05/09/2026
This week Fairfield school celebrated our 160th birthday by riding bikes to school together. Thank you to Lucas Frerichs for helping keep us safe as we peddled down Russell Road and across Road 96!
We also learned of a few things that are younger than our beloved school. Some may surprise you!
🦷 Around the Home
• Plastic Toothbrushes: Toothbrushes existed, but they weren't the colorful plastic ones we have today. They were often made of bone with bristles made from boar hair. (Your students will probably think brushing with pig hair is pretty gross!)
• Toothpaste in a Tube: There were no squeezy tubes. People used "tooth powder" kept in a small jar or ceramic pot.
• Running Water: There were no faucets. If you wanted to wash your face, you had to pour water from a pitcher into a bowl (a basin). If you wanted warm water, someone had to heat it up on a big wood-burning stove first.
• Soft Toilet Paper: Modern perforated rolls of soft toilet paper didn't show up until the late 1800s. In 1866, people often used old newspapers, leaves, or even corncobs.
• The Indoor Toilet: Most families had an outhouse—a tiny wooden shed outside with a hole in the ground. If you had to go in the middle of the night, you had to put on your coat and walk out into the dark!
🍎 Lunch & Snacks
• Juice Boxes: There was no way to keep drinks in little cardboard boxes. Most kids just drank water or milk straight from the farm.
• Bubble Gum: While people chewed on spruce tree resin, the stretchy, pink bubble gum we use to blow bubbles wasn't invented until 1928.
• Sliced Bread: If you wanted a sandwich, you had to cut the loaf yourself with a big knife. The machine that slices bread for us wasn't invented until 1928—that’s why people say things are the "greatest thing since sliced bread!"
đź‘• Clothes & Shoes
• Sneakers: There were no rubber-soled "running shoes" or Velcro. Almost everyone wore stiff leather boots with laces or lots of tiny buttons. You couldn't just "slip them on" to go out for recess.
• The "L" and "R" in Shoes: Believe it or not, for a long time, many shoes were made to be straight. This meant there wasn't a "left" shoe or a "right" shoe—you just put them on either foot until they eventually stretched to fit!
• Backpacks: Kids didn't carry bags on their shoulders. They usually tied their books together with a leather strap (a book sling) and carried them like a handle.
🏠Around the Neighborhood
• Paved Roads: Most streets were just dirt. When it rained, the roads turned into thick, sticky mud. This is why people wore tall boots—otherwise, you’d lose your shoes in the "street soup!"
• Flashlights: If you wanted to see under your bed or walk outside at night, you had to carry a metal lantern with a real flame inside. You couldn't just click a button.
🚲 Transportation
• Automobiles: The first practical gasoline-powered car wasn't invented until 1886. Personal land travel was dominated by horse-drawn carriages.
• Airplanes: Mechanical flight did not begin until 1903.
• Electric Streetcars: While horse-drawn streetcars existed, electric versions didn't become widespread until the 1880s.
• Motorcycles: The first petroleum-fueled motorcycle was developed in 1885.
• Subways: The first underground electric railway didn't open until 1890, though London’s steam-powered Metropolitan Railway had recently opened in 1863.
• Motorized Buses: Public transit was limited to omnibuses—essentially large horse-drawn carriages.
• Modern Bicycles: The safety bicycle with two wheels of equal size and a chain drive didn't appear until the 1880s.
