William Howard Taft, Twenty-seventh U.S. President
(1909-1913)
U.S. Census Overview 1910
U.S. Census Fast Facts 1910
-
Entertainment: President William Howard Taft started the tradition of throwing out
the first ball at the beginning of the Major League Baseball season.
Presidents have done that ever since.
Food: Hawaii
pineapple growers begin canning pineapple and shipping it to the U.S.
Anderson, Jean American Century Cookbook.
p 57 & 65
Literature: Mark Twain died at 74 years old on 21 April 1910 the
same year as Halley's Comet, just like when he was born.
He had written 28 books in his lifetime as well as many
essays and articles.
- Natural Resources:
Glacier National Park Created
PBS Timeline
Photography:
Edward S. Curtis
(American Photographer of Native Americans 1899-1929)
Lewis W. Hine
(American Photographer of Child Labor in America 1908-1912)
Child Labor
In the late 1700's and early 1800's, power-driven machines replaced
hand labor for making most manufactured items. The factory owners found
a new source of cheap labor to run their machines — children. European
countries like Great Britain began making laws to shorten working hours
and raise the working age in the late 1800s. The United States
raised the working age to sixteen during school hours and fourteen during after school hours in
1938.
- Technology:
Henry Ford's Model T Assembly Line
Automobiles becoming popular. President William Howard Taft is
the first President to have a car at the White House.
Gas ranges begin to phase out coal, wood and petroleum
stoves. Kitchen cabinets appear; pantries begin to disappear.
Anderson, Jean American Century Cookbook.
p 57 & 65
Matches Invented
In 1910, the Diamond Match Company patented the first nonpoisonous match in the U.S., which used a safe chemical called sesquisulfide of phophorous.
United States President William H. Taft publicly asked Diamond Match to release their patent for the good of mankind. They did on January 28, 1911.
World Fair known as Exposition Universelle et
Internationale
Brussels, Belgium in 1910
Location: Brussels (217.4
acres)
Architectural Wonder: The main building called the Grand
Palais burned down and was rebuilt. The Avenue of Nations had an
Ardennes hut, Arabian fortress, a Swiss chalet, a Tuscan villa, a
Bavarian farmhouse, and an Indian temple, which attracted the
public. Germany entered various pavilions, and was equivalent in
size to all of the other international pavilions put together.
Participating Nations:
26
Visitors:
13 million
Novelties: linoleum with geometric patterns for floor
coverings in the German pavilions
Mattie, Erik World's Fairs Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, New York: New York.
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