The good old days of the 1900’s are remembered as a time of optimism.  The White House only had one guard at night who retired early.  Trains took people on vacation away from the snow.  California, Florida and Arizona were destinations for sunshine while electric fans kept them cool.  The public was in AWE of  X Ray machines, that auto’s replaced horses, and phonographs.

John Muir

It was the dawn of the century. Motion pictures celebrated the grandeur of people moving across the screen and folks were amazed to speak on the phone across the country! John Muir started the craze to preserve the wilderness.  The spirit of the age was HOPE! There were only five national parks.  In 1900 Congress and the Senate passed a bill to protect the buffalo.  Giant cargo ships carried iron, steel and cotton across the seas. Working hours began at 4 AM. Women cooked in wood burning stoves, used washboards to scrub clothes, beat rugs with brooms, and ironed clothes.  Immigrants poured into New York, the largest city in the USA with just 3 million people. The speed limit was 12 MPH. The ideals of America were being spread world wide. 60,000 American troops landed in the Philippines.  Change was in the air!

The Cliff House San Francisco 1900

The fantasy ‘Gibson Girls’ were the pinups of the 1900’s