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On the date

Friday, July 21, 1911

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sound

The July heat sizzles off the cobblestones, mixing the stench of horse manure with the sharp, electric ozone of those new self-starting motorcars. Through my viewfinder, I catch a newsie shouting about the Tammany Hall defeat, his voice competing with the brassy blare of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" spilling out from a nearby social club's phonograph. I adjust my focus as a group of ragged street urchins scurry past; the poor devils look like they’re crawling with cooties, yet they grin as they dodge a sputtering hydroplane being hauled toward the docks. I click the shutter just as a man in a stiff linen suit pauses to check his pocket watch, capturing the gritty, rhythmic pulse of a city that never stops moving.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

RACING BILL BEATEN IN ASSEMBLY, 63 TO 53; Tammany Hall Members Worked Hard for the Measure, but Could Not Influence Enough Votes.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Alexander's Ragtime Band

Irving Berlin

The must-have

Rook (Card Game)

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

lousysnapshotmovies

Soldiers

over the topblightyno man's landcooties

Suffragette

deeds not wordsvotes for women

Catchphrases of 1911

  • Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Tech Check

Air Mail, Hydroplane & Electric Starter for Cars.

Cost of Living (1910)

Loaf of Bread

$0.06

Gallon of Gas

$0.15

Average Home

$3,600

New Car

$950

Time Elapsed

41,958 days ago

(114 years, 348 days)