Washstands

A century ago, many American bedrooms still contained a washstand — a piece of furniture designed to hold a water pitcher, washbasin, towels, and other grooming supplies. The washstand itself was the cabinet or table, while the basin was the bowl used for washing. For generations, these pieces were standard fixtures in American bedrooms, and they remained a familiar sight in many homes during the mid-1920s, even as indoor plumbing gradually became more common in cities and newer homes.

The transition to fully plumbed homes was slow and uneven. In 1940 — the earliest year for which comprehensive census data is available — only 55% of American homes had “complete plumbing facilities,” defined as hot and cold running water, a bathtub or shower, and a flush toilet. The figure would have been even lower in the mid-1920s. As a result, washstands continued to serve a practical purpose in older homes and rural households. Even in some homes with indoor plumbing, they remained in use out of habit or convenience, especially when a single bathroom served an entire family.

Tiny Closets 

One of the biggest differences in the bedrooms of a century ago was the lack of closet space. Built-in closets had become increasingly common in American homes by the early 20th century, but they were usually small by modern standards, and many older houses had none at all. The spacious walk-in closet, now considered a staple of many primary bedrooms, did not become a common feature of American home design until the late 20th century. Without much built-in storage, more of the bedroom’s floor space was devoted to freestanding furniture.

Large dressers and chests of drawers were used to store folded clothing, while wardrobes and armoires provided space for garments that needed hanging. Trunks and cedar chests held seasonal items, extra blankets, and clothing for special occasions. Americans generally owned fewer clothes than they do today, and garments were expected to be worn for years, repaired when necessary, stored between seasons, and saved to be passed down to younger siblings or other family members.

Separate Beds

Separate beds for married couples had been promoted since the late 19th century, but the arrangement reached the height of its popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. Furniture manufacturers, doctors, and home design magazines often praised twin beds as cleaner, healthier, and more practical than a shared mattress. Sleeping apart was said to improve sleep, reduce disturbances from a restless partner, and even limit the spread of colds and other illnesses within the household.

Not every family embraced the idea, and many working-class couples continued sharing a bed simply because buying two was impractical or unnecessary. But among middle-class Americans, twin beds became common enough to define the look of many bedrooms for decades. The arrangement remained widely accepted through the 1940s and 1950s, but larger shared beds gradually regained popularity in the postwar years and eventually became the norm in American homes once again.

Matching Furniture

Walk into a typical American bedroom in the 1920s, and one of the first things you’d notice was how closely the furniture matched. Rather than assembling a room piece by piece, many families aspired to own a coordinated bedroom suite of several matching pieces, including a bed, dresser, and chest of drawers. Furniture manufacturers had been heavily promoting these matching sets since the 1880s, and by the mid-1920s furniture companies were offering dozens of different bedroom suite designs to consumers.

Not every family could afford a complete suite, especially in rural areas or working-class households, but the trend was widespread enough to shape bedroom design across the country. At the same time, furniture styles were evolving. The dark, heavily carved pieces that had dominated many late-19th-century homes were gradually giving way to lighter designs, decorative veneers, mirrored vanities, and furniture influenced by fashionable styles such as art deco.

Vanities 

Vanity tables, or dressing tables, had long been used in some form in households dating back centuries, particularly in wealthier homes where dedicated spaces for grooming were common. By the 1920s, however, the bedroom vanity had become a familiar feature in many middle-class American homes, too, as furniture manufacturers began producing them more widely and including them in coordinated bedroom suites. Typically consisting of a small table or desk with an attached mirror and matching bench or stool, the vanity provided a dedicated space for grooming and dressing.

The popularity of vanities also reflected broader cultural changes during the decade. The 1920s saw booming sales of cosmetics, perfumes, and other beauty products, as more women spent time in public life and were increasingly expected to maintain a polished appearance. New beauty standards — such as shorter hairstyles and more involved grooming routines — also made daily upkeep more routine and visible than in earlier decades. 

While not every household could afford a dedicated dressing table, particularly in rural and working-class homes, the vanity became a common feature in many urban and middle-class bedrooms, and its popularity only began to decline in the mid-20th century as home design evolved and built-in bathroom storage became more common.

Middle-Class Math

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, middle-class homes in 2024 earned between $55,820 and $167,460 a year. Unsurprisingly, the earnings of middle-class Americans in 1900 were considerably lower due to inflation. A lawyer or architect could expect to earn around $1,200 a year, a banker or broker $1,600 a year, and a surgeon $1,625 a year (that’s about $47,000, $63,000, and $64,000 respectively in today's money). In comparison, the average farm worker, industrial worker, brewer, or tanner earned somewhere between $300 and $500 annually ($12,000 and $20,000 today). 

These middle-class salaries, while modest by modern standards, went considerably further in 1900. Sugar cost about 5 cents a pound (equivalent to about $2 today), a dozen eggs 19 cents ($7.50 today), coffee 22 cents a pound ($8.80 today), and a loaf of bread about 4 cents (about $1.60 today). A comfortable family home in a midsize American city could be purchased or rented at a fraction of what a middle-class salary could support today. 

Degrees Were Rare

Today, a college-level education is considered common among the American middle class, and a bachelor’s degree is standard for many professional careers. But back in 1900, the educational landscape was different. Around 78% of all American children between ages 5 and 17 were enrolled in schools, but the average child was in school for no more than eight years. In 1900, a high school diploma or college degree was a rare privilege — fewer than 10% of Americans graduated high school and only 1 in 50 graduated college. 

A middle-class worker in 1900 tended to be better educated than a typical working-class laborer, and middle-class families were more likely to invest heavily in their children’s schooling. 

Running the Middle-Class Home

The middle-class household of 1900 was organized around a clear division of labor, with men earning the bulk of the income and women managing the home. This arrangement reflected the cultural norms of the time — which included the notion that a man’s success could be measured by his ability to keep his wife out of the workforce entirely, and that a working wife was to be frowned upon. It wasn’t until the 1940s, when World War II shifted views about women in the workplace, that the idea of a middle-class married woman going to work became more socially acceptable. 

Within the home, however, both working-class and middle-class women often exercised real authority. They managed household budgets, directed domestic servants (if they had any), oversaw their children’s education, and were considered the moral and emotional center of the family. And in 1900, middle-class homemakers had a new challenge to face: technology. This period saw the emergence of gas and electric appliances, running water, prepared foods, ready-made clothes, and factory-made furniture, all of which brought about major changes in how homes were managed.  

The Rise of Consumer Culture

One clear marker of middle-class life in 1900 was access to leisure. Amusement parks, vaudeville theaters, stadium sports, and the very first movie houses were becoming fixtures of urban middle-class entertainment. These places also catered to the working class, but the growing middle class had more disposable income and, in many cases, more free time. Music, too, was finding its way into the more affluent households. Pianos became affordable to many middle-class families, as did new phonographs. 

The emergence of the middle class also ushered in new forms of consumerism. Department stores, which had proliferated through the 1870s and 1880s, specifically targeted middle- and upper-class shoppers with a new kind of consumer experience designed to appeal to buyers who prized respectability, had money to spend on impulse, and had time to go shopping as a leisure activity. 

Talking Pictures

The 1927 film The Jazz Singer is known as the first film to introduce the sound of spoken dialogue to motion pictures — albeit only in a short passage. In 1928, The Lights of New York became the first feature-length film to include sound for all its dialogue. It was billed at the time as an “all talking picture,” and cemented Hollywood’s shift away from silent films to “talkies.” 

Clara Bow became one of the biggest stars of 1920s cinema after starring in the 1927 silent film It, which was so popular, the term “it girl” entered the lexicon. She also starred in 1927’s Wings, which won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. This photo is a production still from her first foray into talking pictures in The Wild Party. The image captures Bow’s flapper sass as she reacts to her co-star (and cousin) William Bow’s singing. While the transition to talking films infamously ended the careers of many silent-era stars, Clara Bow was able to persist into the talking era, though her rigorous schedule and the persistent celebrity gossip around the star led to her retirement from film by 1933.                                                                                                                                                

The Charleston

The Charleston gained popularity in the 1923 Broadway show Runnin’ Wild, a revue of Black music written by composers James P. Johnson and Cecil Mack. The dance became such a phenomenon that it’s nearly synonymous with the Roaring ’20s, and it spurred a dance competition fad that often took the form of dance marathons. While it’s unclear if this photo depicts a marathon, the dancers here are participating in some form of Charleston dance contest.

Speakeasies

The hidden bars of the 1920s, known as “speakeasies,” were an unintended consequence of Prohibition, as the illicit businesses served a demand for alcohol that couldn’t be legislated away. By the end of the 1920s, New York City Police Commissioner Grover Whalen claimed there were 32,000 speakeasies operating in that city alone. 

In this photo, we see a group entering a Washington, D.C., speakeasy, the Krazy Kat Klub, which was opened by artist Cleon Throckmorton and located on the second floor of a stable. At far right, wearing a hat, is Throckmorton himself. At far left is his wife, Kathrine Mullen (also spelled Kathryn Mullin), glancing at the camera.

The Jazz Age

The energetic, improvised hot jazz that emerged in New Orleans during the 1920s quickly spread to New York and Chicago, as artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, King Oliver, and Jelly Roll Morton developed the genre to such a point of popularity that another nickname for the 1920s is the “Jazz Age.” The wild abandon of jazz matched the zeitgeist of the time, and this photo of the St. Louis Cotton Club Band provides a visual expression. Note the difference in instrumentation from later eras of jazz: The tuba and banjo at the far left were later replaced by double bass and guitar, respectively. 

The Assembly Line

In 1913, industrialist Henry Ford’s moving assembly line — a refinement of the stationary assembly line pioneered by automotive pioneer Ransom Olds — enabled larger-scale production of automobiles, and by the 1920s, approximately 8 million Americans owned a car. By the end of the 1920s, that number had spiked to 23 million. In this photo, we see an assembly line at Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan plant, circa 1928. The workers are manufacturing the new Model A, Ford’s replacement for the Model T it had been selling for nearly 20 years.