1847 – Cumberland School of Law founded in Lebanon, Tennessee, USA. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools in the United States. 1905…
Posts published in “History”
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…
1848 – 1st US women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls NY, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. 1867 – US Congress passes…
1907 – Florenz Ziegfeld’s “Follies of 1907” premieres in NYC. 1914 – US army air service 1st comes into being, in Signal Corps. 1927 –…
1775 – 1st military hospital approved. 1861 – U.S. Congress authorizes paper money. 1922 – Ty Cobb gets 5 hits in a game for record…
The Elizabethtown Board of Commissioners set the tax rate for 1971-72 at $1.57. The commissioners also announced that town employees would receive a 5% salary…
1867 – D.R. Averill of Ohio patents ready-mixed paint. 1902 – John McGraw officially becomes manager of MLB New York Giants: 30 year tenure begins…
1912 – American athlete Jim Thorpe is placed in top 4 in all 10 events, for an Olympic record 8,413 points to win the Decathlon…
1798 – US Sedition Act prohibits “false, scandalous & malicious” writing against government. 1850 – 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration by Florida…
1787 – US Ordinance of 1787 passed, establishes first organized US territory. 1836 – US patent #1 (after 9,957 unnumbered patents), for locomotive wheels. 1900…
1843 – Mormon leader Joseph Smith says God allows polygamy. 1862 – US Congress authorizes Medal of Honor. 1901 – Cy Young wins his 300th…
1798 – US Marine Corps established by an act of Congress. 1804 – Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary…
1862 – US begins construction of Central Public Railroad. 1890 – Wyoming becomes 44th state of US (1st with female suffrage) 1913 – World’s official…
A bill was introduced in the N.C. General Assembly to allow Elizabethtown voters to decide whether they wanted an ABC store. The Rev. C.T. Bowen…
1795 – James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt. 1872 – Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine. 1916 – 1st…
1776 – Colonel John Nixon gives the 1st public reading of the Declaration of Independence to an assemblage of citizens in Philadelphia. 1800 – Dr.…
1863 – 1st military draft by US (exemptions cost $100) 1912 – American athlete Jim Thorpe wins 4 of 5 events to wind the Pentathlon…
1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully give an anti-rabies vaccine to 9-year-old Joseph Meister, saving his life. 1898 – US Senate agrees to annex Hawaii. 1908…
1813 – War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin. 1865 – US Secret Service…
1776 – US Congress proclaims the Declaration of Independence and independence from Great Britain. 1831 – “America” (My Country ‘Tis of ‘Thee) is 1st sung…
Bladen County Tax Collector H.M. Chason announced that tax collections for the month of June, 1971 were $44,956.73 bringing the six month total, January thru…
1861 – Pony Express arrives in San Francisco with overland letters from NY. 1907 – Pope decree forbids modernization of theology. 1913 – Common Tern…
1843 – An alligator falls from the sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina. 1865 – One-time Methodist Reform Church minister William Booth and…
1847 – 1st US postage stamps go on sale, 5 cent for Franklin and 10 cent for Washington, NYC. 1862 – US Internal Revenue Law…
1896 – William S. Hadaway patents an electric stove in the US. 1906 – US Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food…
1891 – US National Forest Service organized. 1906 – US Congress pass the Hepburn Act, permitting the regulation of rates charged by railroads, pipelines, and…
1892 – Phillies most lopsided shut-out beating Indianapolis, 24-0. 1902 – US buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million. 1924 –…
1893 – Great stock crash on NY Stock Exchange. 1914 – US signs treaty of commerce with Ethiopia. 1924 – British Open Men’s Golf, Royal…
1848 – 1st pure food law enacted in US. 1870 – 1st section of Atlantic City (NJ) Boardwalk opens. 1900 – Dr. Walter Reed begins…
Kathy Memory, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Memory of Elizabethtown, was chosen North Carolina Junior Miss Rhododendron Queen. Tornados hit Bladen County with $10,000…
1910 – US Mann Act passed (no women across state lines for immoral purposes) 1919 – 1st advanced monoplane airliner flight (Junkers F-13) 1926 –…
1853 – US President Franklin Pierce signs the Gadsden Purchase, buying 29,670 square miles from Mexico for $10 million (now southern Arizona and New Mexico)…
1810 – John Jacob Astor organizes the Pacific Fur Company in Astoria, Oregon. 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes patents the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the…
1847 – First ring doughnut supposedly created by Hanson Gregory. 1870 – US Congress creates Department of Justice. 1930 – New York Yankees first baseman…
1788 – US Constitution comes into effect when New Hampshire is the 9th state to ratify it. 1834 – American inventor and businessman Cyrus McCormick…
1840 – Samuel Morse patents his telegraph. 1864 – Battle of Kinston, NC and Battle of Abingdon, Va. 1909 – 1st balloon honeymoon (Roger Burham…
1862 – Slavery outlawed in US territories. 1865 – Union General Gordon Granger declares slaves are free in Texas, now the date the end of…
By Leyton Ezzell Father’s Day has been the go-to holiday for people to celebrate the variety of fathers they may have. The first Father’s Day…
The Bladen County Board of Commissioners set the county budget for 1971-72 at $3,154,424.60 and reduced the tax rate from $1.69 to $1.57. Fire destroyed…
1812 – War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain. 1898 – 1st amusement pier opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 1912 –…
1863 – Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (1st accident insurer) 1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established. 1901 – The College…
1858 – Abraham Lincoln says “A house divided against itself cannot stand” accepting Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the Senate. 1882 – 17″ hailstones weighing…
1844 – Charles Goodyear patents the vulcanization of rubber. 1898 – US House of Representatives passes resolution to annex Hawaii. 1907 – Researcher George Soper…
1834 – Sandpaper patented by Isaac Fischer, Jr., Springfield, Vermont. 1881 – Player piano patented by John McTammany, Jr. (Cambridge, Massachusetts) 1916 – Democratic Convention…
1854 – Anthony Faas, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania patents the 1st US accordion, having made improvements both the keyboard and to enhance the sound. 1896 –…
1849 – Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett (Louisville, Kentucky) 1901 – In Cuba, the constitutional convention – knowing that the USA will not withdraw…
1776 – Continental Congress creates committee to draft a Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston…
1809 – 1st US steamboat to make an ocean voyage leaves NY for Philadelphia. 1854 – The first class of the United States Naval Academy…
1856 – 500 Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts. 1898 –…
1824 – Washing machine patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec. 1905 – US President Theodore Roosevelt sends identical notes to Japan and Russia urging them…
1912 – US Army tests 1st machine gun mounted on a plane. 1917 – Melvin Jones and a number of other Chicago businessmen found Lions…
1639 – Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill. 1844 – Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) formed by George Williams in…
1851 – Anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in serial form in “The National Era” 1876 – Bananas become popular…
Cadet Stephen M. Gooden, son of Mrs. Helen M. Gooden of Elizabethtown, graduated from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Mrs.…
1825 – Unseasonable hurricane hits NYC. 1896 – Henry Ford takes his 1st Ford through streets of Detroit. 1912 – Massachusetts passes 1st US minimum…
1851 – 1st baseball uniforms worn when the NY Knickerbockers wear a uniform of straw hats, white shirts and long blue trousers. 1888 – Baseball…
1835 – P.T. Barnum & his circus begin 1st tour of U.S. 1883 – 1st night baseball under lights. Fort Wayne, Indiana. 1901 – Benjamin…
1843 – It snows in Buffalo and Rochester, NY, & Cleveland, Ohio. 1869 – Thomas Edison granted his first patent for the Electric Vote Recorder…
1837 – Astor Hotel opens in NYC, it later becomes the Waldorf-Astoria. 1884 – Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patents “flaked cereal” 1907 – Taxis 1st…
1821 – James Boyd patents Rubber Fire Hose. 1848 – William G Young patents ice cream freezer. 1883 – Stampede caused by a rumor that…
1790 – Rhode Island becomes last of original 13 colonies ratifying the US Constitution. 1861 – Dorothea Dix offers help setting up hospitals for the…
The Bladen County Board of Commissioners voted to invoke an additional one cent sales and use tax in Bladen County. Cadet Gerald Baysden of Elizabethtown…
1889 Edouard and Andre Michelin incorporate the Michelin tire company. 1900 – Total solar eclipse occurs. 1923 – US Attorney General says it is legal…
1896 – Tornado hit St. Louis, killing 255, leaving thousands homeless. 1916 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses the League to Enforce Peace, founded in 1915,…
1861 – US Postmaster General Blair announces end of postal connection with South. 1868 – US President Andrew Johnson is acquitted by the Senate by…
1906 – After 20 straight wins, Boston Pilgrims lose to Chicago White Sox 3-0. 1927 – Henry Ford announces that he is ending production of…
1899 – 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston) 1915 – Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations. 1916 – US pilot William Thaw shoots…
1873 – Postal cards sold in San Francisco for 1st time. 1882 – 6″ of snow falls in eastern Iowa. 1900 – Associated Press News…
1819 – 1st steam propelled vessel to cross Atlantic (Savannah leaves Georgia) 1849 – Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so)…
A loan of $45,000 and a grant of $39,000 by Farmers Home Administration was made to Bladen County for the purpose of implementing a county-wide…
1861 – Richmond, Virginia, is designated the Confederate Capital. 1881 – American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton. 1906 – Louis H. Perlman patents a…
1830 – D Hyde patents fountain pen. 1861 – North Carolina becomes 11th and last state to secede from the Union. 1873 – Levi Strauss…
1884 – Ringling Brothers circus premiers. 1912 – AL President Ban Johnson tells Tigers if they continue protest of Ty Cobb’s suspension, they will be…
1852 – Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school. 1897 – Herbert Henry Dow founds Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan. 1917 – US Congress…
1875 – 1st Kentucky Derby: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75. 1897 – The first successful submarine that can run submerged for any considerable…
1860 – Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln as candidate. 1891 – George A. Hormel & Co establishes Geo. A. Hormel & Co (Hormel Foods…
1862 – US Department of Agriculture created. 1894 – 20th Kentucky Derby: Frank Goodale aboard Chant wins in 2:41. 1905 – Las Vegas founded in…
The 1971 Blueberry Festival was underway at White Lake. Television personality David Hartman was the “Duke of Blueberry”. Leon D. Ricks, Jr. was the General…
1804 – Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s expedition commissioned by Thomas Jefferson sets out from St. Louis for Pacific Coast. 1853 – Gail Borden, land…
1888 – DeWolf Hooper 1st recites “Casey at Bat” 1911 – 37th Kentucky Derby: George Archibald aboard Meridian wins in 2:05. 1918 – 1st US…
1908 – Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubberfield. 1915 – Franklin K. Mathews first presents idea of “Book Week” 1921 – National…
1816 – American Bible Society forms (NY) 1900 – James J. Jeffries KOs James J. Corbett in 23 rounds for heavyweight boxing title. 1904 –…
1837 – Panic of 1837; New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels. 1908 – 1st Mother’s Day observed (Philadelphia) 1917 – Atlantic…
1862 – US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis Maryland to Newport, Rhode Island. 1914 – US President Woodrow Wilson proclaims Mother’s Day. 1931 – 56th…
The North Carolina Blueberry Festival announced that Miss Sharon Clark will be the 1971 Duchess of Blueberry. Miss Clark has been chosen as Playboy Magazine…
1789 – First US Presidential inaugural ball (for George Washington in NYC) 1840 – Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, kills 317. 1877 – Cincinnati Enquirer first…
1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald (price 1 cent) 1837 – US blacksmith John Deere creates…
1809 – Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent for weaving straw. 1865 – 1st US train robbery (North Bend, Ohio) 1893 –…
1846 – The State of Michigan ends death penalty. 1878 – Thomas Edison’s Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House. 1904 – Construction…
1830 – 1st regular steam train passenger service starts. 1861 – President Lincoln asks for 42,000 Army Volunteers and another 18,000 seamen. 1900 – 26th…
1863 – Stonewall Jackson attacking Chancellorsville is wounded by his own men. 1885 – “Good Housekeeping” magazine is 1st published. 1903 – 29th Kentucky Derby:…
1489 – Christopher Columbus proposes his plan to search for a western route to India in an audience with Spanish monarch, Isabell I. Full support…