Standard of living in Maribor in the 19th and 20th century

V začetku 19. stoletja je bilo mesto Maribor povsem agrarno mesto, ki se je ukvarjalo z obrtjo ter pridelavo vina. Leta 1846 so do Maribora zgradili železnico in kmalu za tem tudi Delavnice Južne železnice, ki so zaposlovale čez tisoč ljudi. S tem se je začelo mesto razvijati, hkrati pa se je pojavila velika stanovanjska stiska, saj ni bilo na voljo dovolj bivalnih kapacitet za vse nove delavce, v mestnih stanovanjih in vilah pa so živeli le premožnejši meščani. Tako so za delavce Južne železnice zgradili Železničarsko kolonijo, naselje vrstnih hiš. V začetku 20. stoletja so v mesto napeljali električno energijo in s tem privabili tuje industrialce, ki so v Maribor pripeljali tekstilno industrijo. Potreba po delavcih je bila velika, prav tako po stanovanjih. Industrialec Josip Hutter je med vojnama za svoje delavce zgradil Hutterjevo kolonijo, mestna občina pa je to problematiko reševala z Mestno ali Vurnikovo kolonijo, po drugi svetovni vojni tudi s stanovanjskimi bloki. Velika pridobitev za mesto je bila tudi napeljava vodovoda, s čimer se je dvignil standard, saj so v hiše in stanovanja prebivalci dobili kopalnice in izplakovalna stranišča. Vendar vsi prebivalci vodovoda niso napeljali istočasno, ampak so ga nekateri šele v šestdesetih letih 20. stoletja, saj je za to bilo potrebno renovirati celotno stanovanje. Prehrana delavcev in nižjih slojev je bila do konca prve polovice 20. stoletja zelo enolična in skromna, medtem ko so bogatejši meščani vsak dan jedli obilno. Prehrana se je poenotila ter postala veliko bolj raznolika po drugi svetovni vojni skupaj z dvigom standarda. Prosti čas je bil v 19. in prvi polovici 20. stoletja prestiž bogatih, saj so delavci delali ves dan, kolikor pa jim je ostalo časa, pa so ga namenili gospodinjskim opravilom. Ob koncu 19. stoletja je bila zelo razširjena društvena dejavnost, saj so ustanavljali izobraževalna, glasbena, bralna, športna, kulturna in druga društva, v katerih so se zbirali vsi sloji. Ljudje so prosti čas preživljali tudi v gledališčih, kinematografih, ob branju knjig, vse to v sorazmerju s finančnimi zmožnostmi.In the beginning of the 19th century, Maribor was a completely agricultural town where people were mainly craftsmen and produced wine. In 1846, a railway leading to Maribor was built, and soon after the Workshops of the Southern railway opened and they employed more than 1000 people. The town started to develop and at the same time shortage of housing broke out because there were few housing capacities for new workers and only wealthy citizens lived in municipal flats and villas. Therefore a settlement of terrace houses – Railway hostels – was built for the workers of the Southern railway. In the beginning of the 20th century the town got its electricity and attracted foreign industrialists who brought textile industry to Maribor. There was a great need for workers and flats too. During the two wars, the industrialist Josip Hutter built Hutter’s homes for his workers and the municipality tried to save the problems with Municipal and Vurnik homes and after the World War II also with blocks of flats. A great achievement for the town was the water pipeline and the standard of living got better since the houses and the flats got its bathrooms and flushing toilets. However, not all the inhabitants had the pipelines made at the same time, some of them only in the 60s, since the whole flat had to be renovated for this purpose. Until the end of the first half of the 20th century, the food of workers and of the lowest stratum of society was very plain and modest while rich inhabitants had much better food every day. The food got more diverse after the World War II along with a better standard. Leisure activities in the 19th and first half of 20th century were prestige of the rich, since workers spent all day working and little time they had, they spent for house chores. At the end of the 19th century, sociable activities were very common, since many educational, musical, reading, sports, cultural and other associations were being established where all stratums of the society gathered. People spent their free time in theatres, cinemas, reading booksall in proportion to their financial abilities