A NEW CENTURY

The year 1900 was the dawn of the twentieth century. Never in the history of mankind have so many changes been made in business, industry, communications, labor, transportation, and lifestyle as were made in this short one hundred year period. 

In the second half of the nineteenth century the beginnings of these changes were born with the invention of the telegraph, telephone, steam engine, railroad and the electric light bulb. Only the telegraph and railroad had taken a foothold in making change in the nation and small town of Steamboat Rock.. 

At the turn of the century Steamboat Rock was still a growing community, but the population would no longer see the growth it had seen in it’s early years. Now the changes would be brought on by a great evolution. The horse and buggy would be replaced by the automobile and places that were once too far away became close by. The horse and plow made way for the tractor and plow. The once a week visit to grandma’s house became a daily visit on the telephone. Kerosene became a substance to start a fire in the stove, and the electric lamp replaced the light it had given for so long. 

Business would be done in new ways. Lifestyle changed too. The world was more connected by faster communication and transportation. 

We have always been a nation on the move, from the arrival of the Native Americans and the movement of man from the shores of Europe to the New World, to today’s conquest of space. We have never been satisfied to stay in one place. 

Homes became comfortable too. Now there would be better heating, better lighting, and running water. All meant less drudgery in the labor of the housewife, and the laborer in the factory and on the farm. 

These changes came about in the early years of the new century, and before Steamboat Rock reached it’s one hundredth birthday.