Years and Decades
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2009 15 Years Ago
Prices : Cost of a gallon of Gas $2.73
News Events : The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster takes place on February 1stThe final Concorde flight took place during November. United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation
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2004 20 Years Ago
Prices : Cost of a gallon of Gas $2.10
Popular Films :Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Aviator
Shrek 2
News Events :The strongest earthquake in 40 years originates from the Indian Ocean close to Indonesia Creating tsunami waves. The EU undergoes it's largest expansion so far by accepting 10 new states
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1994 30 Years Ago
Prices : Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 8.50%
Popular Movies : Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Star Trek: Generations
News Events : Nancy Kerrigan attacked, Netscape Navigator released, Nelson Mandella becomes president of South Africa, Channel Tunnel opened
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1984 40 Years Ago
Prices : Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.10
Popular Music : Phil Collins, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Rogers
News Events : Indria Ghandi assassinated, Widespread Famine in Ethiopia, Virgin Atlantic Starts Operations, Grand Hotel Brighton Bombing, Union Carbide Pesticide plant in Bhopal India
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1974 50 Years Ago
Prices : Yearly Inflation Rate USA 11.3%
Popular Music : ABBA , Beach Boys , David Bowie , Carpenters , Eric Clapton ,
News Events Richard Nixon becomes the first US president forced to resign after the Watergate Scandal, Lucy an almost complete hominid skeleton over 3 million years old is discovered in Africa, 55 MPH Speed Limit imposed to preserve gas usage US wide, Global Recession Deepens
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1969 55 Years Ago
Prices : Average Cost of new house $15,550.00
Popular Music : The Rolling Stones -- " Honky Tonk Woman " James Brown The Beatles with -- " Get Back and Come Together " Johnny Cash -- " Daddy Sang Bass " Bob Dylan Crosby, Stills and Nash Creedence Clearwater Revival
News Events :The first man is landed on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission, Woodstock attracts more than 350,000 rock-n-roll fans, Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin , USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Established
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1964 60 Years Ago
Prices : Cost of a gallon of Gas 30 cents
Popular Musicians : The Beatles Roy Orbison Ella Fitzgerald Simon and Garfunkel
News Events : Three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack the US Destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law by President Johnson, The most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes South Central Alaska
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1959 65 Years Ago
Prices : Average Cost of new house $12,400.00
Popular Music : Elvis Presley , Paul Anchor , The Platters , Jim Reeves
News Events : Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba, St. Lawrence Seaway is completed, First Pictures Of Earth From Space Taken By Explorer 6, The Antarctic Treaty is signed in Washington,
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1954 70 Years Ago
Prices : Average Cost of Rent $85.00 per month
Popular Culture :Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets
NBC’s “The Tonight Show” was first aired with Steve Allen as the host
News Events : First Indo-China War Ends, Brown v. Board of Education, new social security bill funded by employers and employees, US "Operation Wetback" is started, The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance
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1949 75 Years Ago
Prices :Average Cost of new house $7,450.00
Popular Culture : First 45 rpm Vinyl Record are introduced, Rodgers and Hammerstein debut the musical "South Pacific" on Broadway
News Events : Berlin Blockade officially comes to an end, The Communist People's Republic of China is proclaimed, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established, De-Havilland Comet first commercial passenger jet airliner,
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1944 80 Years Ago
Prices : Average wages per year $2,400.00
Popular Culture :15yr old Anne Frank is captured by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp
Glenn Miller is reported missing.
News Events : Siege of Leningrad ends, Operation Overlord, code named D-Day Allied Forces land on beaches of Normandy, GI Bill of Rights passed, Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
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1939 85 Years Ago
Prices : Average Price for new car $700.00
Popular Movies :Gone with the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Stagecoach
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
News Events World War II Begins, Albert Einstein Americas A-Bomb programme, Spanish Civil war ends with Franco Victorious, LaGuardia Airport Opens in New York,
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1933 90 Years Ago
Prices :Best Steak 22 cents per pound
Popular Culture : The Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive to be officially recorded at 100 mph.
News Events : turning point in the great depression in America with unemployment decreasing to 22% , weather drought problems in the US Midwest continued and some 35 million acres of farmland were utterly destroyed, rise of fascists and dictators including Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung
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1929 95 Years Ago
Prices :Magic Lantern $3.98
Popular Culture : First Academy Awards, First Monaco Grand Prix, Sam Foster begins selling sunglasses from his counter in Woolworths
News Events : St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Wall Street Crash, Influenza Epidemic, United Kingdom - Baird Experimental Television,
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1924 100 Years Ago
Prices : Electric Sewing Machine Price: $78.95
News Events : Wrigley Building Finished, New York City the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Ellis Island closes as an immigration entry point to the US
Each Month In History
January
1937 Federal Old Age Pensions started, 1942 United Nations established, 1929 Influenza Epidemic death toll over 200,000, 1914 Henry Ford introduces $5.00 per day wages, 2007 Apple introduces the Apple iPhone, 1952 "Today" Program Begins on NBC, 1966 Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister of India, 1920 Prohibition takes effect, 2008 Black Monday in worldwide stock markets, 1935 First Canned Beer Sold, 1926 John Logie Baird first public demonstration of a television system, 1951 Nevada Nuclear Test begin In Nevada1986 The space shuttle Challenger explodes, 1969 The Beatles make their last public performance February
1925 Sears Roebuck opens its first store, 1949 First 45 RPM vinyl record released, 1959 Barbie Doll invented by Ruth Handler, 2004 Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg, 1910 Boy Scouts of America incorporated, 1952 Queen Elizabeth II becomes Queen, 1990 Nelson Mandela is released from prison after 27 years, 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, 1879 1st Woolworth 5 Cents store opened, 1991 Gulf War Ends
March
1936 Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) is completed, 1965 "The Sound of Music" starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer has its world premiere in New York, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary new invention the telephone, 1974 Work on the 800 mile long Alaska Oil pipeline begins, 1931 Nevada Legalizes Gambling, 1995 Sarin gas terrorist attack on the Japanese Subway, 1981 Prince Charles and Diana Wedding, 1963 The Beatles' first album "Please Please Me" is released in England, 1973 Pink Floyd release the album "Dark Side of the Moon," 1980 Mount St. Helen's Erupts 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps
April
2005 Pope John Paul II Dies, 2010 Apple Releases iPad, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. murdered, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders, 1954 Bill Haley and the Comets record "Rock Around the Clock," 1999 Columbine High School Shooting, 2010 Deepwater Horizon explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, 1989 Student Protest Tiananmen Square, 1985 The Coca-Cola Company announced New Coke, 1956 Elvis Presley has his first number one hit with "Heartbreak Hotel," 1994 Nelson Mandela voted as President of South Africa
May
1931 The Empire State Building in New York officially opens, 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes British Prime Minister, 1937 The German airship Hindenburg (the largest dirigible ever built) burst into flames, 1945 VE Day/Victory In Europe Declared, 1948 The independent state of Israel is proclaimed as British rule in Palestine came to an end, 1954 The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education, 1977 First of the Star Wars films opens, 1911 The first ever running of the Indianapolis 500
June
1938 Superman appears for the first time in D.C. Comics, 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released by the Beatles, 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests end when Chinese troops kill hundreds, 1944 World War II Operation Overlord/D-Day, 1994 O.J. Simpson police car chase following the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 1982 The Falkland Islands War ends, 1975 The summer blockbuster movie "Jaws" is released, 1944 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the GI Bill, 1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway has its official opening, 1997 First Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" released in the UK
July
1776 United States Declaration of Independence signed, 1996 The first cloning of an animal Dolly the Sheep, 1985 The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is sunk, 2008 Oil hits an all time high of $147 a barrel, 1954 "Operation Wetback" is launched by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1923 Insulin introduced, 1969 Apollo 11 astronauts make history when the first man lands on the moon, 1956 Suez Crisis begins 1971 Voting Age in the United States is lowered to 18
August
1990 Iraq Invades Kuwait, 1914 Germany and France declare war, 1989 The US Savings and Loan Crisis, 1974 Richard Nixon announces his resignation, 1945 Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 1945 Truman announces Japanese surrender, 1981 IBM releases its first Personal Computer, 1914 Panama Canal opens, 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, 1968 Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, 2005 Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans
September
1939 Britain and France declare war on Germany, 1956 Elvis Presley appears on Ed Sullivan's show, 2001 9/11 Attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon, 1975 Inflation hits 26% in the UK, 1960 Chubby Checker has a number 1 record with The Twist, 1937 J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" published, 1908 First factory-built Ford Model T completed, 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first female U.S. Supreme Court justice in history
October
1927 Work begins on Mount Rushmore, 1947 US minimum wage of 40 cents per hour, 1973 Sydney Opera House opens, 1966 Aberfan Disaster, 1929 Wall Street crash (Black Monday)
November
1938 Seabiscuit race against War Admiral at Pimlico, 1969 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) established, 1979 U.S. embassy in Tehran 90 hostages taken, 1960 Senator John F. Kennedy wins the election for the president of the United States, 1989 Berlin Wall comes down allowing East and West Berlin to visit, 1926 U.S. Route 66 established, 1990 Sir Tim Berners-Lee formal proposal for the World Wide Web
December
1990 Channel Tunnel links UK to Europe, 1984 Bhopal Chemical Accident, 1954 First Burger King is opened in Miami, 1941 US enters World War II, 1939 Gone With The Wind premieres, 1983 Harrods Department Store bombing, 1997 The film "Titanic" opened in American theaters, 2004 A tsunami caused by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean leaves 216,000 dead in 13 countries
Other Sections
When ever possible we have included prices and inflation on each decade and year ( includes 1930s Food Prices, inflation wages house prices etc.
Latest Updated 2020 Price Basket Other stats include 2008 - 2020 Each Year Prices for Gas, Movie Ticket, First Class Stamp, College Tuition, Wrangler Jeans, Average House Rent, Average House Purchase, KW/Hr Electric, Wages, Unemployment Percentage, Fed Base Rate Percentage, Dow Jones, Inflation US Gov, CPI US Gov, Gold per Ounce.
On our 90 years of price changes we have included Average Cost Of New Home, Average Wages, Average Cost of New Car, Average Cost Gallon Of Gas, Average Cost Loaf of Bread and Average Cost 1lb Hamburger Meat starting from 1930 up to 2021
Our Price Basket
Updated Price Basket 2023
This shows the highest increase since we began collecting the data in 2008
26% increase from 2021 to 2023
Our Basket includes 20 of the basics needed to live Bread, Milk, Meat, Sugar ETC.
Fashion Clothing Over The Years Find hundreds of fashion images from the 1920s to the 2000s in our clothes and accessories page. Check out how fashion has changed in the past 100 years from flapper styles in the 1920s, Hollywood glamour of the 1930s, work clothes for the 1940s, excessive dresses from the 1950s, mini skirts of the 1960s, 1970s Fashions disco glitz, colorful and bold styles of the 1980s, and 1990s sporty fashion. Pages feature style descriptions and original prices, historical context, and a variety of items including womens, childrens, mens, accessories, shoes, and hats.
Popular Kids Toys 20s to 90s Simple wood toys and dolls proved popular in the 1920s and mass-produced toys like die-cast cars emerged. Comic books became widely available in the Thirties and many still-popular board games were invented during the decade. In the 1940s, industrial accidents created the best toys with the Slinky and Silly Putty being created during the War when other materials were being developed. Consumerism boomed in the 1950s and the Baby Boom meant more toy purchases than before, Barbie Dolls, Frisbees, Mr. Potato Head, and other classic favorites were first created during the decade. As television became more widespread, cars based on childrens' cartoons emerged in the 1960s. The first widely popular and successful video game, PONG, was released in the Seventies starting off the craze of digital entertainment. In the 1980s, the hunt for new toys was mass undertaking and the first mass hysteria for a product came in 1983 with the Cabbage Patch Doll. Popular toys from the 1990s Toys included the collectible Beanie Babies and portable digital games like the GameBoy were also a must-have for kids. On our toy pages we have brief overviews for each decade and have many toy images, descriptions, and prices from when they were originally sold.
Jazz and blues represented Popular music in the 1920s as the newly hatched recording industry found its footing. The 1930s Big Band and Swing music saw the popularity of Big Band and Swing music provide an upbeat contrast to the Great Depression which continued into the 1940s Big Band music during World War II. Rock n' Roll music emerged in the 1950s Rock n' Roll music and teenage culture developed with Elvis Presley and other rock idols providing inspiration. The 1960s rock, folk, R&B, and British Invasion music featured psychedelic rock, folk music, R&B, and the British Invasion with the Beatles and Rolling Stones commanding attention. In the 1970s Disco and Hard Rock music, the dichotomy of Disco and Hard Rock made up the music scene. During the 1980s pop stars and global celebrities music, the Music Television (MTV) cable network was launched and had a profound impact on popular culture at the time, turning musicians into pop stars and global celebrities on a much larger scale. Grunge, hip-hop, and manufactured pop music were popular during the 1990s grunge, hip-hop, and manufactured pop music. In the 2000s, dance music, rap, and indie bands dominated the airwaves.