A true story: On a 1902 bear hunting trip, President Teddy Roosevelt’s assistants tied a bear to a tree expecting him to shoot it, but he refused. No sport in that, whatsoever. Following up, Clifford Berryman’s cartoon portraying the incident appeared in the November 26, issue of the Washington Post and with that, the Teddy Bear was born.
Inspired by the cartoon, candy shop owners and stuffed animal makers Morris Michtom and wife Rosie, with TR’s permission, created “Teddy’s Bear.” Sales exploded and the rest, as they say, is history, so here we go…
Back in the early 1900s, Americans’ problem solving, creative, can-do spirit took us up in the air on wings, down roads on four wheels, and cooled us off with air conditioning, and that’s just for starters. Here’s a sampling…
- In 1900, Louis Lassen served the first hamburger between two slices of bread at his Louis’s Lunch Restaurant in Connecticut, and it still does.
- In 1901, thanks to his irritatingly dull razor, King C. Gillette came up with a tossable, 2-sided sharp-edged razor and then went on to found his Gillette Safety Razor Company in July 1902. Since then, billions have been sold.
- In 1902, Harvey Cushing conducted the first U.S. brain surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, established the field of brain surgery, and has since been called the father of neurosurgery.
- In 1902, Engineer Willis Carrier changed the world when he invented modern air conditioning with his “Apparatus for Treating Air” and got it patented it in 1906.
- In 1903, after 4 years of research and testing, Orville Wright flew the first successful powered airplane, the Wright Flyer, 120 feet. Later that day, brother Wilbur kept it in the air for 852 feet.
- In 1903, to replace his easily broken glass ice cream dishes, that December, New York City street vendor Italo Marchiony patented his “edible cups,” aka ice cream cones.
- In 1904, as President Teddy Roosevelt ‘s Secretary of War, William Howard Taft smartly oversaw construction of the Panama Canal beginning on May 4, 1904. It opened on August 15, 1914 during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency.
- In 1906, Stuart Blackton, considered the father of animation, released America’s first animated cartoon, “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces,” on April 6.
- In 1907, in the basement of a Seattle saloon, James E. Casey and Claude Ryan started the American Messenger Company with a $100 loan. Offering “the best service and the lowest rate,” it expanded and became the United Parcel Service, UPS, in 1919.
- In 1910, Alva Fisher patented the electric washing machine on August 9, complete with an agitator that moved clothes around in a tub of water and then kept on improving it. He also invented the electric dishwasher and electric sewing machine, making life easier all around.
- In 1913, Henry Ford introduced the world’s first moving assembly line on December 1. Using conveyers, it brought the work to employees standing at the ready, each with just one task to fulfill. The result: It took just 12 hours to build a Model T instead of 93.
- In 1916, Clarence Saunders opened the first “self-service retail grocery store,” aka supermarket, in Memphis on September 16. Perhaps because he saw a few little pigs trying to get under a fence one day or because of the nursery rhyme “This little piggy went to market…,” he called it Piggly Wiggly. Afterward, he invited others to open their own Piggly Wiggly stores for a fee; one year later it was a chain of 9 stores.
Impressive, no? And so, having begun with a stuffed animal story, will jump ahead now to 1930 to end with a sweet one…
One month after Taft’s death on March 8 that year, John Dewar, a manager at the Continental Baking Company, squirted a creamy banana mixture into a small shortcake on April 6. Named with thanks to a St. Louis billboard that touted “Twinkle Toe Shoes,” Twinkies nowadays about 500 million of them are bought every year.
(A side note: Dewar reportedly downed three Twinkies with milk every night at bedtime, chain smoked, and lived to 88.)
Talk about bragging rights as America enters its 251st year.
~ With thanks and good summer wishes, Carol
