By: Sienna Gagne, Shanna Murvine, & Christina Clark

 People began moving to the cities more frequently during the 1920’s, making the net migration from the country to the city over 1 million.  In 1921, there was reportedly 21 people with an income over 1 million and the number fairly increased.  During this time, mass production developed which allowed for cheaper prices of technology, such as the automobile, movie, radio, and chemical industries.  New power plants were constructed and electricity production almost quadrupled.  Telephone lines were being strung across the continent, and plumbing and modern sewer systems were installed for the first time in many areas.  Credit was also introduced so people could make payments with interest on an item instead of having to pay all at once, making it more beneficial to buy things more often.  Billions of dollars were being invested into the stock market.

 Men had more of a tapered look than women.  Their wardrobe usually included trousers tapered down tightly at the ankles.  Fedora’s were worn.  This era was when pin stripe suits came into fashion.

 Women began to wear shorter dresses.  They wore suits with long hemlines and somewhat full skirts, often with belts at the waist of the jackets.  Dress and suit bodices were worn loosely.  Later on in the 20’s hemlines rose to the knee and became more fitted.

During the 1920’s many people began to discover dancing, and start dance marathons. The most popular dance created was The Charleston. People also had hobbies such as pole sitting, which was the practice of sitting on a pole for long amounts of time, generally used to test their endurance. People began going to movies more often, what they used to call “talkies”. They swam, hunted and flew in hot air balloons as a fun pastime.

 The city drew in a lot of people mostly because of the excitement of exotic restaurants and ethnic shops.  There was also new exciting opportunities in the city.

The suburbs allowed people to have the small town feel along with the excitement of the city. 767,000 houses were built in 1922 and 1,048,000 were built in 1925.

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