Homeowners today take light, power and heat for
granted, regardless of the time of day or month of the year. Prior to the advent of
electricity and gas, however, humankind's activities were largely constrained by the
rising and setting of the sun, the time of which changed depending upon the season.
By 1913, just over sixteen percent of America's urban homes had electric service. By
the early 1930s, that number had risen to over 85 percent. During those twenty years,
nearly everyone
–
homeowners, housekeepers, children
–
came to realize the benefits of electricity. At the touch of a button, the flick of a
switch, anyone could heat a room, cook a meal or turn on a light.
Electrical conveniences appeared in stores, ready for the home consumer. It didn't
take long for manufacturers to realize that novelty items could sell just as readily
as truly important appliances such as refrigerators and cookstoves. Better Homes &
Gardens noted in 1928:
It seems that the electrical industry has the entire
family impartially in mind, for it provides comforts and
conveniences for each and every member. From the baby up to the grandmother, there
is the just-right electrical Christmas gift. Frequently the uses overlap, and Baby must
share the immersion heater given him in order that he might have warm milk on demand, with
Dad, who needs hot water for shaving early in the morning. But such "loanership" is not
all one-sided, by any means, because Mother’s percolator will serve nicely as a bottle
warmer in case Baby must pass his around among the other members of the family.
Electricity
powered a myriad of labor-savers: lawn mowers, washing machines and floor polishers,
just to name a few. It was thought that the money spent on appliances could be saved
in other areas of life. Writer Robert Whitman pointed this out in 1929:
Today ... we
are no longer willing to use muscle for work that can be done by machinery, and
wherever we may live we want all of the labor-savers
and the comforts that science can offer. We have progressed far enough to realize that
nervous effort and physical energy are too precious to be wasted, and find greater
economy in spending money on apparatus than on doctor’s bills and the wastage of
shortened lives.
The coming of
manufactured power also did something even more important
– it changed America's conception of time itself.
The differences between night and day
– even the changing of the seasons
– lost their importance when we no longer had to
struggle to see, to keep warm, to eat, to live comfortably in our homes. Said Lurelle
Van Arsdale Guild, writing for Better Homes & Gardens in 1930:
We have grown
to be a nation of sun worshippers and light seekers, and we recreate in our evenings
the daylight by means of our lights. With care
and thought we can indeed make our lamps the suns of our homes.
Of course, not every household wanted - or was able -
to take advantage of electricity and it associated appliances. While urban homes were
wired relatively early, many rural towns and country homes did not get electricity or
gas until the 1950s. Still others refused to spend the money on wiring for something
that might be a passing fad.
But for those who were able to participate, the growth
of the electrical age in America was a wonderful time full of light, music and
convenience.
To the homemaker, the great advantage ... is in the
services and conveniences that relieve her of effort and forethought in her
household tasks: light, heat and power at the turn of a switch, the cleanliness and
speed of gas for cooking, the comforts of modern plumbing, and the simplified disposal
of garbage and other wastes.
Without these there is the heavy work of tending a coal or a wood range, the cleaning
and filling of oil lamps and the fire risk that follows their use, the carrying of
buckets of water, and the exposure to all weather when the needs of the household
cannot be met indoors.
W
y o m i n g ' s P r e m i e r H i s t o r i c H o u s
e M u s e u m
