Year 1925 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1925. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, historic firsts, entertainment news, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. In 1925, Calvin Coolidge, Al Jolson, and Babe Ruth were all on center stage. Clam chowder and cream puffs were crowd-pleasers, and Robert and Betty were two of the most popular baby names.
2. A Neutrodyne radio receiver cost $100, vinyl records were 85 cents apiece, and a movie ticket was 25 cents.
3. Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts) was the president of the United States. The vice president’s office was vacant until March 4, when Charles G. Dawes (R-Illinois) became the nation’s vice president.
4. A dollar in 1925 is equivalent in spending power to about $18.00 today.
5. Average cost of a new car: About $515
6. Average price of a new home: About $6,296
7. Average earnings: The average weekly wage for a man was $36.67; for a woman, it was $23.40.
8. Average monthly rent: About $15
9. Average price of gold: $20.67 per troy ounce
10. Average retail price for a gallon of gas: 20 cents
11. Consumer Price Index: $17.5
12. Cost of a first-class stamp: Two cents
13. Federal spending: $2.92 billion
14. Inflation rate: 2.34 percent
15. Minimum wage: By 1925, fifteen states had passed minimum wage laws, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oregon. (Just so you know, minimum wage laws had also been passed by 1925 in both Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.)
16. Unemployment rate: 3.2 percent
17. The price of a Model T Ford, America's most popular car, was $260.
18. Consumer products launched during 1925 included Burma-Shave, Corona beer, Mr. Goodbar, the IBM electric typewriter, Scotch masking tape, Shalimar perfume, and the Sugar Daddy candy bar.
19. On January 3, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini announced he was turning Italy into a dictatorship, which would end free elections. According to History.com, “Mussolini did not become the dictator of a totalitarian regime overnight. For several years, he and his allies worked more or less within the confines of the Italian constitution to accrue power, eroding democratic institutions until the moment came for them to be done away with entirely.”
20. On January 5, Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as the governor of Wyoming and also became the first female governor in the United States. Twelve days later, Miriam A. Ferguson became the first female governor of Texas.
21. On February 21, the first issue of The New Yorker magazine was published. Almost 100 years later, The New Yorker is known for its "high-quality journalism" and "in-depth reporting" on many topics, including culture, politics, science, and technology.
22. On March 4, Calvin Coolidge became the first U.S. president to have his inauguration broadcast on the radio. WeAreBroadcasters.com remarks that more than 20 radio stations across the country aired the inauguration to an estimated 23 million listeners, many of whom were school children who were listening from auditoriums that were "fitted with radio equipment to hear the address."
23. On March 21, Lowell Thomas, an accomplished American "writer, actor, broadcaster, and traveler," made his first radio broadcast on Pittsburgh-based KDKA. What is Lowell Thomas famous for? According to PBS.org, Lowell Thomas "was a man ahead of his time, the first roving newscaster, a filmmaker through the 1920s, a radio presenter in the 1930s, [and] an adventurer who wrote more than 50 books.”
24. On April 10, F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, considered by many to be his most famous novel.
25. On April 18, the Women’s World’s Fair opened in Chicago at the American Exposition Palace. It attracted “more than 160,000 visitors and consisted of 280 booths representing 100 occupations in which women were engaged.”
26. On April 18, Charles Ebbets, who was the majority owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, passed away. On April 21, all MLB games were cancelled because of his funeral.
27. April 20: In 1925, only 121 men competed in the world-famous Boston Marathon. According to the Natick Historical Society, it "wasn't until 1968 that more than 1,000 men lined up to run from Hopkinton to Boston."
28. On April 26, the Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Edna Ferber for her novel, So Big.
29. On May 14, Virginia Woolf's ever-popular novel, Mrs. Dalloway, was published by the Hogarth Press.
30. On May 16, the American Thoroughbred, Flying Ebony, won the 51st Kentucky Derby.
31. On May 30, Peter DePaolo won the 13th Indianapolis 500.
32. On June 6, Walter Percy Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corporation, which later became one of the "Big Three" automakers in the United States.
33. On July 18, Adolf Hitler published the first edition of Mein Kampf (My Struggle), "setting forth his political philosophy and his plan for German conquest." He wrote the work while serving a five-year prison sentence for high treason.
34. On September 2, the USS Shenandoah, "the first rigid airship to be built in the United States and the first in the world to be inflated with helium," met a powerful squall in southeastern Ohio that tore the airship in half. Atlas Obscura tells us that "Fourteen crew members were killed, the wreckage was torn apart by local looters, and the whole disaster foreshadowed the beginning of the end of dirigibles."
35. On November 2, the Lava Beds National Monument was established in northern California. It consists of more than 45,000 acres and numerous caves for you to explore, as well as the "main battle sites" of the Modoc War (1872-73), which was "the only war ever fought in California between Native Americans and white settlers."
36. On November 28, the weekly country music program, Barn Dance, began broadcasting on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee. The program was later renamed Grand Ole Opry and became "the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history."
37. On December 10, George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
38. During 1925, there was a marked increase in the demand for air travel. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Air Mail Act of 1925 "facilitated the creation of a profitable commercial airline industry, and airline companies such as Pan American Airways, Western Air Express, and Ford Air Transport Service began scheduled commercial passenger service."
39. The Motel Inn, the world's first motel, opened in San Luis Obispo, California. It cost $80,000 to build and remained open until 1991.
40. Sears Roebuck opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Chicago.
41. Over 75,000 refrigerators were sold in the United States.
42. In 1925, Soundings was a best-selling fiction book, The Phantom of the Opera was a top-grossing film, and Sweet Georgia Brown was one of the most popular songs.
43. Angela Lansbury, B.B. King, Barbara Bush, Dick Van Dyke, Doris Roberts, Johnny Carson, Margaret Thatcher, Paul Newman, Robert F. Kennedy, and Sammy Davis Jr. were among the well-known individuals born in 1925.
44. Here are some sports facts from the year 1925: The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series, the Chicago Cardinals were the NFL champions, and Alabama and Dartmouth were the NCAA football champs.
45. In 1925, the National Football League (NFL) added five teams, including the New York Giants, Detroit Panthers, Providence Steam Rollers, a new Canton Bulldogs team, and the Pottsville Maroons.
46. In 1925 as well, the words "assembly line," "bumper-to-bumper," "consumer credit," "Delmonico steak," "freebie," "gas station," "hot seat," "lab," "motel," and "nervous Nellie" all appeared in print for the first time.
47. Alarm clock: $1.00
48. Bacon: 30 cents a pound
49. Bedspread: $2.00
50. Beef (porterhouse steak): 20 cents a pound
51. Butter (Brookfield brand): 42 cents a pound
52. Carrots: 10 cents a bunch
53. Celery hearts: 20 cents for a large bunch
54. Chicken (roasting): 45 cents a pound
55. Daily newspaper: Two cents
56. Eggs: 47 cents a dozen
57. Flour (five-pound bag): 30 cents
58. Grapefruit: Three for 25 cents
59. Ham (Swift's Premium brand): 26 cents a pound
60. Macaroni: 20 cents a pound
61. Men's Oxford shoes: $2.95 a pair
62. Milk (half-gallon size): 33 cents
63. Oranges (Sunkist): 25 cents a dozen
64. Paint: $2.50 a gallon
65. Pig's knuckles: 14 cents a pound
66. Potatoes (Long Island): 85 cents for half a bushel
67. Sauerkraut: Five cents a pound
68. Snow shovel: $1.00
69. Tea kettle: $10.00
70. Thermos bottle: $1.00
71. Wallpaper: 10 rolls for $1.00

References:

1. https://popculturemadness.com/1925-history-trivia-and-fun-facts/
2. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1925
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_in_the_United_States
4. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1925
5. https://dudewalker.org/music/1925-2/
6. https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/strong1920-1929-the-food-decade-that-roared-strong/
7. https://www.scarymommy.com/lifestyle/1920s-slang
8. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1925
9. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1921.html
10. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1920s/Historic-Prices-1925

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor