The 1900-09 Decade
4/5th Grade Social Studies
Mary M. Silgals, MLIS
SCETV Streamline Video
 What is strange
about the photo on
this movie clip?
America at the Turn of the Century
 In 1900 horses were the main means
of transportation in towns; cars were
a curiosity
 Less than 150 miles of paved road;
no trucks or buses
 John Philip Sousa Music – “the Music
of America”
 First motion picture – The Great Train
Robbery
1900 – Turn of the Century
 Stars and Stripes
Forever
 Car parade in 1900
Turn of the Century - 1900
 Eiffel Tower in Paris; tallest building in
the world
President William McKinley
1897-1901
 “Prosperity” was the re-election
pledge by President William McKinley
“Four more years of the full dinner
pail.”
http://americanhistory.si.edu/lunchboxes/section
1.htm
 Philippines War – Guerillas fighting
for independence; Not supported by
many Americans
 Republicans nominated Theodore
Roosevelt for running mate
Imperialism
 New territories:
Guam, Hawaii,
Philippines,
Puerto Rico
http://www.bssports.co.jp/english/i
mages/map_04.gif
 Democratic
candidate was
William Jennings
Bryan – He
criticized
“Imperialism”,
the burning issue
“Friendship and Understanding
between the Americas”
 Pan American Exhibit in Buffalo, NY
“Friendship and Understanding
between the Americas”

One of the advances in medical science on display at the PanAmerican Exposition was the infant incubator. For ten cents
admission, the curious could enter this imposing building and
see premature infants who were cared for here during the
exposition.
“Friendship and Understanding
between the Americas”
 Latest developments in Agriculture,
Forestry, and Transportation
Pan-American Exhibition
 Sept 5, 1901 President’s Day
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/pana
m/law/mckinley.html
President McKinley was shot at a
public reception dying a week later
 Leon Czolgosz
Pronounced Cholgosh
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/mckinleykilled.htm
President Theodore Roosevelt
1901-1909
 42 – youngest
President
 Vigorous outdoorsman
 Organizer of the Rough
Riders
http://www.bartleby.com/51/
 Fought trusts against
big businesses; oil and
railroads
 More popular with the
people than with
politicians
Turn of the Century Conflicts
 Miners go on strike
 President threatened
use of federal troops
for the first time
 People thought he
could handle the
fights between big
business owners and
the workers
Foreign Policy
 “Speak Softly and
Carry A Big Stick”
 Supported the navy
 Doubled in size –
 “Join the Navy
and See the World”
Panama Canal
 Controversy over the taking of land for building the canal

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Panama_Canal
How We Lived
Most people still lived on small farms
Tractors revolution the way people lived
Railroad lines still did not reach all areas
Logging camps – Rivers were the means of
transportation
 Prospectors
 American West – Indians on reservations




 Cattle ranching, rodeos and traveling west
shows
 Buffalo Bill with Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull
Prospectors
Logging Camps

http://www.rootsweb.
ancestry.com/~pasulli
v/gallery/Loggers.htm
Children at the turn of the century
 Description: Child Laborers in Indiana
Glass Works, Midnight, Indiana. 1908.
Photographer, Lewis W. Hine
Children at the turn of the century
 Description: Child Laborer, Newberry, S.C. 1908. The
overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She
was working steadily . photographer, Lewis W. Hine
Rural School
 Fred Hultstrand
History in
Pictures
Collection,
NDIRS-NDSU,
Fargo.
Farming Equipment
 1908
Geiser
Model
"ZZ"
Steam
Engine

F.A. Pazandak
Photograph
Collection,
NDIRSNDSU, Fargo.
Rodeos – Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill
and Sitting Bull

http://west.stanford.edu/cgibin/pager.php?id=30
Wish Books – Sears and
Montgomery Ward Catalogs
 Used in School to teach reading and
arithmetic
 Buy anything from birth to death
 All merchandise guaranteed and paid
by cash
 Free delivery
 Mail men were delivering billions of
pieces of mail
Sears and Roebuck Catalog
 Montgomery
Ward was the
competition
 1900: Records
$8.7 million in
sales, but falls
behind Sears &
Roebuck, which
generates $10
million.
Population Distribution
 Description: Percent of population in Cities
having at least 2500 inhabitants, 1903.
Change in the Cities




New York City center of high society
“The 400” – Mrs. Aster’s ballroom
Wealthy wintered in Florida
William Flagler built resort hotels
Separate but Equal
 Jim Crow laws being
passed
 Generations to reverse
 Booker T. Walker “Up From
Slavery”
 George Carver
 Tuskegee Institute –
vocational school for blacks
 Hopeful signs for some black
people
Ellis Island
 Promised Land
 Terrifying ordeal –
process of entry
 Questions often
immigrants did not
understand
 Many settled in
Manhattan – 1/3rd
immigrants
 Many languages from
many countries
Problems in the cities








Streets not paved with gold
Crowded city streets
Hard working conditions
Earthquakes
(San Francisco 1906)
Fires
(Baltimore 1902)
Broken Gas Lines
Broken Electrical Wires
Army –
pack mule relief when disasters
John Muir
 National Parks doubled
President William Taft 1909-1913
 Nominated by
Roosevelt
 A Conservative
 1909 Roosevelt in
Africa to hunt
 Progressives were
pleased with Taft's
election. "Roosevelt
has cut enough
hay," they said;
"Taft is the man to
put it into the
barn."
Entertainment
 Thomas Alva Edison




Electricity
Lightbulb
Record Player
Motion Picture
Projector
First movie 9 minutes –
The Great Train
Robbery – Edwin S.
Porter first film editor
The Great Train Robbery
 "The Great Train Robbery" (1903)
 In 1903, an employee of Thomas Edison's
motion picture company produced a movie
with a story. It was called "The Great Train
Robbery." It told a simple story of a group
of western criminals who steal money from
a train. The movie was extremely popular.
"The Great TrainRobbery" started the huge
motion picture industry.
http://emol.org/movies/greattrainrobbery/i
ndex.html
Science and Technology
 Steel was the builder of the future






Cars, skyscrapers, bridges
20-30-40 stories
Flat Iron Building
People catcher on trolleys
Huge steel suspension bridges
New York Subway first sectioned opened
in 1904 – 1 hour trip reduced to 10
minutes
New York Subway Car
Steel Suspension Bridge
Flat Iron Building
Trolleys
Technology
 Panama Canal
 Trip Atlantic to Pacific
Ocean 8,000 miles
shorter
 1907 Glenn Curtis
motorcycle rider
fastest man on earth
 1909 – Army bought
its first plane from the
Wright brothers.
First Airplane – Wright Brothers
 Wilbur and Orville Wright
 Made of bicycle parts
 Flight lasted 12.5 minutes
Lifestyles
 Photograph albums –
Brownie Kodak for $1.00
 Electric trolleys
replacing horses and carts
 1900=8,000 cars
 Car builders:
Chrysler, Buick & Ford
 End of decade=200,000 cars
 Lives easier for children
 Movies, cars, subways,
skyscrapers, and airplanes
 basketball, marbles
Basketball
 1891 the sport of
basketball was
born. Began
popularity in
1900s
 Dr. James
Naismith,
Inventor of
Basketball
Marbles
 Playing Marbles
The End!
 Check to see if you have all of your
guided worksheet complete before
turning it in.