Technology and Transportation(20th Century)

What were some changes in N.C.?

Inventions:Airplane (Wright Brothers)the telephoneelectric power to homes and businessesAutomobile

By the 1920s, these new means of communication and transportation had changed not only the way people lived and worked, but the way they thought about time and space.

Electric streetcars

Streetcars in NCRailroads reached Asheville in 1880 (from Salisbury) and

in 1886 (from Spartanburg).The city soon gained popularity as a tourist and health

resort, but the two-mile trip from the train depot to downtown remained a difficult one for visitors and citizens alike.

By 1907 Asheville led the state by carrying three million streetcar passengers, compared to Charlotte and Wilmington with two million each.

Following Asheville in establishing electric streetcar service were Winston (July 1890), Charlotte (May 1891), Raleigh (Sept. 1891) and Wilmington (1892).

The electric streetcar system in Asheville ceased operation in 1934, supplanted by buses.

Idol’s Dam and Power Plant The Electric Light and Motive Power Company first offered power

service in the towns. The dam and power plant were built on the site of a historic ferry

operation run by a man named Idol. Today, it is at the point where Idol’s Dam Road meets the Yadkin River, due south of modern-day Clemmons and across the river from Davie County.

The Idols Hydroelectric Station, a small operation at first, eventually averaged 2,300 horsepower in production. But it had famous backers, including Thomas Edison, and it became the first commercial hydroelectric generating station in North Carolina using long-distance equipment. That early development naturally gave the businesses of Winston and Salem a competitive advantage over others in Virginia and the Carolinas.

The Idols Dam was built as a “run-of-the-river” plant, meaning that the dam was not built to hold back the river measurably.

This choice was made to prevent flooding in the low-lying area where the power plant and an earlier mill were located.

Telephones of the 1900s

Describe the impact of the telephone

In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created and the first telephone exchange was in operation.

Three years later, almost 49,000 telephones were in use. In order to talk to their neighbors, even those across the street, they

had to pay a toll! It definitely made it easier for people to get information out. By 1907, AT&T had a near monopoly on phone and telegraph

service, thanks to its purchase of Western Union. During World War I, the government nationalized telephone and

telegraph lines in the United States from June 1918 to July 1919, when, after a joint resolution of Congress, President Wilson issued an order putting them under the direction of the U.S. Post Office.

A year later, the systems were returned to private ownership

Wright Brothers/First on Flight

From Dayton, Ohio

First in flightThe first powered flight occurred on a Thursday at 10:35 in

the morning of 17 December 1903 in Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

The famous flight with Orville at the controls lasted 12 seconds and travelled a distance of 36.5 meters (120 ft)

Another key design which made the Wright Brother’s aircraft successful was the invention of three axis control which allowed the pilot to maneuver the aircraft and maintain balance.

Orville was thirty two years old and Wilbur was thirty six years old when they made that record setting flight that ultimately ushered mankind to the future conquering the skies. They devoted their life so much to the effort of perfecting man’s “self designed wings” to the extent that they never married.

Henry Ford and the Model T

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newcentury/5087

Describe Henry Ford and the Model T Automobile manufacturer Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, on his

family’s farm in what is present-day Dearborn, Michigan. By 1896, Ford had constructed his first horseless carriage, a gasoline-

powered motor car that he named the Quadricycle because it ran on four bicycle tires.

The Model T heralds the beginning of the Motor Age; the car evolved from luxury item for the well-to-do to essential transportation for the ordinary man.

Ford revolutionized manufacturing — combining precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, division of labor, and by 1913, a continuous moving assembly line.

Ford’s affordable Model T irrevocably altered American society: urbanization patterns changed. growth of suburbia creation of a national highway system population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime.

What was the Good Roads Movement?The Good Roads Movement occurred in the United States between the late 1870s and the 1920s.

Advocates for improved roads led by bicyclists turned local agitation into a national political movement.

The Good Roads Movement was officially founded in May 1880.

Groups across the country held road conventions and public demonstrations, published material on the benefits of good roads and endeavored to influence legislators on local, state and national levels.

Sour stomachs and galloping headaches

In North Carolina, as in other states, the decades after the Civil War witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of patent medicines that were sold in general stores

Many of these concoctions promoted themselves as “surefired” cures for illnesses ranging from deadly cancers to the common cold.

Most cures were bogus. TURPENTINE, KEROSENE, & VINEGAR TOBACCO VICK’S VAPORUB