Introduction
Over the 20th century, Kitchener has seen countless businesses come and go. Most of those businesses are not present in modern day Kitchener, however, they had an important role in shaping the lives of the people living there at the time. Advertisements especially help in providing meaningful insights into the lifestyles of past generations. To dive deeper into the lives of people in past Kitchener, this storymap will take a look at prices of goods and services, the language used in advertisements and long-standing businesses/buildings to get a glimpse into the past.
Pricing
Throughout the 20th century, goods and services have seen a gradual shift in cost of goods - as inflation rises, industries become more robust, and trends are further refined. These change in costs also symbolize a change in lifestyles, and as such, it is important to consider the cost of goods when considering economical and social development when studying and analyzing history.
On the right is a photo of the Mayfair Hotel, a business that has seen prices gradually increase throughout the 1900s
This is an ad for a hotel in 1907 and shows its rate as $1 per day. This may seem incredibly inexpensive nowadays, however, the value of a dollar has changed drastically from 100 years ago.
(1907)
This is also an ad for a hotel with a rate of $1.50-$2.00 per day. The large difference in rate, compared to the previous Clarendon Hotel is Largely due to it being recognized as an upscale hotel. Despite the price difference (almost double per night), the Walper House (Walper Hotel) still exists today, meanwhile Clarendon only lasted until 1924.
(1907)
As the years progressed, hotels became more and more expensive.
(1936-1970)
Laundry was relatively inexpensive compared to other services. To put this into perspective, having a shirt re-banded cost one-tenth of living in a hotel.
(1901)
With clothing, the price differed for men and women. In most cases, clothes typically cost more for men in the early 1900s
(1907)
As for meals, in 1929, lunch could cost around 30 cents.
(1929)
Going out for dinner costs around 40 cents. Another aspect to note is working hours. Some restaurants were open early into the morning and late at night.
(1929)
The Language of Advertisements
Advertisements are not only a way of spreading the word about one's business, but it also helps build trust between a business and consumers. This section will explore the various ways this trust was built and give meaningful insights on people's lifestyles in the 20th century. Aspects such as tone and choice of words may give us a glimpse of what people valued and what trends existed at the time.
The language used in older ads were more formal and direct, which tends to be a common theme in the early 1900s ads.
(1907)
Many of the larger ads from the past explain in detail the operations of their business and what makes them better than their competition.
(1907)
An interesting insight that comes from this ad is their statement on hygiene, which implies that the older generations valued cleanliness and that perhaps not all businesses had proper hygiene.
(1907)
This ad also presents itself as clean, but it also has a slogan. Slogans were not as common in the 1900s as they are today.
(1919)
A common way for businesses to advertise back in the day was to purport themselves as the best at what they do. While businesses still do this today, it was certainly more common and direct in the 1900s.
(1920)
As the years went by, additional businesses were introduced, causing ads to become smaller in size and rely more on slogans rather than elaborate descriptions.
(1940)
Business/Building Longevity
The city of Kitchener has seen countless businesses come and go, yet some businesses and their respective buildings have survived into the 21st century. This section will display some of the monumental businesses and buildings that have withstood the test of time.
One of the oldest businesses to survive into the 21st century was Pearl Steam Laundry which launched somewhere between 1901-1903.
This image, taken in 2018, shows the building that Pearl Laundry resided in for so many decades.
Schreiter's Funeral Service was a business founded in 1929, rebranded to Schreiter Sandrock in 1934, and has survived into the 21st century. Although the business does not exist today, the building that it once resided in lives on as a medical center.
Schreiter Sandrock in 2014.
Schreiter Sandrock closes down in 2016.
In 2017, Benton Medical Center took over the building.
Castle Inn was a restaurant for decades, established in a building built in the 1930s. Early records show that Castle Inn swapped ownership of the building with another business by the name of Rockway Grocery. The restaurant itself has also seen many owners changing hands, which led to name changes over the years, including Stone Inn, Swiss Inn, and Castle on King, to name a few.
During the earlier years of the building, the ownership swapped between Castle Inn and Rockway Grocery. It started with Castle Inn in 1934, swapped to Rockway Grocery in 1942, and finally ended when Castle Inn took the building back in 1948.
This is Castle Inn when it was still active.
Although the building no longer exists as Castle Inn, much of its unique architecture remains the same.
(2020)
Interesting Facts
During the past century, humanity has made strides in science and technology that has greatly improved our standard of living. Due to this, some might consider 1900s (and especially the early 1900s) as underdeveloped in many aspects, however, that is not the case. While not as refined, the 20th century shared many similarities to the technology and services that exist today.
Since the industrial revolution, machinery has become more widespread, and in this ad, it shows that machinery has reached the food sector at this point in time.
(1901)
Though there was little distinction between regular doctors and specialized doctors (such as optometrists), people living in the early 1900s had access to similar specialized healthcare services that exist today.
(1901)
Artificial limbs are not something one might expect to see in the early 20th century, since it is easy to imagine the 1900s as a time with limited medical technology.
(1901)
While the concept of movies did not exist yet in the early 1900s, they still had theatres which showed "moving pictures."
(1907)
Kitchener Ad Map
Map of all businesses mentioned
This storymap was made using data created and compiled by the University of Waterloo Geospatial Centre's Historical City Directory Initiative
