At the dawn of the 20th century, daily life in America and much of the Western world looked quite different than it does today. The technological innovations and cultural shifts that would define the modern era were just beginning to take shape in 1900. From the foods people ate to the clothes they wore, the chores they did and the entertainments they enjoyed, life in a 1900s home bore little resemblance to our current experience. Let’s take a look back at what life was like in a 1900 house.

The Home Itself

Homes in 1900 tended to be modest by today’s standards. Electricity was still rare, so homes relied on gas lamps, candles, and fireplaces for light and heat. Telephones and radios had yet to become fixtures in most houses. Running water was becoming more common in cities but was still a luxury in rural areas, where outhouses and water pumps were the norm.

Some distinctive features of a 1900s home:

Simple floor plans: Homes were smaller and rooms served multiple functions. The parlor doubled as a sitting room, while the kitchen was a hub of household activity.
Minimal decor: Walls were often bare, with just a few family photos. Rugs and curtains added color. Victorians loved clutter but this was fading.
Primitive plumbing: Early indoor plumbing lacked pressure for showers. Baths were taken in freestanding tubs filled with water carried upstairs.
Coal/wood stoves: These multipurpose stoves heated homes and provided cooking surfaces. Some homes still used open-hearth cooking.
Ice boxes: These insulated wooden boxes kept ice cold. Ice men delivered new ice blocks regularly for food preservation.
Laundry: Clothes were washed by hand using washtubs, washboards, soap bars, and irons heated on the stove. Wringer machines mechanized the process.
Outhouses & chamber pots: Most urban sanitation still flowed into waterways. Toilets were luxury items.
Bare lightbulbs: These were a sign of an electrified home. Many still used candles, oil lamps, and gas lamps after dark.
No climate control: Windows, fans, shade trees and awnings provided cooling. Fireplaces and stoves offered the only heating.

While not glamorous by modern standards, homes in 1900 laid the foundation for the conveniences we now take for granted.

The Family Within

Gender Roles

Roles within a 1900s home were strongly divided by gender. The father was the breadwinner while the mother tended to children, housework, and meals. As indoor plumbing and electricity eased chores, women gained time for church, social clubs, and early employment outside the home. Still, housework consumed much of a housewife’s day.

Father/Husband: He managed family finances and wages. Fathers had absolute authority over the household and their word was law.
Mother/Wife: She cooked, cleaned, sewed, and cared for children. Wives were legally considered property of their husbands.
Maid: Wealthy families employed live-in maids, often immigrants, to help the matron of the house.
Children: Kids as young as five worked on chores befitting their age and gender. Girls helped their mothers while boys assisted fathers.

While rigid, these roles lent order to family life. As the 20th century progressed, gender roles loosened but still shaped family dynamics for decades to come.

Typical Family Size

The average household had 4-6 children.
Families with 8 or more children were common.
High infant mortality rates led parents to have more children.
Lack of contraception also contributed to large families.
Having many “hands” to help with farm work or family businesses was an advantage.
Older daughters were caregivers for their younger siblings.
It was unusual but not unheard of for couples to have 10 or 12 children.

Large households were the norm in the 1900s. Children contributed valuable labor and were a sign of virility. While a strain on resources, big families strengthened community ties and built bonds between siblings.

A Day in the Life

From sunup to sundown, life in a 1900 home revolved around demanding physical chores, much of them outdoors. At a time before labor-saving devices, household tasks required muscle and stamina. Let’s look at a typical day’s work in warmer months:

Morning

Mom: rises at dawn to light the stove, boil water, and prepare breakfast.
Kids: awoken at dawn to feed animals, chop firewood, haul water.
Dad: heads to work in field, factory, or office.
Breakfast: porridge, eggs, bacon, biscuits, jam. Hearty fare to fuel a hard day’s work.

Daytime

Mom: churns butter, bakes bread, cans vegetables, sews & mends clothes, scrubs laundry on washboard, irons with heavy irons heated on stove.
Daughters: help Mom with indoor chores, watch younger kids.
Sons: tend crops and livestock, make repairs, assist Dad.
Lunch: Leftovers like cold meats, bread, beans eaten quickly.

Evening

Supper: Hearty meal of pot roast, fried chicken, ham; mashed potatoes, preserving harvest.
Kids: evening chores like feeding animals, splitting firewood.
Parents: darning, tool repairs, reading by gas lamp.
Bedtime: Early, as sunrise signals a new day of exhausting work.

Laundry, preserving, harvesting, and resource management filled a housewife’s day. Advancements like indoor plumbing, electricity, and washing machines later eased her workload.

Eating Habits

Food preparation was extremely labor-intensive in the 1900s. Without refrigeration, everything was made from scratch daily. Despite the effort, meals were often simple and repetitive:

Bread: Fresh-baked bread was a staple served at every meal. Yeast made daily bread rise.
Produce: Fruits and vegetables were homegrown and canned for winter. Salads were unfamiliar.
Meat: Pork, chickens, and cows were butchered for meat. Beef and pork cured into bacon, ham, and sausage.
Dairy: Milk came from backyard cows or deliveries. Turned into butter, cheese and ice cream.
Eggs: Fresh eggs eaten daily. Chicken coops provided a steady supply.
Sweets: Cookies, pies, and cakes made with lard instead of vegetable shortening.
Coffee & Tea: Universal beverages rarely sweetened. Coffee especially popular and consumed all day.
Water: Usually hauled from a well or pump and unsafe to drink.

Despite lacking variety, farm-fresh foods and home cooking made meals nutritious if bland by modern tastes. Regional cuisine and ethnic flavors added variety in cities.

Fashion and Hygiene

Clothing in the 1900s reflected the Victorian traditions of modesty and quality workmanship. Without closets, clothing was limited but carefully maintained. Bathing was rare by today’s standards.

Women

Corset: Curved steel corset cinched the waste. Essential undergarment.
Pinless pantaloons: Gathered undergarments for modesty under sheer dresses.
Petticoats: Multiple petticoats puffed out skirts.
Shirtwaists: Cotton blouses, often with high collars.
Long skirts: Ankle-length gored skirts revealed little skin.
Hats: Elaborate hats adorned with feathers, flowers, and ribbons.

Men

Undershirts & drawers: Loose undergarments, knee-length drawers.
Trousers: Wool trousers or overalls for manual labor.
Vest: Matching vests paired with suit coats.
Top hat: Formal top hats complemented business suits.
Work boots or brogans: Durable leather boots worn for outdoor labor.

Grooming

Bathing: A weekly bath in a portable tub was common. Many still relied on sponge baths.
Laundry: Washing clothes was an all-day affair using washboards and irons.
Shaving: Men shaved with a straight razor daily, using a mirror and brush.
Oral hygiene: Toothbrushes appeared but weren’t widely adopted. Few visited dentists.
Deodorant: Uncommon. Floral perfumes and colognes masked body odor.
Hair: Women kept long hair pinned up. Men wore short cuts.

Daily grooming focused on cleanliness and presentation rather than indulgence. Indoor plumbing brought major hygiene improvements in the coming century.

Entertainment

Without electricity, entertainment in a 1900 home relied on simple diversions that brought the family together:

Reading: Books and newspapers were prized. The Bible and almanacs were ubiquitous.
Music: Family members played instruments like fiddles and pianos. Phonographs later played records.
Card games: Games like rummy and euchre entertained families for hours.
Board games: Dominoes, checkers, and chess were popular pastimes.
Croquet: A genteel outdoor game often played at social gatherings.
Parlor games: Charades, musical chairs, and recitations passed evenings enjoyably.
Picnics & socials: Outings like ice cream socials built community. Church was a social hub.
Visits: Neighborly visiting filled lonely evenings on isolated homesteads.

Simple pleasures like singing, dancing, and recitations improved life’s quality when not consumed by chores. In cities, theater, concerts, and restaurants offered additional diversions at a cost.

Household Chores

Running a 1900s household required backbreaking labor, especially with large families. Homemakers used skill and stamina to accomplish daily chores without modern conveniences.

Laundry

Washing clothing took an entire day, usually Monday.
Clothes were soaked and scrubbed in washtubs using lye soap.
Washboards with ridges helped scrub out grime.
Clothes were boiled in vats to sanitize them.
Hand-cranked wringers squeezed out water.
Clothes were hung on lines to dry.
Flatirons were heated on stoves and pressed fabric.

Cooking & Preservation

Hours were spent just preparing ingredients: plucking fowl, hand-churning butter, grinding coffee.
Baking involved maintaining a woodstove’s perfect temperature.
Water was hand-pumped and carried into the kitchen.
Fruits and vegetables were home-canned in boiling water baths to preserve them.
Smoking, salting, pickling, and jarring kept food edible all winter.
Nothing went to waste. Scraps were used to feed people and animals.

Heating & Lighting

Home heating required chopping wood and stoking coal stoves all day long.
Oil lamps and candles needed cleaning and wick trimming daily.
Gas lamps produced better light but risked deadly leaks and explosions.
Fire hazards were a constant worry. Water and sand buckets stood at the ready.
Coal oil and wood had to be endlessly hauled inside. Ash removal was necessary.

Spring Cleaning

This annual ritual sanitized the home for healthier summer months.
Curtains were taken down, washed, and rehung. Walls were whitewashed with lime and water.
Stove soot was brushed and scrubbed away. Candles were boiled out.
Bedding was beaten and aired outside. Mattresses restuffed with fresh straw.
Floors were hand-scrubbed. Rugs beaten free of winter dirt.
Windows washed and re-glazed. Mouse nests cleared from the eaves.

Before vacuum cleaners and household chemicals, homemakers labored creatively to make their homes fresh and livable. They took pride in providing a clean, stable environment for their family.

Shopping & Errands

Housewives typically visited several merchants to provision their households. Store-bought goods supplemented what farms and kitchen gardens produced.

General Store

The general store held supplies that town dwellers and farmers alike needed:

Dry staples like flour, sugar, coffee, salt, beans
Cured meats and crackers packed in barrels
Bolts of cotton and woolen fabrics
Ready-made clothes along with socks and boots
Crockery like mixing bowls and pie pans
Farm implements, tools, nails, seed
Patent medicines claiming to cure any ailment
Catalogs from merchants like Sears for mail ordering goods

Butcher Shop

Without home refrigeration, housewives visited the butcher daily:

Beef, pork, mutton, and poultry provided fresh meat.
Shop assistants cut and wrapped selections expertly.
Bones, organs, and fat trimmed off were cheap sources of flavor.
Home cooks prepared cuts promptly into stews, sausages, and roasts.

Green Grocer

The green grocer stocked freshly harvested produce:

Fruits and vegetables in season. Out-of-season choices were rare.
Greens like lettuce and cabbage along with root vegetables.
Some exotic fruits like oranges appeared around Christmastime.
Potatoes and onions kept through much of the winter.
City dwellers lacked garden plots so relied on the green grocer’s offerings.

Dairy Store

Refrigeration began expanding dairy offerings:

Milk was bottled and delivered daily, including weekends.
Cream was skimmed from the top for whipping or butter churning.
Butter came in decorative molds stamped with dairy crests.
Cottage cheese and thick yogurt contained little added sugars.
Ice cream novelty in the 1900s began gaining popularity at parlors and socials.

Shopping required almost daily trips on foot or streetcars to scout offerings and seasonal prices. Savvy homemakers budgeted carefully and built relationships with local merchants.

Raising Children

Child-rearing philosophies in 1900 stressed moral fortitude, strict discipline, and hard work. Large families built in playmates but leisure was rare.

Work Ethic

From age five onward, children did chores suited to age and gender.
Chores instilled a strong work ethic and kept idleness at bay.
Farm kids in particular worked the land and tended livestock.
Urban children sold newspapers, shined shoes, and worked in factories.

Discipline

Spare the rod, spoil the child. Corporal punishment was acceptable.
Children were expected to be obedient, honest, and contrite when corrected.
Strict discipline taught children to control impulses. Builds character.
Young boys misbehaving outside the home might be correction by a neighbor or beat officer.

Education

Mandatory school attendance laws arrived but many kids left school early.
Rural schools limited, children needed for farm labor. Winter terms only.
Urban kids flocked to public schools and education highly valued.
Catholic families sent children to parochial schools.
Affluent families hired governesses or sent boys to boarding/military school.

Playtime

Chores limited playtime. Afternoons or early evenings on Sundays.
Outdoor play like stickball, jump rope, marbles, hoops, hopscotch.
Girls practiced “keeping house” with dolls. Paper dolls were popular.
Boys played with toy soldiers, kites, boats, sleds, fishing poles.
Affluent kids enjoyed elaborate electric train sets.

Hard work and formal manners defined 1900s childhoods. As reforms arrived, later generations enjoyed more leisure and educational opportunities.

Life in a 1900s Home: Frequently Asked Questions

Life at the turn of the 20th century may seem like ancient history. But exploring how families lived over a century ago reveals the hardships and joys that shaped the modern home life we know today. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about daily living in the 1900s.

What new technologies started appearing in homes?

Electric lighting emerged but wasn’t widespread until the 1920s.
Indoor plumbing and central heating gradually arrived but took decades to reach poorer households.
Gas stoves began replacing wood-burning stoves.
Telephones and phonographs were novelties in the early 1900s.
Manual washing machines motorized the laundry process.
Ice boxes kept food cold but true refrigerators didn’t arrive until after WW1.

How were race relations changing?

Segregation and racism remained rampant, especially in the South.
The Great Migration saw African Americans moving north for factory jobs and less discrimination.
Native Americans continued being displaced from tribal lands.
For Asian immigrants, anti-Chinese prejudice was strong on the West Coast.

What was women’s role in society?

Women couldn’t vote until the 19th Amendment passed in 1920.
Middle-class women joined church groups, charitable organizations, and unions.
Women’s colleges provided education but very few professions were open to females.
Labor-saving appliances starting to lighten housework burdens.
Birth control information was illegal but family sizes slowly shrank.

How healthy were people in the 1900s?

No antibiotics made infections a frequent cause

Life in a 1900 House