Thanksgiving 100 years ago in 1905

Times have changed with high technology of today; it is interesting to think what it was like back in 1905.

Women wore long dresses that reached to the ground.  The kitchen ovens were wood burning.

Women still did not vote it wasn’t until 1920 that American amendments were made to the Constitution of the United States. The passage of the 14th Amendment in 1866 and the 15th Amendment in 1870 helped to in moving toward this goal it was the 19th Amendment granted women this right in 1920. 

Electric and water plants were just being completed in many areas.  The citizens of Seattle in 1902 organized the Seattle City Light and delivered its first electricity to customers in 1905.

Albert Einstein published his paper on the photo-emissive photoelectric effect and his proposed theory on relativity.  He wins Nobel Prize in 1921.

Travel is still by horse and buggy and train.   Westinghouse made industrial history by gaining exclusive rights to manufacture the Parsons steam turbine in America and by introducing the first alternating current locomotive in 1905.  Automobiles were not yet around. Henry Ford started building his Model T in 1908.  Royals Royce car manufacturer was founded in 1904.

Howard Hughes was born this year and Las Vegas incorporates into a city this year as well.

The beginnings of plastic started this year.  In 1905, Leo Baekeland - a Belgium chemist living in New York combined formaldehyde and phenol, and produced a material that bound all types of powders together. His invention he called Bakelite - after himself - it was the first thermosetting plastic worldwide.  What would electronics be made out of without the invention of plastic, not to mention the cool kids toys being manufactured.

Movie theatres didn't pop up until around 1908 when there was an estimated 10,000.  June of 1905, Harry Davis in Pittsburgh opened the first nickelodeon which was a converted storefront theater or dance hall and showed The Great Train Robbery film.

When you are driving down the freeway in your car talking on your cell phone and the kids are in the back listening to an Ipod, playing Nintendo and watch a DVD remember that all this was not around in 1905, possibly we should be thankful for our plentiful life we have.