Today in 1827, Joseph Dixon began manufacturing pencils at his factory in Salem, Massachusetts, so it's a good day to go back through the centuries and centuries that helped make the pencil what it is now.
On this day in 1849, Henry Brown escaped slavery from a Virginia plantation in a very unusual way: he arranged it so he could hide in a small wooden box that was sent to Pennsylvania. Here's some of his story.
Today in 1804, the US Senate held a party featuring something called the “Mammoth Loaf.” To explain, we have to first tell you about Thomas Jefferson, an enormous block of cheese and an archeology project. Plus: a very cold town in Siberia has some very cool music, thanks to spring ice drums.
It was on this day in 1857 that the first commercial elevator began operating at a department store in New York City. And once elevators took off, they started shaping the world around us in some pretty big ways.
Mary Fields was the first Black woman to receive a Post Office contract to deliver the mail, and in the Wild West, no less. Here's a little more about a pioneer who definitely made some history.
Today in 1963 the Hula Hoop was patented, although by that point it had already become a worldwide phenomenon. And toy hoops go way, way back even before the toys we know today first became popular.
Today in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington, having been snuck into the city to avoid a plot against his life in Baltimore. Kate Warne, the first women detective in America, was key to getting him there safely.
The earliest guitar-like instrument we've been able to find appears to have belonged to Har-Mose, who played for Queen Hatshepsut 3500 years ago in ancient Egypt.
On this day in 1917, a massive storm destroyed most of the small village of Hallsands, in southern England. Nearly everyone in town moved away after that, but one resident, Elizabeth Prettejohn, stayed for the rest of her life, until the mid 1960s.
Some presidential inauguration days are memorable; others are quiet. But the one for Martin Van Buren was probably cheesy, thanks to a giant cheddar sent to Andrew Jackson and a public party to eat it just before Van Buren moved into the White House. (Appropriately enough, today is also National Cheese Lover's Day.)
