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 Binding America together: the driving of the Golden Spike, May 10, 1869, Promontory Point, Utah, connecting the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads. 1903-1908 The Ties That Bind UsOn a windy day in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright coaxed their fragile airplane of the ground for a brief, low pass over the dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The age of flight was born. As airmail, automobiles and faster trains spread out around North America, Americans and Canadians saw an explosive growth of modern amenities—such as running water, in-house gas and electric power—once only found in the wealthiest homes. As railroads, highways and airmail routes linked cities and towns a continent apart, the United States and Canada found themselves bound into networks of interdependence, where information, and with it a modern way of life, flowed across areas where life until then had changed little in 300 years.
While true rural electrification was not to be realized for several decades, more and more smaller towns across North America were producing power and joining up with neighboring communities to provide sewer, electric power, and telephone and telegraph services. Despite occasional economic downturns, the demand for electrical workers grew rapidly in the first years of the 20th century. Progress, as epitomized by the Wright Brothers’ a triumph over the seemingly impossible, was the word on everyone’s mind in 1903. Not everyone benefited from the results of progress, but all knew its promise. As a demonstration of progress in America, St. Louis held an international exposition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. A huge area, now known as Forest Park, was cleared, and buildings illustrating progress in all its forms were built on a grand scale. Central to all the buildings and exhibits was electricity. Not only was there the Palace of Electricity, displaying the latest electrical machinery, but many other buildings relied on electric power for their exhibits. Among many other things introduced to the world at the St. Louis Exposition was the ice cream cone. |
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