What a Difference 100 Years Makes by John Dersham

One hundred years ago my grandfather John Alexander Dersham, of whom I am named had been married to Lena (Shoemaker) Dersham for only two years. Lena received her college education graduating in 1906. 100 years ago not many women graduated from college. She went on to teach school for 35 years. My grandfather was an accountant for the Pennsylvania railroad. Soon they would have three children, one was my father. All three kids received Masters Degrees from Penn State and Bucknell. Even in the 1930’s the percent of kids going to college was very small. They lived in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. Mifflinburg was a German farming community about 40 miles from State College, the home of Penn State University. Mifflinburg had a cabinet factory and a silk mill but mostly they were known as the Buggy Capital of the US. At one point there were more than fifty shops making buggies. Some were large companies and some where one man shops. My Great Grandfather Alexander Dersham was a farmer and buggy maker. Mifflinburg was the Detroit of buggy making. Then one day came the horseless carriage and Mifflinburg began building bodies for cars. Mifflinburg had no river close enough to get steel to them in large enough quantities and Mifflinburg had no way to keep up with Detroit and other cities on the Great Lakes, or on a major river system. By 1910 demand for horse carriages was nearing its end and Mifflinburg was beginning to loose out in the increasing demands for auto bodies.
One hundred years ago Fort Payne had already seen its Boom Days come and go. In the late 1880’s and early 1890’s New Englanders brought wealth and industry to Fort Payne. They built fine homes, factories and buildings, many of which are still with us today. In 1889 Fort Payne had grown to more then 3,000 people but by 1910 the Boom had been over for nearly two decades and Fort Payne had all but dried up leaving buildings empty and beginning to crumble with age and neglect. There were more houses, buildings and factories than there were people and companies to occupy them. By 1910 Fort Payne was down to only 300-400 residents which was nearly the same as the pre Boom Days. In 1907 the first hosiery mill opened and very, very slowly the town began to grow again as Fort Payne became the “Sock Capital of the World”.
Just for fun I have listed some facts from 1910. This came from the National Archives and floated around on the internet last year.
The average wage in the US was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200-400 a year. A Dentist made $2,500 and a mechanical engineer around $5,000. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. The average life expectancy for men was 47 years. Only 14% of homes had bathtubs. 8% of homes had a telephone. There were 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads in the US and you could only buy gas from a drug store. 95% of births took place at home. 90% of doctors were not college educated. Sugar cost 4 cents a pound, eggs were 14 cents a dozen and coffee was 15 cents a pound. Most women washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. The five leading causes of death were pneumonia and influenza, Tuberculosis, Diarrhea, Heart Disease and Stroke. The population of Las Vegas was 30. Crossword puzzles, canned beer and ice tea had not been invented yet. Two out of ten adults could not read or write and only 6% of Americans had graduated from high school.18% of households had at least one full time servant or domestic help. There were only 230 murders reported in the entire US.