Electricity and the Home

[Miss Neecerie]

Another Article from Modern Priscilla September 1924.

It's interesting in relation to accepting 'brave new appliances' in order to do a better faster job at the tasks of a homemaker.

Once again, if you cannot read it, let me know and I can sit and type it out.

 

[dhermann1]

This again illustrates the aspect of "vintage" that I find so fascinating. The "Golden Era" marked the infancy of most of the technologies we now live with and take for granted. Most of us could live fairly comfortably in 1924, if we had the very latest technologies available at the time: electric fridge, vacuum cleaner, telephone, radio, electric light. These have had a much greater impact on our lives than many of the later inventions, notably the computer. This is why it's possible, and kind of fun, to attempt to live the "Vintage Lifestyle".
What a neat article, wordy and somewhat flowery in its style, but I think the author would be very gratified to see that time has proved her prescient.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

It's interesting to me that they tout electric stoves as superior. I know a lot of people still feel this way, but I can't do anywhere near as well with an electric stove as I can with gas. Maybe it's just me...
Love the ad on the sidebar.

 

[Big Man]

It's interesting to me that they tout electric stoves as superior. I know a lot of people still feel this way, but I can't do anywhere near as well with an electric stove as I can with gas. Maybe it's just me...
Love the ad on the sidebar.

In the early 1950's, my Grandmother would have agreed with you. My parents bought her an electric stove about 1950 to replace her old wood cook stove. She refused to let it into the house, and it sat on the back porch for several years before she finally gave in and got rid of the wood stove.

 

[Big Man]

... Most of us could live fairly comfortably in 1924, if we had the very latest technologies available at the time: electric fridge, vacuum cleaner, telephone, radio, electric light. ...

I agree with you about living comfortably with the latest technologies of the time, except that the availability of a lot of these items varied considerably depending on where you lived.

In the little community of Nebo (in western NC) where I live and where the old homeplace is, electricity wasn't available until 1930. That's ironic, in that Nebo is about two miles from the hydro-electric generating station on Lake James that went into power production around 1922 or 1923. Folks had to incorporate into a town (two stores, a depot, and a blacksmith shop/saw mill, and post office) and pass a bond to finance running the power lines the two miles.

My grandparents wired the house for electricity in the spring of 1930 (I still have the first power bill). Of course at that time the only thing that was electrified was one light bulb in each room. It was into the early 1950's that the wood cook stove was replaced with an electric stove and the ice box was replaced by an electric refrigerator. It was even the late 1950's before telephone service was available, and then it was a seven party line.