William McKinley, Twenty-fifth U.S. President
(1897-1901)
U.S. Census Overview 1900
U.S. Census Fast Facts 1900
Population: 76 million
Source: Foundations of American Education,
Sixth Edition page 156 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010
Education: Secondary
"In the years after the Civil War, a number of factors came together to create a greater demand for secondary education: population growth
due in large part to increased immigration and a rapid growth in industry and technological change, which intensified the demand for skilled workers."
A dramatic increase in the number of public high schools went from "about 500 in 1870 to 6,000 in 1900. During the 1880s the number of high schools
increased tenfold and surpassed the number of academies. By the end of the century, free public high schools had pushed out the majority of fee-paying academies.
Although still only a small percentage of the eligible population attended high school, in 1900 more than half a million students were enrolled
and 62,000 graduated." 130,000 school districts in 1900 in the United
States consolidated down to 15,500 by 2000 due to the urbanization
of the population and the automobile.
Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition page 137, 157 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010
Education: Training Teachers
"Theory and Practice of Teaching or The Motives and Methods of Good School Keeping, by David P. Page, published in 1847,
became the standard text in teacher education" in what were called normal schools. "Admission to most normal schools required an elementary
education and was free to residents of the state" and lasted for
two years. By 1865 more than 50 normal schools were in operation and by 1900 a reported 350 normal schools
were operating in 45 states." By 1900 normal schools also
started training secondary teachers and admission required high
school completion and the normal school program extended to
three years. By the 1920s the normal school program
extended to 4 years and were being called state teachers'
colleges."
Source: Foundations of American Education, Sixth Edition
page 150-151 / L. Dean Webb, Arlene Metha. Published by Pearson Education. 2010
see 1901 for next event...
Food:
Jell-O goes mainstream, Sugar is spun into cotton candy and Hershey manufactures a milk chocolate bar. Anderson, Jean American Century Cookbook.
p 11
Money:
Gold Standard Act Passed
Set the worth of a dollar at 1.5 grams of gold and severed link with
silver.
Go to 1971 for end of link
between gold and U.S. currency.
- Photography:
Edward S. Curtis
(American Photographer of Native Americans 1899-1929)
North American Population:
Native Americans (Indians) = 530,000
Europeans = 92 million
Viola, Herman I, North American Indians, Crown Publishers, New York: New York, 1996
see 1850
World Fair celebrating the turn of the
century
Paris, France in 1900
(14 April - 12 November)
4th of 6 World Fairs held in Paris - 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900, 1925, 1937
Location: Champ de Mars, Trocadero,
Esplanades des Invalides, Avenue Alexandre III, Bois de Vincennes
(543
acres)
Architectural Wonder: the Eiffel Tower's gas lights were
replaced with 5,000 electric lamps and painted yellow. Buildings
were coated with plaster and sculpted to appear flamboyant and
ostentatious. The previous Galerie des Machines building from the
1889 world's fair was transformed into a banqueting hall for 25,000
with a dome.
Visitors: 48 million
Novelties: escalators, panoramic movies, the second modern
Olympic Games, fairgoers were transported via electric train, moving
sidewalks, and a new metro.
Mattie, Erik World's Fairs Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, New York: New York.
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