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On the date

Thursday, July 1, 1909

From the day

Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sound

The deafening screech of the elevated trains overhead is getting worse now that J.P. Morgan is bankrolling even more tracks, and my head throbs so fiercely I’m hardly feeling fit as a fiddle. I stepped into the corner shop to escape the rattle, but seeing bread hit five cents nearly made me faint; everything is becoming too dear for a common man to breathe. To settle my nerves, I’m ignoring the frantic headlines about million-dollar tunnels and focusing on the quiet snap of my new Rook cards. At least those don’t require a noisy toaster or a silver spoon to enjoy while the world grows louder and more expensive by the hour.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

INTERBOROUGH PLAN TO SPEND $100,000,000; Offers to Build 68 Miles of New Subways and Elevated Lines at Own Expense. CITY MUST BUY TUNNEL And Permit Third Tracking of Elevated Lines -- J. P. Morgan & Co. May Be Financial Agents. INTERBORO1JGH PLAH TO $PEHD $i00,000,000

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet

Percy Wenrich

The must-have

Rook (Card Game)

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

bullyfit as a fiddleblockhead

Aristocrat

capitalmy wordbally

Working Class

gadzooksblimeychump

Catchphrases of 1909

  • Peary to the Pole

Tech Check

Toaster, Silencer for Guns & Instant Coffee.

Cost of Living (1900)

Loaf of Bread

$0.05

Gallon of Gas

$0.10

Average Home

$3,200

New Car

$1,000

Time Elapsed

42,708 days ago

(117 years, 3 days)