i found an article on small town life in 1900. It does a good job - TopicsExpress



          

i found an article on small town life in 1900. It does a good job I think describing things. Life in Small Towns in 1900 The smallest towns were a cluster of just a few houses, one or two general stores, a church, and a one-room school located at a cross roads. These would often make attractive scenes such as those pictured in the popular 19th century Currier and Ives prints. Everyone knew everyone else, probably for several generations. Many were related by blood or by marriage. Children played in the streets during warmer weather, along with chickens and dogs. These towns had no water systems, no sewers, and often no formal government. The town always had a name, perhaps taken from an early settler or a local geographic feature. The houses were mostly white one or two story clapboard1 buildings surrounded by large elm and maple trees. Large gardens, orchards and outbuildings were located behind the houses. The streets were unpaved gravel (if gravel was available in the area) and were well shaded by trees. Larger towns had several hundred people and included a variety of stores: grocery, hardware, lumber, clothing, furniture, etc. These towns had several churches; most of them were Protestant denominations except in areas with larger numbers of Germans, Italians, or French. The towns were the service centers for the items farming families could not produce for themselves and they were a place where surplus farm products were sold or exchanged. The high school for the area was located there. Often these towns were located on rail lines and would include a rail siding with a grain elevator to ship farm grains such as wheat and corn. The location on a railroad was the primary reason for existence for many towns, if they were not the county seat. County seat towns were usually a little larger in size and would normally be the largest town in the county. The county seat towns usually had a square in the business district. The courthouse was located in the center of the square and businesses were surrounding it on four sides. Many of the business buildings in these towns were built around the turn of the century. Many were two stories, with professional offices, lodges, or apartments above the street-level business. Most farm and small town people had little contact with local government. They might live in an area for years or decades without any reason for going to the county seat. One of the few reasons for such a visit was to record documents such as property deeds with the county clerk and to pay taxes. Some people wanted to pay their taxes in person. They didnt trust the mail with their hard earned money. They wanted to hand the cash—and at that time it often was cash—to a real person and get a receipt before they left the office. Sometimes, the cash was a combination of many small denomination bills and coins that had been saved over the year. My parents used a bowl in the cupboard for this purpose. Many people did not have bank accounts. If they had any bank account, it was a savings account.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 20:24:38 +0000

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