You’re in Hy-Vee. Walking past you are lots of people. Actually lots of old people. (Austin has many!) You look askance at these folks as they amble down the aisles, resting their forearms heavily on the grocery carts for support. They look like fossilized people from another era. As a matter of fact they are!

Centenarians are all over Austin. Well, not in Hy-Vee, perhaps, but certainly in our retirement homes. I find it nearly impossible to wrap my head around the idea of living to be 100 years old. What a feat! What’s more, try to imagine the astonishing changes that have transpired during these people’s very, very long lives.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of those changes. Recently I received an e-mail documenting life in America 100 years ago. As you read these figures, keep in mind that our very elderly neighbors actually lived these numbers. How they’ve coped with the multitude of seismic shifts that have occurred during the past century will get you shaking your head in wonder at the remarkable adaptability of these special folks.

For starters, the average life expectancy for men was 47 years. For women it was 51 years!

Both cocaine and marijuana were legal, and doctors often prescribed heroin for their patients. It was touted to be good for constipation and a clear complexion. Coca Cola was laced with cocaine.

Gasoline for automobiles was most commonly sold in drug stores. America had 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. In most cities the maximum lawful speed was 10 mph.

Women could not vote.

Only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub; 8 percent had a telephone.

At 984 feet tall, the world’s tallest man-made structure was the Eiffel Tower.

Approximately 100 years ago, the average U.S. wage was 22 cents per hour, and the average worker earned from $200 to $400 per year. On the high end, an accountant earned $2,000 a year, a dentist $2,500, a veterinarian $1,500 to $4,000, and a mechanical engineer $5,000. The average American spent one-third of his income on food, twice that of today.

Manufacturing jobs averaged 55 hours per week. The fatality rate was 61 deaths out of 100,000 laborers, making the workplace 30 times more dangerous than it is today.

Most working women were teachers. School boards preferred them because they were “more loving,” and they would do what male principals told them to do while accepting less than a man’s wage.

There was no home insurance and few zoning laws. In other words, you could build a beautiful home next to a lovely meadow and a year later find that you were living under the shadow of a smoke belching factory. Plus your beautiful home probably contained lead paint and your insulation, if any, was made with asbestos.

The average American ate 11.5 pounds of lard and 14 pounds of chicken per year.

Babies were more abundant and their lives more precarious. Because 10 percent of infants died in their first year, women had more children to make up for the loss.

Few Americans drove automobiles. They either walked or rode horses and trolleys. In Brooklyn, for example, the baseball team was named the “Dodgers” as a way of paying tribute to their fans who everyday risked their lives by dodging speeding trolleys.

Professional men wore blue serge suits to work, while women wore skirts whose lengths varied according to fashion and the amount of available material for apparel manufacturers. (The military used the rest.) Clothing took 13 percent of one’s income.

Moderately priced men’s shoes were $3-$5 ($70-$116 today), whereas moderately priced women’s shoes were $7-$10 ($163-$233 today). And consider how much people wore back then: vests, gloves, hats, overcoats, dresses, suits, chemises, knickerbockers, petticoats, corsets, etc.

A monthly budget for a family comprised of a husband, wife and three children went like this: $28 for food, $4 for utilities (including fuel, light and blocks of ice for the ice box), $1 for life insurance, $1.50 for streetcars, $9 for the family’s clothing needs, and $1 for general household expenses.

In 1900, a car (hand made) cost over $1,000. In 1908, a Model-T Ford (assembly line made) cost $850. By 1924 the price had dropped to $265. The first stop sign was posted in Michigan

The first commercially made maternity clothes were sold in Lane Bryant Shops.

So called “doctors,” in the late 19th century, believed that most ailments were due to “morbid excitement” induced by capillary tension. The only remedy was to deplete the patient’s body of excess fluids by bloodletting, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness. Calomel (mercurous chloride) was prescribed for emptying the stomach and bowels.

To qualify as a physician, all a man had to do was come to town, say he was a doctor, register with a health officer, hang out his shingle and voila!, he was in practice. No degree deemed necessary.

An 1886 surgical report from the state of Texas showed that 4,293 surgeries were performed that year. The mortality … yes, I said mortality … rates of these operations were: trephining 15 percent (cutting a small circular hole in the skull used in brain surgery), splenectomy 100 percent, herniotomy 26 percent, hysterectomy 92 percent, and transfusions 75 percent. Any time a person was determined to have a contagious disease, he/she was sent to a “pest house.” The entire family was forced to move there also. If an epidemic occurred anywhere in Texas, posses would ride out of town, set up road blocks to intercept incoming traffic, and quarantine any people suspected of having an illness. These folks were moved to the pest houses until it was proven they were not sick … or until they died. Pest houses offered absolutely no medical care.

By law Canada would not accept any American immigrant if they were poor.

Sugar cost 4 cents a pound, eggs were 14 cents a dozen, and coffee was 15 cents a pound.

Most women shampooed their hair once a month using Borax or egg yolks. They rinsed away the suds with collected rain water.

The five leading causes of death were: pneumonia, influenza, TB (consumption), diarrhea, heart disease and stroke.

The American flag had 45 stars. The population of Las Vegas was 22.

Two of every 10 adults could not read or write, while only 6 percent of all Americans graduated from high school.

Eighteen percent of all households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

And who are we to wonder why elderly people find the ways of the current world so confusing? For Pete’s sake! Wouldn’t you? So, the next time you greet your old neighbor lady as she slowly perambulates down the Hy-Vee aisles only to have her respond with a blank stare, keep in mind that in her long life she’s known 47 people who look very similar to you. And in that moment she can’t quite place which decade you fit into that picture. And later when she’s finally made it to the check-out where she’s shakily writing out her check and cannot recall what the date is, realize that she’s had to contend with 36,500 other dates before this one.

Meanwhile let us fervently hope that the design of the new Hy-Vee has incorporated numerous strategically-placed benches where Austin’s many old dears can stop and rest. And that you don’t have to be 100 to qualify.
Peggy Keener of Austin is the author of two books: “Potato In A Rice Bowl” and “Wondahful Mammaries.” Peggy Keener invites readers to share their memories with her by emailing maggiemamm16@gmail.com. Memories shared with Keener may be shared or referenced in subsequent editions of “Full Circle.”