At Fullerton

As I was scanning this photograph a question occurred to me.   It may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway.  Did women shave their legs before the twentieth century?   It wasn't until the World War 1 era that women began wearing dresses that showed their legs, so who would have know?   And what would they have shaved with?   The safety razor wasn't invented until 1880.  (It's amazing what you can find on line.)  A straight razor isn't the easiest thing to master.  Most men either grew a beard or where shaved by a barber.  I had a beard for a few years while I was in college and never really liked it.  But if my only other choice involved  a straight razor, I suspect I would have gotten used to  whiskers.  I can't imagine running a straight razor the length of a leg without major blood loss.  And just think of a nicked femoral artery.  Ouch.  Anyway, just curious.

Written on the back, "Mae, Guy, Ruth, Mother at Fullerton."  Fullerton is a city in northern Orange County in California.  It was named for businessman George Fullerton who bought the land for his employer, The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.   The city was incorporated in 1887.  This photo was probably taken in the 1920s.  Fullerton would have still been a major grower of oranges and other fruit, but by that time it had also become an oil boom town.  I'll have a barrel of crude with that orange slice.