Figure 1.--This is a wall display showing Blackpool Beach in 1900. We see a modern day boy looking at the display. Some of the main park attractions can be seen in the background.

The Wigan Pier Museum includes an extensive collection on Agriculture, Coins and Medals, Costume and Textiles, Decorative and Applied Art, Fine Art, Inland Waterways, Industry, Law and Order, Performing Arts, Photography, Religion, Science and Technology, Social History, Sport, Toys and Hobbies, Trade and Commerce, Weapons and War. A Wigan Pier Museum attraction is called called 'How we Used to Live'. It is set in 1900. It looks at school. work and holidays. It shows children at the beach in 1900. We see children at a seaside amusement looking at something over a fence. There is also a little girl completing a donkey ride. And a wall display showing Blackpool Beach in 1900. We see a modern day boy looking at the display. We also see children at school and working. A boy is working in the mines. He seems to have the job of opening and closing a door when a truck full of coal comes through. And there is a boy working in a metal workshop. He seems to be polishing a metal boy. He is dressed in knee pants, wears long stockings. Footwear boots. Scarf around his neck and he is wearing a flat cap. The museum describes it as, "An authentic recreation of life in the 1900s for the people of Wigan and surrounding Lancashire. Witness the Victorian way of life – from schooldays through to work and play. You can experience life below ground at the coalface; see how the famous Lancashire pit brow lasses lived and feel the horrors of the Maypole Colliery disaster. In the ever-popular Victorian schoolroom you can also experience the rigours of a strict Victorian education." A reader writes, "The sad fact is that this attraction is going to close in December 2007. When it opened in 1986 it was an impresive interactive museum. Ýt had scences of Wigan life and actors performing plays (skits) as the public walked through the museum experiencing a day in 1900 Wigan. In 2007 the museum is not quite so inovative because it has fallen behind because there are now much more computer generated life like experirnces that can make Wigan Pier a better museum to recreate a day in the past that can be experienced by present day visitors." Anotgher reader writes, "If you look at the picture on the left, you will see one of the attractions of the amusement park, this was called the Hiram Maxim Flying Machine which opened in 1804. There is a good photogrph to be found on the Flat Joint internet site which specializes in amusement park rides. The ride was featured on a recent television program, where it was explained that Hiram Maxim the designer of the ride wanted to give people the illusion of flying and it is still in operation today. Notably it wasonlyayear after the Wright Brothers flight. The pleasure beach at Blackpool has also one of the largest roller coasters or big dippers as we Brits call them in Europe. Which you can also see in the left hand picture."

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 12:17 AM 7/19/2007
Last updated: 12:17 AM 7/19/2007