Category Archives: Historical Prices

1921 Alarm Clock Extension

As you can see from the ad at the left, an alarm clock was a non-trivial expense a hundred years ago. This store, the the Given Hardware Company, 316-318 Minnesota Avenue, Bemidji, Minnesota, had models ranging in price from $2.00 to $5.75. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but according to this inflation calculator, that works out to a range of $28.92 to $83.14 in today’s money. If you had a clock in one room and wanted to hear the alarm in another room, going out and buying a new one would constitute an unnecessary expense.

You can compare that price to some of the perfectly functional, extremely accurate clocks below, all of which are probably orders of magnitude better than the 1921 model:

In fact, you can probably get a perfectly suitable alarm clock at the closest dollar store. So if you need an alarm clock in another room, or need a louder alarm clock, it’s a simple matter of going to the store or going to Amazon and just buying one.

But a hundred years ago, it was a problem best solved by ingenuity, as shown by the self-explanatory idea shown above. This relied on the fact that the glass of most alarm clocks could be rotated, but would still hold its position. Therefore, a small hole was drilled in the glass and a machine screw was carefully inserted so that it would contact the hour hand, but not interfere with the minute hand. A small piece of spring brass wire was soldered to the hour hand to serve as a brush and make contact. The alarm could be set to any desired time simply by revolving the glass.

In case you’re wondering how much the doorbell cost, this 1918 Western Electric catalog showed them starting for about $1.30, and the dry cell battery was about 60 cents.

This idea appeared in the January, 1928, issue of Popular Science, and had been sent in to the magazine by one G.H. Rouse. The ad appeared in the Bemidji Daily Pioneer, January 4, 1921.

1921 Grocery Prices

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices a hundred years ago today, from the January 16, 1921, edition of the Washington Evening Star and this ad for Piggly Wiggly. The idea itself of a self-service grocery store was relatively new, the company having been founded in Tennessee only five years earlier. A number of familiar brand names are evident here, such as Crisco, Mazola, Wesson, Lux, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and Quaker Oats.

When comparing pre-1964 prices, one useful way of doing the comparison is to look at the cost of silver. One dollar in 1921 meant one silver dollar, four silver quarters, or ten silver dimes. Either way, it was approximately an ounce of silver, which is currently about $26. So for a rough comparison, you can multiply these prices by 26 to find out what the equivalent is in today’s money.

For example, a pound of sugar was 9 cents, which would work out to about $2.25 today. Then (as now), dry beans were described as “the cheapest food in America today.” A pound of navy beans was 6 cents, or about $1.50 in today’s money.

To compare prices, the links above go to Amazon. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of the links, this site earns a small commission.

1970 Grocery Prices

Here’s a snapshot of what grocery prices looked like 50 years ago today, December 1, 1970, from that day’s issue of the Pittsburgh Press. This store had just started a practice that is quite common today, namely, posting the unit price of items, rather than having to do the math in the store.

Flour was $1.77 for a 25 pound bag with coupon, or $2.18 without the coupon. Many canned goods, such as beets, green beans, kidney beans, and store brand soup, were 8 for a dollar. Margarine was 5 pounds for a dollar, and 3 pounds of peanut butter was 99 cents.

Saltines were 4 boxes for a dollar, a tuna was three cans for a dollar. Ground beef was 59 cents a pound, and bacon was either 59 cents or 79 cents a pound, depending on brand. You could also get one pound of bacon in a can for only 79 cents. One pound loaves of bread were a quarter.

In the produce aisle, bananas were 8 cents a pound, carrots were a dime a pound, and grapes were 29 cents per pound. A ten pound bag of potatoes would set you back 89 cents. Cans of store brand pop were a dime.

The federal minimum wage was $1.65 at the time, as opposed to the current $7.25 per hour, about 4 times higher. Postage had just gone up to 8 cents, compared to 55 cents today, almost 7 times higher. So depending on how you account for inflation, you would need to multiply these prices by a similar number. A pound of hamburger cost 59 cents. If you use the cost of postage to track inflation, that works out to about $4 a pound. Fifty years ago, you had to work just over 3 minutes at the minimum wage to buy an 8 cent banana. Today, that same amount of work would earn you 40 cents.

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1920 Grocery Prices

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices a hundred years ago, from the November 29, 1920, issue of the Great Falls (Montana) Daily Tribune.

When looking at pre-1964 prices, it’s always good to remember that one dollar meant ten silver dimes, four silver quarters, or one silver dollar, which was one ounce of silver. Today, that ounce of silver would be worth about $22, so one good way to compare prices is to multiply these by 22.

A box of crackers, “N.B.C. Sodas,” which I assume means Nabisco, was 38 cents, which sounds cheap. But when you put that into today’s dollars, it’s $8.36.

10 pounds of lard would set you back $2.50, which works out to about $5 per pound in today’s money. In the cereal aisle, you could get a box of Post Toasties or Kellogg’s Corn Flakes for 12 cents, or Shredded or Puffed Wheat for 14 cents. Thirteen bars of “Palm Olive” soap were a dollar.

Coffee was about 50 cents per pound, or about $11 in today’s money. Cans of milk, presumably condensed, were 25 cents a can.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from OneTubeRadio.com!

Thanksgiving this year will be different. But perhaps the things we took for granted last year will be things we are thankful for this year. A hundred years ago, a world war and a global pandemic were still vivid memories. And seventy-five years ago, the boys (and a few girls) had either come home or were on their way home, but some never came home.

Today, we offer another snapshot of prices back in the day. These were the prices for a Thanksgiving dinner 80 years ago, in 1940. Europe was at war, and most Americans, if they were honest, knew that they would soon be at war as well. Yet they were thankful, and they bought turkeys, and pumpkin pies, and all the rest. The ad appeared in the Pittsburgh Press 80 years ago today, November 26, 1940.

1960 Grocery Prices

Yesterday, we looked at 1950 grocery prices, and today we move to 1960. Here’s a snapshot of what grocery prices looked like sixty years ago, with an emphasis on Thanksgiving fixings, from the November 21, 1960 issue of the Pittsburgh Press.

The turkey itself would set you back 39 cents per pound. If you were a non-traditionalist, hams started for about 69 cents per pound.

The cranberry sauce was two cans for 45 cents. If you were going to make your own cranberry sauce, the berries were 19 cents per pound. And if you were making your own pie (which you probably did), the pumpkin was two cans for 39 cents.

Mayonnaise was 69 cents for a quart, and you could get 8 one-pound cans of Van Camp Pork and Beans for a dollar. Jello was 12 boxes for a dollar, and cake mixes were three for a dollar.

In the produce department, oranges were two dozen for 79 cents, and lettuce was 2 for 35 cents.

1950 Grocery Prices

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices 70 years ago today, from the November 20, 1950, edition of the Pittsburgh Press.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it was only natural that turkeys featured prominently, at 69 cents a pound (or 59 cents a pound for those 16 pounds and up). For 29 cents, you could get two pounds of cranberries, two pounds of apples, or three pounds of sweet potatoes. If you preferred your cranberries out of a can, the canned cranberry sauce was 7 cans for a dollar.

If you were stocking up on other meat, pork roasts were 33 cents a pound, and beef roasts were 59 cents a pound.

For the pantry, you could get ten cans of Campbell’s Tomato Soup for a dollar, a two pound jar of grape jelly for 43 cents, olives for 43 cents, and asparagus five cans for a dollar. Two loaves of bread were 27 cents.

You could wash it all down with a carton of cigarettes for only $2, and for the bathroom, four bars of soap would set you back 36 cents.

1940 Grocery Prices

Here’s a snapshot of what grocery prices looked like 80 years ago, from the November 14, 1940, issue of the Pittsburgh Press.

When you look at these old prices, one way to translate them to modern prices is by remembering that each dollar was made up of ten silver dimes or four silver quarters. Either way, it was one ounce of silver. Today, the price of silver is about $24 per ounce, so if you multiply these prices by 24, you’ll get the rough modern equivalent.

Chicken would set you back 29 cents a pound, which would be about $7 a pound in today’s money. Ham was 19 cents a pound, or the equivalent of about $4.50 today.

Fish from Lake Erie was 25 cents a pound. You could buy it fresh, or for the same price, you could buy it cooked, and warm it up at home. At the lunch counter, a meal of either halibut or ham would set you back 56 cents for two people.

1945 Grocery Prices

For the American housewife fighting on the Home Front in 1945, here was the battle plan, as published 75 years ago today in the February 9, 1945, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

One way to compare the spending power in pre-1964 dollars is to remember that one dollar was one silver dollar, which is worth about $18 dollars today. So 25 pounds of flour was 98 cents, which works out to about 70 cents per pound in today’s money. That seems pretty reasonable, but eggs work out to about $10 per dozen, and pork sausage to over $6 per pound, meaning that the housewife had to be creative when it came to getting protein into her family’s diet.

Some items, such as beef, sugar, and butter, were rationed. But all of the items in this ad were freely available.

1944 Grocery Prices

Here’s another snapshot of wartime grocery prices from 1944, from the November 9, 1944, issue of the Milwaukee Journal. None, or very few, of the items shown here required ration coupons, as would be the case for sugar, meat, and some other items.

As with pre-1964 prices, one way to convert to today’s money is to remember that one dollar meant one silver dollar, four silver quarter, or ten silver dimes, or about an ounce of silver, which would be worth about $18.

Flour was $1.17 for a 25 pound bag. A pound of coffee would set you back 21 cents, and a 12 ounce box of Grapenuts was 13 cents. And a package of “Kool-Aid Ice Cream Mix” was only a nickel.