KEY TO COLOR CODING

Old West

Literature

Science

Food

Industry

Medicine

Fine Arts

General

Book titles are listed in italics.

Old West

Literature

Science

Food

Industry

Medicine

Fine Arts

General

ITEM	DATE	REMARKS	SOURCE
	1900		Return To Top
Bola Tie	1949	Vic Cedarstaff, a silversmith from Wickenburg, AZ. invented the bola tie in 1949. He first referred to it as a "piggin necklet" but changed the name to bola tie because it resembled the South American baleadora weapon used by the gauchos of the Argentine. Vic was issued US Patent number 3,126,603 for it.	The Tack Room, Tucson, AZ
"Buscadero" rigs	ca. 1920	Texas area	CAS-L
Pancho Villa invades USA	1916	March 9, 1916, the soldiers of General Francisco "Pancho" Villa attacked the small border town and military camp at Columbus, New Mexico
Little Wars	1913	H. G. Wells; first toy soldier wargames rules
Modern Zipper	1913	Gideon Sundback, USA (not called "zipper" until 1923)	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
American flag with 48 stars	1912	Arizona, New Mexico
Arizona	1912	14 February; statehood
New Mexico	1912	6 January; statehood
Pistol holster tie-downs	1910		"Packing Iron;" Richard Rattenbury
American flag with 46 stars	1908	Oklahoma
Teddy Bear	1902
Instant Coffee	1901
Cakewalk	ca. 1900	Originally a slaves' parody of white ballroom dances, the cakewalk becomes a wildly popular dance among fashionable whites as well as white minstrels working in blackface in the USA
Rigid Airship	1900	Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany
Wizard Of Oz	1900	L. Frank Baum	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Banjos	ca. 1900	begin using metal strings	personal research

Old West

Literature

Science

Food

Industry

Medicine

Fine Arts

General

 

ITEM	DATE	REMARKS	SOURCE
	1890		Return To Top
Boer War	1899	ends in 1902
Scott Joplin	1899	Composer and pianist Scott Joplin publishes "The Maple Leaf Rag," one of the most important and popular compositions during the era of ragtime, precursor to jazz.
Phillipine Insurrection	1899	Phillipine fight for independence
.38 Special black powder cartridge introduced	1899		Mike Venturino
Omdurman	1898	Sudanese Mahdists ( "Fuzzy-Wuzzies" ) defeated by British
1st Escalator in England	1898	Harrod's, London	"Harrods," (Cable Documentary)
Spanish-American War	1898
Cathode-Ray Tube	1897
First shower	1897	pedal-powered, exhibited
Jell-O	1897
Dracula	1897	Bram Stoker	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
American flag with 45 stars	1896	Utah
House Beautiful	1896	begins publication, New York
Audubon Society	1896	founded; Boston, MA, USA
Lyrics of Lowly Life	1896	Paul Laurence Dunbar, acclaimed as "the poet laureate of the Negro race," publishes Lyrics of Lowly Life, containing some of the finest verses of his Oak and Ivy and Majors and Minors.
"America The Beautiful"	1895	Lyrics by Katherline Lee Bates, music by Samuel A. Ward	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
First garment mass-produced for women	1895	shirtwaist
Fig Newtons	1895	James Mitchell
X-rays	1895
Hershey Chocolate Bar	1894
Dreyfus Affair	1894	22 December; France
New Mexico	1893	New Mexico State University cancels its first graduation ceremony, because the only graduate, Sam Steele, was robbed and killed the night before
Hollow-Cast Toy Soldiers	1893	Wm. Britain Ltd.	Britains Ltd Toy and Model Catalog: 1940 Almark Pub. London 1972
First use of the melody of the "Happy Birthday Song"	1893	© copyright 1893 Mildred and Patty Hill	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Shirtwaist	1893	developed ; U.S., Harper’s Weekly Magazine
Cracker Jack	1893	F.W. Rueckheim at the Chicago World's Fair
Mechanized shoe-making	1892	Manfield Shoe Co., Northampton, England	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Vogue	1892	begins publication, New York
The Matchbook	1892	by Joshua Pusey, Lima, PA.	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Dewar's Flask	1892	Sir James Dewar, England	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Pledge of Allegiance	1892	First published on 8 September, in a magazine called "The Youth's Companion" by it's editor Francis Bellamy	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	1892	A. Conan Doyle
Book Matches	1892
Melba Toast	1892	London
Homestead Strike	1892	Pittsburgh
American flag with 44 stars	1891	Wyoming
Rayon	1891	first commercially produced artificial fiber France, Hilaire de Chardonnet
American Express Travelers Cheque	1891
Kinetoscope	1891	(early motion picture projector); Thomas Edison
Basketball	1891	invented by James Naismith
How The Other Half Lives	1891	Jacob Riis
Fedora hat	ca. 1890	(named for a woman character in a play by Victorien Sardou); France
Zipper	1890	invented; Chicago, Whitcomb Judson
American flag with 43 stars	1890	North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho
Animal Crackers	ca 1890
First electric stoves	1890	They didn't work very well	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Roll Toilet Tissue	1890	Popularized by Edward and Clarence Scott	"Panati's Extraordinary Origin of Everyday Things" (Harper & Row, 1987)
501 Blue Jeans	1890	Levi's	E-Mail from Levi Strauss Co.
Panama Canal	1890	construction started
Skyscraper	1890	Wainright building by Louis Henry Sullivan in St. Louis
Ouija Board	ca. 1890	in Maryland	OCRT
Snap Fasteners	1890	called "patent fasteners" then; in common use ca. 1905	Historical Costumes of England 1066 - 1968 Nancy Bradfield ISBN 0 245-59936-3 Published by Harrap Ltd. Great Britain.
Peanut Butter	1890	Popular as a health food
Detergent	1890	by A. Krafft, Germany	Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things Harper & Row, 1987
Poems	1890	Emily Dickinson
Vincent Van Gogh	1890	29 July; suicides
Wounded Knee	1890	Indians massacred
Wyoming	1890	statehood
Dry cell battery	1890	("Ever Ready" by the National Carbon Company)
Diptheria virus	1890	discovered; Emil von Behring; Germany
Tetanus virus	1890	discovered; Emil von Behring; Germany
Hollerith's punched-card computer	1890