In 1907, Americans had a life expectancy of just 45.6 years for men and 49.9 for women. Even worse, this was the year that typhoid, an abdominal disease spread through water and food supplies, ravaged the nation. But alas! Public health officials
discovered that 47 people stricken with the disease were all from families that employed a cook named Mary. With "Typhoid Mary" safely quarantined, these were the highlights of that year.
 The first electric washing machine was released in 1907. |
After her mother died, Anna Jarvis started a letter-writing campaign in support of the celebration of mothers everywhere. A minister in Grafton, West Virginia, obliged and dedicated the second Sunday in May specifically to the late Mrs. Jarvis. Ironically, the woman who is credited with creating
what we now know as Mother's Day never became a mother herself. Her entire life was dedicated to caring for others: first her elderly mother and then her blind sister. Jarvis never married and, in 1948, died a pauper.
2. The Invention of the Paper Towel
The paper towel was created by a crafty teacher in Philadelphia who found a way to keep her students from perpetuating a cold epidemic. Instead of sharing the same cloth towel, she put her scissors to use and cut some paper into individual squares. The Scott Paper Company, which was already making toilet paper, got wind of the story. As luck would have it, the company had an entire railroad car full of paper that was rolled too thick to be used in the bathroom. Arthur Scott came up with a way to copy the teacher's design on a bigger scale. It didn't take long before he was selling them as a product called the Sani-Towel.
3. The Beginnings of UPS
Seattle entrepreneur James E. Casey was only 19 in 1907 when he borrowed $100 to create a delivery service he called the American Messenger Company. He and his friends ran errands and delivered packages and trays of food. Most deliveries were done on foot, with longer trips made via bicycle. A Model T Ford was added six years later and the name was changed to Merchants Parcel Delivery. By 1919, the company had expanded beyond Seattle and was renamed United Parcel Service.
4. The First Electric Washing Machine
By 1907, U.S. power companies were growing in technology and scale. As a result, life became a little easier for housewives, especially when the Thor washing machine was introduced by Hurley Machine Company of Chicago. To go with the Thor, a company in Düsseldorf, Germany, came up with the first household detergent in the same year. It was called Persil.
Read about more surprising highlights from 1907 on the next page.
