Morning American History Quiz–Look at the facts, and try to guess the year

Loaf of Bread 7 cents

Gallon of Gas 10 cents

Gallon of Milk 43 cents

Price of a New Car 610 dollars

Price of a New House 6,515 dollars

Average Income 1,652 dollars

Dow Jones Industrial Average 65

No researching, googling, phoning a friend, etc.–take a guess at the year–KSH.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., History

23 comments on “Morning American History Quiz–Look at the facts, and try to guess the year

  1. Fradgan says:

    1958?

  2. francis says:

    1954.

  3. Cennydd13 says:

    1940

  4. Payton says:

    The price of the new car has to put it earlier. I’m going to guess in the 20’s… 1929 maybe.

  5. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    1959, a good year.

  6. Creedal Episcopalian says:

    1927

  7. Nikolaus says:

    1932

  8. Nikolaus says:

    I note with some interest the disarity between milk and bread, 6 times; whereas today the prices are far more equivalent. Does anyone know the effect of subsidies on these staples? Is there an unsubsidized equivalent?

  9. off2 says:

    1921

  10. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    I thought what was interesting, was milk per volume was over four times more expensive than gas. I am going to have to think about that and the costs of production.

  11. kmh1 says:

    I guessed 1932 as well. Now I’ll peek.

  12. Bill C says:

    I’m going to say 1950. My first year at Wheaton cost $3300 and that was in 1968. My first year teaching at Stony Brook earned me $6500 + room and board. My first year at King’s Canterbury in 1961 cost my father about $1000. When I came to the States in 1968 a big mac cost about $.80. In 1972, I bought my first vehicle a heavy duty 12 passenger van for $4200. Extrapolating backwards, I think my guess of 1950 is about right.

    Boy, sorry to be so wordy.

  13. Ian+ says:

    A shot in the dark: 1940.

  14. Bill C says:

    An ounce of gold was $35 dollars then. Wish I’d been able to buy some then but then I was only 3 years old.

  15. Bill C says:

    http://sacredsandwich.com/archives/5207

    Seriously off topic but amusing – Kendall’s fault for his link!

  16. Philip Bowers says:

    1914

  17. David Wilson says:

    1941

  18. Karen B. says:

    My guess: 1961

  19. IchabodKunkleberry says:

    1945 – the year WWII ended.

  20. mhmac13 says:

    Around 1950

  21. Kendall Harmon says:

    Very impressive guesses really. The answer is 1932. It is the year my Dad was born, and it is sitting on his refrigerator. The Source is: “Time magnets from the pages of Time.”

  22. kmh1 says:

    I was right! I was right! I was right! But I’m too humble to draw this to anyone’s attention.

  23. TomRightmyer says:

    My parents were 21 that year. My father was at the Divinity School in Philadelphia working on his Th.B. and also having discovered that PDS students could also take courses at the University of Pennsylvania at no additional cost working on an MA in history at Penn. My mother graduated from West Chester State Teachers College and discovered that Lower Merion Township was the only school area in Pennsyvania that did not hire alumni/ae; everyone else hired only their own graduates. So they did not marry until 1936 when my father as Curate at St. Luke and the Epiphany, Philadelphia, could afford to keep her. They moved to Lewes and Rehoboth Beach in 1937, and I was born in 1939.