in the 1910s, did most people have radio, plumbing, cars and electricity?

Question

Im doin this for a US history project, so please be as honest as possible. Thanks!

Answer 1

Most people did not have that stuff in the 1930s

Answer 2

No. and as a side note, In Duluth Minnesota is located the Glensheen Mansion. It was built in the very early 20th century. The Owner was quite rich, and had a new invention, electric lights, added to his home. As a socialite family that did a great amount of entertaining, the Congdon patriarch was often ridiculed about his electric lights because everyone at that time knew that electricity was only a fad, and would never be of practical use. As there were very few paved roads, and even dirt roads were of the minimum maintenance variety, horses were still more practical in most locations in the United States. Radio was just in it's infancy. While, telegraph stations were common in each town, phones were almost non-existant. Of course there was plumbing, but it was usually in the form of an outhouse, and a hand pump well. Even in the cities the sewage systems were little better than the rural outdoor amenities. The following decade, after World War One, was truly when modernization within the urban areas began. Yet in the rural areas it would be closer to the 50's before indoor plumbing would be more or less "common".

Answer 3

For the most part, indoor plumbing and electricity were found mostly in major cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and other highly urbanized areas.

Many places in the South and West were still using wells, outhouses, wood stoves, and kerosene lamps well into the twentieth century. Come to that, some of the poorer sections of the major cities didn't have it much better until after the 1920's.

Some of the older homes in Philadelphia still have the gas fixtures in them that were once used for lighting (of course, they can't be used now), and in some of the rowhouses in very old sections of the city you can see by the layout of the upstairs that indoor plumbing was relatively recent. My sister lived in one, for instance, in which the bathroom was obviously a converted bedroom. Since this particular street's homes were probably 1870's-1880's vintage, they probably oringinally had an outdoor privy in the back yard. For bathing, the water had to be pumped (likely the pump was in the kitchen--they were at least that modern) and then heated on the stove. No wonder people usually only bathed once a week!

Radio didn't really come into its own until after the 1910's. I don't believe that regular programming was available until the early to mid-1920's.

Cars were becoming more common, especially in the rural areas. The Ford Model T sold for about $600, making it within the reach of the ordinary working person. Again, in the cities, public transportation (by this time electric trolleys were replacing the horse-drawn vehicles of the 19th century, and there were subways in New York and Philadelphia by then, too) was still the way most people got from point A to point B.

Hope this helps, and good luck on your report.

Answer 4

In rural areas they'd be lucky to have any of those things. In cities, the plumbing was pretty common, and electricity only slightly less common. But cars were still fairly rare. And unless you had electricity, a radio was pretty useless, so only some of those people would have had a radio.

Answer 5

As stated before, cars were still in their VERY young stages, only really rich people had them, and even then they were rare.

Electricity was available in most urban areas. Yet some places like White Sulphur Springs, Montana had electricity in the 1890's (before New York City actually!).

Plumbing, again was available in cities.

BUT: Radio as we know it HAD NOT EVEN BEEN INVENTED YET! The first radio broadcast was in 1920.

Answer 6

Only the rich had the radio and plumbing and electricity. Radios and Cars became popular and were used alot after WWI.

Answer 7

in example i odtn think most homes in north dakota had electricity until 1970. amazing erh?
cars no not by a long shot cars were very rare in general in teh 1910s, electricty and plumbing the same, more so in urban but very rare in rural settings. radios were somewhat more common

Answer 8

The only thing not readily available was the radio as we know it. Ford put out the model a with the first assembly line and the car he made was realtive.y in expensive. electricity was readily available in more urban areas. Plumbing, again available realitively inexpensive in the urban areas(cities)

Answer 9

No. Some people had plumbing and electricity. The others came later.

Answer 10

Plumbing, automobiles and electricity were still in their infancy and only the well to do had the those amenities.