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Celebrating 25 Years In Our Building!

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June 9th marks the 25th anniversary of the grand opening of the Wayne Public Library.

A lot has changed since then!

What was happening in 1996?

 
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January - Motorola introduces the first flip phone for commercial use. Cost? $1000!

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February 10 - IBM computer Deep Blue beats chess master Garry Kasparov for the first time.

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March 25 - Twister becomes the first Hollywood feature film to be released on DVD.

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July 5 - Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal to be successfully cloned.

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July 23 - The first public HDTV broadcast in the United States occurs in Raleigh, North Carolina.

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July 27 - A bomb explodes in Centennial Olympic Park during the Atlanta Olympic Games.

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August 29 - Tiger Woods makes his professional PGA Tour debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open.

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September 26 - Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 in North America.

 

Then Versus Now:

 
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Cellular Phone in 1996:

Mobile phones were not yet commonplace, and featured monochrome displays and antennas. Text message were just becoming a thing.

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Cellular Phone in 2021:

Mobile phones become portable computers and an essential part of our everyday lives.

 
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Desktop Computer in 1996:

A Top-of-the-line Dell computer with a 66MHz processor, eight megabytes of RAM and a 320-megabyte hard drive cost over $4000.

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Desktop Computer in 2021:

An all-in-one desktop with touchscreen, 4.1GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 1 terabyte hard drive can be found for $600.

 
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Average New Car Price in 1996:

$16,300

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Average New Car Price in 2021:

$40, 850

 
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Television in 1996:

A 27” CRT is considered standard! Flat panels are a year away from really hitting the market, and cable TV rules!

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Television in 2021:

High Definition and 4K flat screens rule, and the average size screen jumps to 50”! Streaming services and “smart tvs” have become standard.

 
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Cost Of a Gallon Of Gas in 1996:

$1.22

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Cost Of a Gallon Of Gas in 2021:

$2.51

 
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Dow Jones Industrial Average on 1/1/1996

5,115.70


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Dow Jones Industrial Average on 1/1/2021

30,417.64

 
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% of U.S. Households with Internet Access in 1996

Less than 17%

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% of American Households with Internet Access in 2021

Over 85%

 
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These well-known people were born in the same year that the Wayne Public Library opened!

Actress Abigail Breslin - April 14

Actor Tom Holland - June 1

Actress Zendaya - September 1

Lourdes Ciccone (daughter of Madonna) - October 14

Musical Artist Lorde - November 7

Actress Hailee Steinfeld - December 11
 

Enjoy the library’s 25th birthday video!

 

Check out our photo gallery and take a trip down memory lane!