While looking through some files in the attic this past Sunday, I came across the school newspaper/magazine for May 1963. It was the final Roundup from the old school. Enjoy.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has a feature on its website that calculates the comparative value of the dollar from past years. It works out that $1000.00 in 1963 would buy goods and services costing $7623.25 today. With regard to events like proms, my intuitive sense is that that present figure is somewhat light. For example, a band in 1963 would not have had all of the high tech sound equipment deemed necessary today, and could have cost proportionately more, had it been available. Also, some goods have risen proportionately more. Regular gasoline in 1963 was about $0.28 per gallon (which would have been pumped by a service station attendant). Today, at the Chevron station corner of Greenville and McCommas regular gas was $3.43. The MFRB calculates it to be $2.13. Might be a bad example, given the fluctuation in gas prices. On a personal note, I recently purchased a hand held calculator at Office Depot for $29.95 that has more functions that I will ever use, and some of which I have no idea what they are. In 1963, my Pickett slide rule cost that much in then current dollars.
$1,000 for the most lavish prom in Jesuit History is an amazing fact pointing out just how far away in time 1963 is.
ReplyDeleteMike Daniel
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has a feature on its website that calculates the comparative value of the dollar from past years. It works out that $1000.00 in 1963 would buy goods and services costing $7623.25 today. With regard to events like proms, my intuitive sense is that that present figure is somewhat light. For example, a band in 1963 would not have had all of the high tech sound equipment deemed necessary today, and could have cost proportionately more, had it been available. Also, some goods have risen proportionately more. Regular gasoline in 1963 was about $0.28 per gallon (which would have been pumped by a service station attendant). Today, at the Chevron station corner of Greenville and McCommas regular gas was $3.43. The MFRB calculates it to be $2.13. Might be a bad example, given the fluctuation in gas prices. On a personal note, I recently purchased a hand held calculator at Office Depot for $29.95 that has more functions that I will ever use, and some of which I have no idea what they are. In 1963, my Pickett slide rule cost that much in then current dollars.
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