Category: Quick hits

It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Nearly 200 years ago, it was even better to light a gas lamp. On this date in 1817, America’s first gas streetlamp was lit in Baltimore, Maryland. The coal gas was supplied by the nation’s first incorporated gas company. Just like today, startups have their struggles, but by 1850, about 50 urban areas had gasworks for mostly municipal and business illumination, along with some private residences. While gas lamps …

On this date in 1899, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris, concluding the Spanish-American War of 1898. The treaty, negotiated in Paris the previous December, was opposed by 27 senators; not opposed to peace but to the overseas territorial acquisitions. Spain ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and — for a few years before independence — Cuba to the United States, along with selling the Philippines for $20 million. The Philippines became independent after World War II, but Puerto Rico and …

February is American Heart Month, dedicated to the serious matter of monitoring and taking care of our beating hearts. This is important because while heart disease has claimed fewer lives in recent years, it is still the nation’s number one killer — responsible for 616,000 deaths annually. However, almost as if to prove that no good intention goes unpunished, February is also National Snack Food Month. And America truly “hearts” its snack foods. After the brief disappearance last year of …

Adding poignancy to Black History Month, today marks the birthday in 1913 of Rosa Parks, a shy woman who became a symbol of the fight for civil equality. Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white man. This sparked a boycott of the bus system by blacks, which greatly energized the ultimately successful civil rights movement. During her life, Rosa Parks championed the cause of increased opportunities for youth. When …

It may be hard to credit but there used to be a time when the public sphere wasn’t filled with squabbling about income tax rates. The familiar noise began 100 years ago today, when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing Congress to levy taxes on income. In its first two years, the tax was modest, affecting only a very few citizens and provided only a small part of the government’s total revenue. But the need to fund …

Richard Drew of the 3M Company was working on another problem when he ended up inventing one of the world’s most practical items. He noted that workers painting two-tone cars were having trouble keeping the colors separated along a straight line, so he developed an easy-to-peel, glue-backed masking tape to ease the job. Then, Drew expanded the use of the tape by introducing a clear, cellophane backing. The result was Scotch Tape, first marketed on this date in 1928, and …

Modern American election cycles engage campaign managers in almost all levels of political races. The man usually credited with being America’s first campaign director, John James Beckley, operated decades before the advent of the news cycle and social media. He directed campaigns on behalf of the Democratic-Republicans in the late 18th century. After Thomas Jefferson won the presidency in 1800, the Library of Congress was founded, and Beckley was appointed the first librarian of that world-renowned institution this week in …

A social milestone was reached this date in 1907 when Charles Curtis of Kansas was seated in the U.S. Senate, completing the few weeks remaining in the term of a resigned senator. He was also chosen to serve a full term in that office. Curtis became the first person with Native American blood to serve in the Senate. He remained until March 3, 1929, when he left the Senate to serve as vice president under Herbert Hoover. There are over …

As the Great Depression approached its worst, Wisconsin made the nation’s first governmental direct relief effort for the unemployed. On this date in 1932, it enacted unemployment insurance. Wisconsin was soon followed by a half-dozen other states before the Social Security Act in middecade moved all states to adopt such programs by 1937. Wisconsin’s program issued its first unemployment check in August in the amount of $15. By 2011, states and local governments took in almost $88 billion from the …

“To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.” That’s the motto of the University of Georgia, which on this date in 1785 became the young nation’s first state chartered university. Royally chartered private universities existed in America in colonial times, notably Harvard and William and Mary. The University of Georgia opened in 1801 after the similarly chartered University of North Carolina. Today, over 66 million people hold bachelor’s or higher degrees. People with bachelor’s degrees average …

An accidental discovery at a construction site on this date in 1848 changed the course of U.S. history. James Marshall was building a sawmill for his boss, John Sutter, near Coloma, California, when he found gold. The pair tried to keep the discovery secret, but word got out, and by the following year, the famous Gold Rush was on, drawing some 100,000 fortune seekers to the California territory. About $2 billion of gold was mined during the rush, which spurred …

Many sumptuous foods get their day, or month, in the sun by way of some commemoration. But January celebrates a very basic, traditional dish. This is Oatmeal Month, recognizing the long-term favorite for its up-to-date health characteristics — low fat, no sodium, and the ability to help lower the risk of heart disease. Oatmeal also fits today’s time pressures, since a bowl can be made in seconds in the microwave. And, of course, oatmeal cookies are among the nation’s favorites. …

An innovation in product packaging — and a staple of TV advertising — is having its 79th anniversary this week. The first canned beer was put on sale in 1935 as a marketing test in Richmond, Virginia, by the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey. Experiments with putting beer in cans had taken place as early as 1909 but the technology of the time couldn’t stop the beer from interacting negatively with the metal of the can. Prohibition …

You may think the debate about smoking is fairly recent, but the more things change, the more they resemble 1908. On this date that year, the New York City council passed an ordinance that made it illegal for women to smoke in public. The ordinance was the result of a campaign by the National Anti-Cigarette League. At the time, a number of cities had banned smoking, along with the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, and Tennessee. All of these laws …

It’s purely coincidence, but nonetheless symbolic, that this date, the traditional presidential inauguration day, also happens to be the 231st anniversary of the end of hostilities in the American Revolution. This 1783 cease-fire, while throwing off a monarch, started us on the way to electing our head of state. Along with creating the office of president, the ensuing constitution of the new republic was unique in world history for requiring a regular, periodic census. Letting bygones be bygones, census figures …

There’s been a lot of emphasis lately on making houses that are more energy efficient — with better insulation and windows that seal out heat and cold. Many feature the use of solar panels to capture the natural heat of the sun. The first house in America with solar heating and radiation cooling opened this week in 1955 in Tucson, Arizona. A large, slanting slab of steel and glass converted sunlight into heat, which was ducted into the house. In …

There have been 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution over the past 223 years, but that total comes with an asterisk. Uniquely, the 21st Amendment repeals the 18th, which began its short career this day in 1919. That amendment launched the Prohibition Era, a well-intentioned act (of social hygiene) seeking to ban the availability of alcoholic beverages. The unintended consequences, though, were perhaps worse — vast flouting of the law by the public and a boost to organized crime. Prohibition …

Dr. Martin Luther King would be 85 years old today. The civil rights leader, minister, and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize was born in 1929 and assassinated in 1968. Next Monday is a national holiday, honoring his memory and life’s work, appropriate in a month that also sees the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. America’s diverse population of some 317 million enjoys the civil rights Dr. King advocated, including around 225 million whites, nearly 44 million African-Americans, over …

January is Financial Wellness Month, appropriately timed to the confluence of New Year’s resolutions and holiday bills. It’s a time to set new goals for financial freedom and moderation in spending; for people to understand the benefits of “paying yourself first.” A financial adviser can help shape money management goals, pointing out the power of compound interest to work for you in savings and against you in debt. Americans have a per capita income average of nearly $28,000 and a …