In the early 1900s, you could buy a newspaper for 5 cents, a pound of apples for 10 cents and the average salary was about \$40 a month.
Nowadays, an issue of the NYT costs \$2.50 , a pound of apples can cost \$1.15 per pound and the median monthly income is about \$2,200.
Today, it makes sense to have a \$100 bill, we can spend it all on a meal at a restaurant and you would need a few of them to pay rent or make a car payment. But in 1900, I can't imagine anything that could be bought with a $100 bill. Perhaps rent? Or a worker's wages?
Compared to the average salary in 1900, a \$100 bill would be the comparable to a $5,500 bill. I can't imagine anything costing that much money today that would justify producing such a highly valued denomination.
My question is: why did we produce \$100 bills in the early 1900s, when there was probably no practical use for them? And also, did people carry $20 bills around in their wallets or were these considered big money?