Milford History Online

When talking about the good ‘ol days, perhaps nothing is remembered as fondly as how much stuff cost. The nickel milk bottle, the fifty-cent double feature, and the affordable Model T typify tender recollections of the past. And yet, an analysis of past prices, at least in 1950s Milford, reveal that they were not always as good as might be remembered.

Why? Probably because those old-time price tags are more memorable than ever-creeping inflation. A handy online tool called an Inflation Calculator can be combined with 1950s-era advertisements from the Milford Cabinet to find out if there is indeed a bit of a hazy glow in price recollection.

Beginning in the 1950s grocery, that nickel milk bottle more or less bares out. Looking through the Cabinet in 1954, a trip to First National might land you a can of beef stew for 49 cents, a loaf of raisin bread for 17 cents, and other staples that, while perhaps not a nickel, certainly appear thrifty at first glance. Incidentally the shelves were also full of items you’d have to search long and hard to find at a modern Shaw’s: Spice Cake for 29 cents, coon cheese for 79 cents a pound and the hot cross buns of piano school legend at 33 cents. A trip to Milford IGA Supermarket might include three pounds of “hamburg” for $1.77. Nevertheless, the inflation calculator attests that grocery tabs are on par with today. You’d be paying about $6 for a pound of hamburger and $4 for a can of beef stew. Eating at a restaurant was also in line. A 1957 tenderloin steak dinner with baked Idaho potatoes “dripping in butter” was $3.50 (or about $34.90 today) at the local Boots and Saddle restaurant.

Clothing prices were also commensurate with today’s prices. Bass Weejun loafers at the Boston Shoe Store in Milford went for $11.98 in 1957 — or about $119 today. A boy’s suit in 1957 at the Ober Clothing Company Store was $5.00 ($49.85 in 2021 dollars), while summer “slax” for $2 ($19.26) and men’s branded worsted suits for $25 ($240 today) were basically on par, especially considering that these were all items on sale.

The newfangled appliances of the 1950s were quite expensive. For instance, High Airflow Driers “cost but a few pennies a day,” according to a 1958 Cabinet advertisement. But at $119.95, that’s quite a few pennies indeed. The Airflow was a $1300 dryer in today’s dollars, even if it did come with “crosscut baffles” — whatever those were. Over in the living room, a “1 of a kind 3-piece parlor set” normally went for $269.50 but was on sale in August 1957 for $149. Even taking the discounted price, we are talking about a $1435 living room set, which at least from the picture, looks downright tiny by today’s standards.

As you might have guessed, nothing was as comparatively expensive as electronics. You could get a “thrifty” 21-inch Motorola TV in carnation pink, but it would cost you $179.95 at Milford Home Furnishings on South Street. With an equivalent price of nearly $1800 for a 21-inch black & white TV, it’s no wonder they were giving shoppers “104 weeks to pay.” 

On average, automobiles are perhaps a bit more expensive today, although there’s no doubt the modern car is a completely different class of machine. Making a trip to Coburn Motor Service at 63 Elm Street in 1959, you might find “performance unmatched at the price,” but brand-new Pontiac Catalinas ran about $2500, or $26,000 today. Even a used 1955 Ford Town Sedan in “2-Tone Brown and White” was going for $2045, or about $21,000 — a lot of money for a nearly three-year-old car. 

There were certainly bargains in the 1950s compared to today. Movie ticket prices were comparable, but your purchase included a newsreel, a double feature, and Mickey Mouse to boot. However, at least in this unscientific survey of one town at one time, prices were typically a bit higher than today. As it turns out, the “good ol' days” may be the ones in which we are now living.