Category: Quick hits

This month in 1883, the ancestor of today’s familiar U.S. time zones first appeared at the initiative of the American Railway Association. A schoolteacher named Charles Dowd is credited with first proposing the notion of time zones as early as 1863 in order to rationalize railroad timetables, there being 80 time standards then in use by localities. There was wide but incomplete acceptance of the railway association’s zones, and the adjusted zones were not made law until 1918. In 1884, …

November is a time to celebrate one of life’s simple but sticky pleasures — it’s Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month. The stuff of America’s favorite sandwich, peanut butter was first offered to the public at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. But as we currently know it — with the peanuts roasted and the product churned like butter to be smooth and so the oil won’t separate — peanut butter didn’t appear on grocery shelves until 1922. While we each eat …

In this month, there falls the 50th anniversary of one of the most unsettling events in U.S. history: the November 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The fourth president to be slain in a span of under 99 years and the sixth to die in office in that time, Kennedy left a vast archive of film, video and audio recordings that sustain his legacy in American consciousness. But his place in history is also upheld by living memory. …

The United States Congress met for the first time in the District of Columbia in late November 1800. Up until then, it did its squabbling, vituperating and, most importantly, legislating in Philadelphia. Ever since President George Washington laid the cornerstone for the Capitol in 1793, the District had been planned as the permanent home for the U.S. government. By 1800, enough of the Capitol had been completed for the members of the 6th Congress to move in. One senator found …

This is National American Indian Heritage Month, also called Native American Heritage Month. Either way, it’s observed with a wide variety of events across the country. The 2010 Census counted 5.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S., 1.7 percent of the total population. California is home to the highest number of these groups, at over 723,000, followed by Oklahoma at nearly 483,000. Los Angeles County leads all of the nation’s counties with the number of people in …

What is widely considered the most memorable speech in all American history was given 150 years ago this month when President Abraham Lincoln delivered what we know as “the Gettysburg Address.” The brief speech dedicated 17 acres of the Pennsylvania battlefield as a national cemetery and is recognized as one of the most concise in the English language. Gettysburg National Cemetery continues to draw thousands of visitors each year. The three-day battle in 1863 involved some160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers …

We still use the word “dial” to refer to the act of calling someone on the phone — even though several generations have not used a rotary phone — or maybe ever seen one, except in the movies. Push-button, or touch-tone, phones made their debut this month in 1963. At the time, the service was an extra cost option and was available only in two cities in Pennsylvania. It didn’t take long, however, for the speed of placing calls on …

Many people in the U.S. had not yet seen an airplane when the first municipal airport in the country opened this month in 1919 in Tucson, Arizona. The airfield was located where the rodeo grounds are today. A few years later, the airport moved to a larger parcel of land, part of which was given to the war department in 1940 to use as an aviation facility. A new civil airport was built in 1948, which still serves the Tucson …

Given what seems to be the ever-growing profusion of coffee vendors, imagine what a crisis it would be if coffee were suddenly rationed. That’s exactly what happened this month in 1942 because the war had interrupted shipments and people were hoarding coffee. But rationing lasted only until the next summer. It’s thought that coffee was introduced into America by Captain John Smith, one of the founders of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. Its popularity jumped after both the Boston Tea …

This month in 1901 brought good news for the hard of hearing, as Miller Reese Hutchinson of New York patented the first portable electric hearing aid. Called the “acousticon,” the device was a smaller version of previous tabletop units. While portable, it still had three components and used batteries that only lasted for a few hours. But it was far superior to ungainly hearing trumpets or simply cupping a hand behind the ear. One of its earliest, grateful customers was …

The first stadium built purposely for football hosted its initial game this month 110 years ago — Harvard Stadium in the Alston neighborhood of Boston. In that first game, Dartmouth defeated Harvard 11 to nothing. At the time, the stadium — which is still in use — was the world’s largest reinforced concrete structure. The distinctive colonnade was added in 1910, and the stadium today seats just over 30,000 spectators. Now, across the U.S., there are 639 college football teams. …

This month in 1883, the ancestor of today’s familiar U.S. time zones first appeared at the initiative of the American Railway Association. A schoolteacher named Charles Dowd is credited with first proposing the notion of time zones as early as 1863 in order to rationalize railroad timetables, there being 80 time standards then in use by localities. There was wide but incomplete acceptance of the railway association’s zones, and the adjusted zones were not made law until 1918. In 1884, …

The fluctuations of the nation’s general economic situation have not greatly troubled the revenue ledgers of state and local governments. In the year between 2010 and 2011, state and local governments brought in nearly $3.4 trillion in revenue — that’s an annual increase of 8.4 percent. In terms of expenditures, spending at the state and local levels increased 1.5 percent, to $3.2 trillion. Education and public welfare together comprised almost 43 percent of that total, and education alone accounted for …

In this month, there falls the 50th anniversary of one of the most unsettling events in U.S. history: the November 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The fourth president to be slain in a span of under 99 years and the sixth to die in office in that time, Kennedy left a vast archive of film, video and audio recordings that sustain his legacy in American consciousness. But his place in history is also upheld by living memory. …