Last modified on Tue 3 Aug 2021 04.23 EDT
In the 1890s, the biggest cities of the western world faced a mounting problem. Horse-drawn vehicles had been in use for thousands of years, and it was hard to imagine life without them. But as the number of such vehicles increased during the 19th century, the drawbacks of using horses in densely populated cities were becoming ever more apparent.
In particular, the accumulation of horse manure on the streets, and the associated stench, were impossible to miss. By the 1890s, about 300,000 horses were working on the streets of London, and more than 150,000 in New York City. Each of these horses produced an average of 10kg of manure a day, plus about a litre of urine. Collecting and removing thousands of tonnes of waste from stables and streets proved increasingly difficult.
Time To Enjoy Some Century-Old Bad Takes And Arguments About What Horns Should Be
Screenshot: The Horseless Age
Hey, here’s something fascinating just for all you crazy kids who have chosen to exist in the present: the past was also
once a present, but for people who are now dead! G-g-ghost present! And back in that time they had ideas and opinions about cars, and those opinions and ideas and projects can be fascinating. I know this because I’ve been poking around in some 1890 s issues of
The Horseless Age, and I’ve found some especially tasty nuggets to share with you, my best pals ever. So hang the fuck on.