The play's Stage Manager refers to future inventions and changes, even referring in Act 3 to the automobile's becoming the basic mode of transportation. As the years pass in the fictional town of Grover's Corners, the audience learns that the car has begun to replace the horse and buggy.
While small towns remained relatively simplistic in lifestyle in the early twentieth century, they felt the impact of inventions such as the automobile, which saved their inhabitants time and made travel more convenient. On the recreational front, the sport of baseball had its first World Series in 1903 and soon became a popular national pastime. This is reflected in the play by its repeated references to the character George as one of the best baseball players Grover's Corners has ever had. In real life, as baseball became more profitable, scouts would travel to even the most rural areas in search of athletic talent, though none of these scouts appears in the play.
The Progressive movement. In 1901 President William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president of the United States. A president concerned with reform, Roosevelt's administration ushered in the Progressive Era in American society.
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