April 30, 2018 Comments Off on Dreaming of the future: postcards from 1900 that imagined inventions of the year 2000  Views: 3566 Nostalgia, Postcards

Dreaming of the future: postcards from 1900 that imagined inventions of the year 2000 

The industrial revolution of the 19th century unquestionably enhanced the forward-thinking spirit of humans. It showed what new possibilities were out there thanks to new technologies and the array of new sciences that were just getting established at the end of the century and the beginning of the new one. Faith in technology was pumped to the degree that big ocean-liners such as the RMS Titanic were cherished (and mourned) at the global level.

This euphoria did not exclude Germans who obviously also had a vision for a future where technology will have its touch even to the most mundane of things, like walking down the pavement. As Rare Historical Photos also shares, a German chocolate factory known as Theodor Hildebrand & Son, founded in 1817 by the confectioner Theodor Hildebrand in the center of Berlin, took its bid to foresee the future. For the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, this factory produced a set of 12 futuristic postcards that imagined the country of Germany hundred years from then on. They used the postcards to market their best sweets at the fair, and this genuine marketing campaign eventually picked the name…

…Germany in the year 2000

Sidewalks that can move

As one can notice, some of the predictions turned out fairly accurate such as the postcards that depict ideas of personal airships, weather controlling machines or live broadcast of theater plays. Ideas from other postcards are disturbingly possible in the near future, such as going for some summer vacationing on the North Pole.

Cloudbusters long before the Orgonon

 

A hybrid vessel that seemingly has some similar powers as Moses from the Bible

 

No one needs an umbrella in the year of 2000. Cities are just water-proof

 

With the flick of a finger, city blocks move

 

Helped by air balloons, walk on water is possible

 

Tourism developed also underwater, thanks to submarines

 

Families share personal airships

 

Theater show live-broadcast

 

X-raying machines used for surveillance

 

An entire array of personal machines for flying

 

Vacationing at the North Pole (and hopefully polar bears will survive too)

Theodor Hildebrand & Son themselves had experienced the benefits of new technologies. Merely two decades after this chocolate factory was founded, it became the first in the country (then Prussia) that used steam engines for the chocolate production line. They were able to produce more chocolate for a cheaper price. Thus their zest for a future with many new inventions as shown in the postcards.