Share what you know about the year you were born.
The Year is 1956, a leap year of the Gregorian Calendar. It was a time for Rock and Roll and Elvis Presley’s hit song “Heartbreak Hotel.”
Besides Elvis and Rick and Roll, 1956 was a year for nine pop culture inventions. These inventions included:
- Certs — Breath mint or candy?
- Dove Bar — chocolate Dove candies introduced on the south side of Chicago
- Elvis Presley — Heartbreak Hotel debuted in January for RCA and in September he made history on the Ed Sullivan Show.
- Play-Doh — modeling clay introduced by a soap manufacturer in Cincinnati. [What I didn’t know is that it was originally meant to be a wallpaper cleaner.]
- The Price is Right — Hosted by Bill Cullen ran in both daytime and prime time television.
- Robby the Robot — a sci-fi bot built by Robert Kinoshita. He later crafted the Robot for Lost in Space.
- The Shopping Mall — The Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, Minnesota opened its doors beginning with the 1956 holiday season. It was the world’s first enclosed climate-controlled shopping mall.
- Ski Soda — A citrus soda created by the Double Cola Company of Tennessee five years prior to Sprite.
- Yahtzee — First marketed as Yahtzee in 1956 by Edwin S. Lowe. Fifty millions copies of the game are sold each year.
The Cost of Living was vastly different than it is today. The cost of everything was lower, however, the wages were also much lower than today’s standards. Was it easier and less stressful in 1956? Maybe, maybe not. When incomes go up so does the cost of living, therefore the same struggles continue. Here’s a look at the 1956 Cost of Living percentages:
- Yearly Inflation Rate — USA 1.52%
- Yearly Inflation Rate — UK 4.7%
- Average Cost of a new house — $11,700.00
- Average wages per year — $4,450.00
- Minimum Hourly Rate — $1.00
- Average Monthly Rent — $88.00 per month
- Average Cost of a new car — $2,050.00
- Gallon of Gas — 22 cents
- Ground Coffee per pound — 85 cents
On a more personal note, for the year 1956, my parents were living in Great Falls, South Carolina just up the road from my paternal grandparents. My dad was working for the Ford Dealership in town. Even though he owned a car, the town is small enough he could have walked to work. My mom was pregnant with me through the first five months of the year, choosing to give birth to me in the city of Chester, South Carolina. The town of Great Falls did not (and still doesn’t) have a hospital. My brother turned three a couple of weeks after I was born.
The town of Great Falls. South Carolina in 2020 had a population of 1,951 and the population was that much more in 1956. The town was originally known as Catawba Falls in the early 1900’s and was a great trade route. It was originally established to generate power from the nearby waterfalls. It was a booming mill town at one point and in 1956 my paternal grandfather was working in the #3 mill for the Republic Textile Company. Great Falls is located fourteen miles southwest of the city of Lancaster, South Carolina.
From 1956 through 1958, my family spent much of the time with my paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles. They would fish in the nearby Catawba River near the Great Falls Dam, picnic in the town park, and attend church meetings and other activities.
God Bless. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
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