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Greenville’s 1999 time capsule

What was Greenville like at the turn of the millennium? We took a look back at the final year of the 20th century to see what life was like pre-Y2K.

Greenville cityscape with a search bar reading "Greenville 1999"

Hey Google, what was Greenville like in 1999?

Photo via Canva

Do you remember 1999? Ricky Martin’s “Livin La Vida Loca” topped the charts, we were scared of the Blair Witch, and Google officially launched.

To celebrate, Google Trends opened its time capsule to see which fads were titanic in 1999. According to the report, adults were watching “The Matrix” and “The Sopranos” while kids were into “Toy Story 2” and “Teletubbies.” People also used the search engine to learn about David Beckham or evaluate their Pokémon cards, and searches for hot sauce set the web ablaze.

Livin La Vida Local

Want to know what life was like in Greenville? We dug up some data to help us remember the final year of the 20th century — thanks to some help from a 25-year-old search engine.

  • Median family income: $43,300
  • City’s population: 58,035
  • Estimated cost to buy a home: $132,467 (prices have increased 185.1%)
  • Average cost of a gallon of gasoline in South Carolina: $0.698

Sign of the times

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