was frowned upon even for the poor!
Movies were brand new, silent and rarely longer than ten minutes in duration. There was no television in 1900. Those of modest middle class means might own an upright piano and the average family entertained themselves with musical evenings, the children encouraged to learn an instrument or to polish their voices. Newspapers were a big deal in the early 1900s and most homes received a morning as well as a late afternoon or evening paper. People actually read a great deal during the early 1900s - - - magazines and paperback books, 'cheapies' were available everywhere and so people staved off boredom with books and conversations, real actual face to face conversations.
Though telephones had been around since the 1880s a monopoly by AT & T froze progress. Most everyone shared a party line, so 'dirty' conversations were not encouraged since, much like the toilets of the era, as many as a dozen people might share a single phone line. And when one placed a phone call it was through an operator, no direct dialing, no area codes, one simply picked up the receiver and shouted something along the lines of "I need North side 88," and a scratchy women's voice would say, "I will see if I can connect you, sir."
Spinster women were the majority of phone operators. It was thought immoral for young women to serve as phone operators since they might strike up a liaison with the caller.
In the early 1900s Vaudeville was still King. People many in family groups would spend hours at a theater watching a variety of ten to fifteen minute live acts; a 'dumb' act done silent auch as acerbating's or dancing, a 'dialect' comedian who specialized in Yiddish Humor or Irish Humor or Dutch/German Humor, a singer often accompanied only by a pianist singing four or five songs, a roustabout pratfall comedian, s specialty act such as plate spinning, and so on, with only the top billed entertainers repeating their act once more during the night.
(By now you will have gathered that you can provide the contrast for 'now')...
The big Sport in the early 1900s was Baseball - - - there was as yet no Professional Football, but, in season, College Football was big and entire communities supported their local University or College. Baseball was king and a majority of Americans could rattle of stats and tell you the names of more than a dozen players. Baseball Stars adorned everyday magazines and in the off season took to the Vaudeville Circuit giving demonstrations of their talents or even singing or doing comedy for their fans...
Food was purchased almost daily; there was 'ice boxes' in a few homes, cold boxes chilled by blocks of ice but no true refrigerators. Many people dined out at cheap eateries, or heated cans of chili over a hot plate.
Horses were still the main stay of transportation though the average person could rarely afford a horse! Horses pulled street cars, hauled produce to street markets, pulled hearses and carts. Autos were a new thing and just starting to take off. The introduction of the Ford Model T toward the end of the first decade made it possible for millions to purchase a motor vehicle.
The greatest similarity though between then and now was how rapidly people adopted to change and embraced change. In 1900 autos were acrace the airplane unknown and movies were known as 'flickers,' less than 5 minutes in lenth and mostly used to chase people out of theaters showing live acts. By 1910 the auto was on everyones to buy list, airplanes were the rage, and movies were nudging out theater and vaudeville and big movie palaces were being constructed by 1914.
Peace
PS If I had a time machine then 1890 to 1920 New York would be my destination!
Double PS and yes there was Crime the more sensational the better to sell newspapers!!! Oh and no radio until the 1920s! Music was called rag time and people were really getting into kicking up their heels. Go watch Charlie Chaplin Comedies for a trip to the past!
Transportation was either by train, or by horse and buggy. Automobiles weren't invented yet, but there was public transportation - tramcars, pulled on rails (like miniature railway cars) pulled by horses.
There was no electricity and little or no indoor plumbing in the majority of homes. No processed foods, and certainly, no electronics - that means no TV, no computers, etc.
Still, there were other forms of entertainment - there were no movies but there was a lot of vaudeville and live stage presentations, musical evenings, dances, etc.
There was crime - and punishments were severe. There was no leniency toward juveniles either.
