Chewing gum on the sidewalks of Philadelphia in 1919

When I stumbled across this wonderful old image at the Duke University site, it got me to thinking about chewing gum, which became very popular in the 20th Century, and became a problem for cities like Philadelphia. You have to time-travel a bit to really understand this, let's go to 1919.

By the way, we're at Chestnut and 9th Street, walking past the Post Office. The statue of Ben Franklin, sitting there, is now on the Penn campus. I Googled more information about that statue, and it was made in 1899, so it, and Ben Franklin himself, spent a lot of time in Philadelphia!

But it's 1919, and we're walking along the sidewalk. Chances are good that we're smoking, or we might be eating a banana, or chewing gum. And when we're done with those things we simply toss them on the sidewalk. Cigarette butts would have been tossed towards the curb if we were polite, or simply dropped where people walked. If someone slipped on a banana peel, the kids would laugh, and of course gum was simply spit out onto the ground.

I won't even mention what dogs, and horses, were leaving behind on the streets of Philadelphia, but you get the point, there was a lot of stuff that just ended up being swept into the gutters. From there it flowed into a nearby river, or any body of water, and the people of the city never gave it another thought. But gum was different - it was sticky.


Gum on the sidewalks became a real nuisance. Other things, like cigarette butts, random trash and, uh, organic substances would flow away, but the gum would stick. People would step on it and track it around. To this day it's still a severe problem in very crowded cities, and requires people who have to go and scrape it up. You really can't tell in a photo like this, everything looks pretty clean, but my best guess is that if you could look at the bottom of the shoe of the man walking towards us, it would probably have gum stuck to it. Gum was everywhere!

Personally, I like gum. In fact, this morning while I was thinking about this post I stopped and got some while I was out doing my ride. When it had lost its flavor, since there wasn't a handy bedpost to stick it on, I found a trash can. I grew up in the era of "don't be a litterbug" and this kind of thing just comes naturally to me. But I'm old enough to remember when it was perfectly acceptable to throw your empty candy wrappers on the floor of a movie theater. Times have changed!

I recommend Adams Chiclets Candy Coated Gum. Really delightful!

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