1901 – First woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (Anna Taylor) 1908 – Billy Murray hits the charts with “Take Me Out…
Posts published in “History”
1813 – The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in…
1879 – Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb. 1907 – Ringling Brothers Greatest Show on Earth buys Barnum & Bailey circus. 1924 –…
1902 – In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends. 1915 – William Jennings Bryan’s successor as US Secretary of…
1817 – 1st Mississippi “Showboat” leaves Nashville on maiden voyage. 1898 – NC Mutual & Provident Insurance Company forms. 1910 – 1st appearance of cork…
1901 – Edward Elgar’s “Pomp & Circumstance March” premieres in Liverpool. 1915 – US bankers arrange a $500 million loan to the British and French.…
1867 – Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million. 1878 – Edison makes electricity available for household use.…
1885 – Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000 for 1885 season. 1904 – Bank of Italy (Bank of America) opens its doors in San…
1829 – Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston) 1875 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah. 1901 – Booker T. Washington…
1789 – 1st US presidential tour by George Washington in New England. 1860 – 11-year old Grace Bedell writes to Abraham Lincoln telling him how…
1834 – First African-American granted a US patent, Henry Blair, for a corn planter. 1893 – Harry Wright suggests umps keep ball-strike count a secret.…
1792 – “Old Farmer’s Almanac” is published and edited by Robert Thomas. 1902 – US President Theodore Roosevelt threatens to start using army troops to…
1740 – English evangelist George Whitefield preaches to 30,000 people in Boston in the US during the “Great Awakening” 1836 – 18″ of snow falls…
1887 – A. Miles patents elevator. 1890 – Daughters of American Revolution founded. 1911 – Ty Cobb (AL) and Frank Schulte (NL) are named inaugural…
1871 – The Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after 3 days, leaving approximately 300 dead, 160,000 homeless and costing $222m in damages. 1899 –…
1837 – Steamboat “Home” sinks off Okracoke, North Carolina, killing 100. 1865 – First US underground pipeline for carrying oil is laid in Pennsylvania. 1909…
1871 – Forest fire destroys Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people making it then the deadliest wildfire in recorded history. 1915 – Phillies…
1765 – Stamp Act Congress (First Congress of the American Colonies) convenes in New York City to devise a unified protest against new British taxation.…
1892 – Dalton Gang ends in shoot-out in Coffeville, Kansas bank holdup. 1900 – US Open Men’s Golf, Chicago CC: Harry Vardon of Jersey wins…
1881 – Edward Leveaux patents automatic player piano. 1911 – 1st escalator installed on the London Underground at Earl’s Court Station. 1918 – Musical “Sometime”…
1863 – US President Abraham Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. 1872 – Bloomingdale’s department store in NY opens. 1899 – J.…
1895 – 1st cartoon comic strip is printed in a newspaper. 1919 – US President Woodrow Wilson has a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. 1932…
1854 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Watham, Massachusettes, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a…
1841 – Samuel Slocum patents the stapler. 1898 – City of New York established. 1915 – Red Sox clinch AL pennant by beating Detroit. 1935…
1789 – US War Department establishes a regular army. 1880 – 1st pro baseball game at Polo Grounds, NY Metropolitans beat Washington Nationals 4-2 in…
1850 – US Navy abolishes flogging as punishment. 1892 – 1st night football game played (Mansfield, Pa) 1904 – Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette…
1872 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) was established in New York City. 1892 – 1st public appearance of John Philip Sousa’s band (NJ)…
1804 – Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution, establishing the procedure for electing the President and Vice President, becomes effective. 1878 – British physician Dr.…
1890 – The President of the Latter-Day Saints, Wilford Woodruff issues a manifesto advising members that the teaching and practice of polygamy should be abandoned.…
1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St Louis from Pacific Northwest. 1845 – 1st baseball team, NY Knickerbockers organize, adopt rule code. 1897 –…
1862 – US President Abraham Lincoln says he will free slaves in all states on January 1. 1912 – Philadelphia second baseman Eddie Collins becomes…
1692 – Last people hanged for witchcraft (8) in the US, 19 hanged overall, with six other deaths during Salem witch trials. 1789 – US…
1877 – Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan) 1893 – The first gasoline powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts. 1904…
1796 – George Washington’s farewell address as US President is published. 1849 – 1st commercial laundry established in Oakland, California. 1901 – 11 baseball games…
The Bladen County Board of Commissioners accepted bids totaling $73,526 for new equipment for the county sanitary landfill. The Clarkton Tobacco Festival was getting underway.…
1769 – John Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, builds 1st Spinet piano. 1851 – New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy). 1899 – Scott…
1908 – Carriage maker, William C. Durant, founds General Motors in Flint, Michigan. 1919 – American Legion incorporated by an act of US Congress. 1920…
1789 – US Department of Foreign Affairs, renamed Department of State. 1887 – Philadelphia celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution. 1913 – 1st US milch…
1814 – Francis Scott Key pens the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry”, later known as “The Star-Spangled Banner” while witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry…
1881 – American Lewis Howard Latimer invents and patents electric lamp with a carbon filament. 1902 – Chicago Cubs infielders Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers &…
1910 – United States’ 1st known female cop appointed, Alice Stebbins Wells by LAPD. 1914 – Yankee shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, 23, becomes youngest manager. 1928…
1885 – 1st newspaper cartoon strip. 1919 – US Marines again send troops to Honduras. 1923 – ZR-1(biggest active dirigible) flies over NY’s tallest skyscraper,…
1776 – George Washington asks for a spy volunteer, Nathan Hale volunteers. 1894 – London taxi driver George Smith is the first to be fined…
1850 – Territories of New Mexico and Utah created, California is admitted as the thirty-first state of the Union. 1904 – Mounted police 1st used…
1858 – Abraham Lincoln supposedly says in a speech “You can fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of…
1813 – “Uncle Sam” 1st used to refer to the US, by Troy Post, New York. 1888 – Edith Eleanor McLean is 1st baby to…
1869 – 1st westbound train arrives in San Francisco. 1899 – Carnation processes its first can of evaporated milk. 1901 – US President William McKinley…
1774 – With the meeting of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia becomes the 1st capital of the United States. 1836 – Sam Houston elected President of…
By Cara Beth Lewis September 11th, 2021, is the 20th Anniversary of a painful day in history, September 11th, 2001. A community gathering will be…
1885 – 1st cafeteria opens (NYC) 1894 – In NYC, 12,000 tailors went on strike protesting against sweat shops. 1918 – US troops land in…
1833 – New York Sun begins publishing (1st daily newspaper) 1891 – Cotton pickers organize union & stage strike in Texas. 1916 – US President…
1789 – US Treasury Department established by Congress. 1897 – “McCal” magazine first published. 1901 – Theodore Roosevelt advises “Speak softly & carry a big…
1859 – 1st Pullman sleeping car in service. 1862 – Federal tax levied on tobacco. 1898 – First forestry school in America opens at Biltmore…
1837 – Ralph Waldo Emerson gives his famous “The American Scholar” speech to Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, declares American literary…
1890 – President Benjamin Harrison signed the first U.S. law requiring inspection on meat products. 1901 – English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth patents the powered…
1830 – 1st American built locomotive, “Tom Thumb” races a horse-drawn car from Stockton and Stokes stagecoach company from Baltimore to Ellicott Mills. Let history…
By Cara Beth Lewis Labor Day, observed on the first Monday in September, is a day to appreciate American workers. In the 19th century, activists…
1859 – 1st successful oil well drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake. 1881 – Hurricane hits Florida & Carolinas; about 700 die. 1910 –…
1843 – American inventor Charles Thurber patents a typewriter. 1895 – Electric generator at Niagara Falls produces first power. 1907 – Harry Houdini escapes from…
1829 – President Jackson makes an offer to buy Texas, but Mexican government refuses. 1904 – Champion James J. Jeffries scores a 2nd round TKO…
1814 – British forces capture Washington, D.C. and destroy many landmarks (War of 1812) 1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off the most…
1869 – 1st carload of rail freight (boots & shoes) arrives in San Francisco, from Boston after a 16-day trip. 1904 – Automobile tire chain…
Carlton Sligh of Elizabethtown was named Scouter of the Week by the Cape Fear Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Congressman Alton Lennon of…
1865 – William Sheppard is issued the first US patent for liquid soap. 1901 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded. 1902 – US President Theodore…
1841 – John Hampton patents venetian blind. 1897 – Oldsmobile first manufactured by Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Michigan. 1915 – Italy declares war…
1865 – President Andrew Johnson proclaims an end to “insurrection” in Texas. 1896 – Dial telephone patented. 1908 – America’s Great White Fleet arrives in…
1849 – NY Herald reports gold discovery in California. 1909 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of automobile race Indianapolis 500, opens in Speedway, Indiana. 1914…
1817 – 60-70 ft sea serpent sightings reported offshore in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 1872 – 1st mail-order catalog issued by A M Ward. 1894 – US…
1807 – Robert Fulton’s steamboat Clermont begins first trip up Hudson River. 1891 – Electric self-starter for automobile patented. 1903 – Joe Pulitzer donates $1…
1858 – Britain’s Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan for 1st time by transatlantic telegraph cable, he replies “It is a triumph more glorious,…
1901 – Arch Rock, a danger to San Francisco Bay shipping, blasted with 30 tons of nitro. 1906 – 1st freight delivery tunnel system begins,…
1846 – Henry David Thoreau jailed for refusing to pay taxes. 1873 – “Field and Stream” begins publishing. 1901 – SS Islander hits iceberg near…
Here are some Bladen County headlines from 1971: Dr. Robert Summerlin of Dublin was named a charter diplomat of the American Board of Family Medicine.…
1889 – William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patents the coin-operated telephone. 1907 – 1st taxicabs operate in New York City, imported by Harry N. Allen.…
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the new world. 1833 – The town of Chicago is incorporated…
1874 – Harry S. Parmelee patents sprinkler head. 1896 – Harvey Hubbell patents electric light bulb socket with a pull chain. 1909 – SOS 1st…
1833 – Chicago incorporates as a village of about 200. 1921 – FDR stricken with a paralytic illness at summer home on Canadian island of…
1859 – Otis Tufts patents the first passenger elevator in the US. 1904 – Libanus McLouth Todd of Rochester, New York patents his check-writing machine,…
1786 – US Congress unanimously chooses the dollar as the monetary unit for the United States of America. 1844 – Brigham Young chosen as head…
1782 – George Washington creates the Purple Heart medal (original name Badge of Military Merit) as commander of the Continental Army. 1882 – Hatfields of…
Robert Hester and Charles DeVane of Elizabethtown were recognized as Outstanding Young Men of America. The Bladen County Board of Education announced that schools in…
1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States. 1861 – US Congress passes First Confiscation…
1861 – President Lincoln signs the first US personal Income Tax into law (3% of income over $800) 1891 – World’s 1st traveler’s cheques issued…
1821 – 1st edition of American magazine “The Saturday Evening Post” 1862 – US government collects its 1st income tax. 1914 – WWI: Germany declares…
1882 – US Congress passes 1st law restricting immigration. 1900 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founded. 1909 – MLB umpire Tom Hurst instigates a…
1865 – Lewis Carroll publishes “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland” 1909 – Army Air Corps formed as Army takes 1st delivery from Wright Brothers. 1921 –…
1789 – US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act. 1901 – Burials within San Francisco City limits prohibited. 1907 – Bank of Italy (later Bank of…
1790 – 1st US patent granted, to Samuel Hopkins for a potash process. 1876 – US Coast Guard officers’ training school established (New Bedford, Massachusetts)…
The town of Tar Heel set their 1971-72 tax rate at 60 cents per $100. The North Carolina Highway Patrol reported that there were nine…
1739 – Caspar Wistar begins glass manufacturing in Allowaystown, New Jersey. 1879 – Staten Island ferry “Westfield” burns, killing 100. 1928 – George Eastman shows…
1847 – Cumberland School of Law founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools in the United States. 1905…
1858 – First use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made by Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service. 1896 –…
1789 – US Congress establishes Department of Foreign Affairs now referred to as the State Department. 1909 – Orville Wright tests 1st US Army airplane,…
1847 – Moses Gerrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride. 1878 – In California, poet and American West outlaw calling himself “Black…
1729 – North Carolina becomes a royal colony. 1866 – Ulysses S. Grant named 1st General of Army. 1913 – Pittsburgh Pirates future Baseball Hall…
1870 – 1st trans-US-Rail service begins. 1915 – Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die. 1929 – US President Herbert Hoover proclaims Kellogg-Briand…
1829 – William Austin Burt patents America’s first “typographer” (typewriter). 1872 – African American inventor Elijah McCoy is granted a patent for lubricators for steam-engines.…
1893 – Katharine Lee Bates writes “America the Beautiful” in Colorado. 1921 – US Open Men’s Golf, Columbia CC: Englishman Jim Barnes wins the 3rd…
1865 – In market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true “western…
1868 – 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes. 1890 – Snow and hail in Calais, Maine. 1907 – A train wreck on the Pere…