Trent Dalrymple's Blog

On this day, Feb. 3rd, back in 1690, the first paper money (pictured below) was issued in America by the Massachusetts Bay Colony as "bills of credit" to pay for their military expedition, making it the first in the Western world. You'll notice the top wavy edge of the bill. This was hand cut wit...

On this day, Feb. 2nd, in 1892, William Painter, (pictured above) inspired by the increase in carbonated drinks, patented the bottle cap, then known as the "Crown cork" bottle cap in Baltimore, Maryland. And to remove his caps, he invented the bottle opener along with a machine for crowning bottl...

On this day, February 1st in 1900, the Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera for children. George Eastman (pictured above) dropped out of school at 14 years old to work as an office boy at an insurance company. After studying accounting in the evenings at home he landed a job as ...

On this day in 1893, the trademark "Coca-Cola" was registered in the United States Patent Office.   John Stith Pemberton (pictured above) originally developed “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca” in 1866 as a painkiller made from coca wines and extracts of kola nuts. After changing the recipe and accid...

On today's date, back in 1933, the Lone Ranger radio series made it's debut on Detroit's radio station WXYZ. There would be 3 actors who played the title role on radio, but most well known was Brace Beemer (pictured above) from April of 1941 until the final live broadcast on Sept. 3, 1954. Tonto,...

Happy Birthday Kansas! On January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted as the 34th U.S. state. Pictured above is Charles L. Robinson, the first Governor of Kansas from 1861 to 1863. At the time, the term for Governor in Kansas was limited to only 2 years. He was also the first governor of a U.S. state t...

On this date, January 28, 1902, Andrew Carnegie communicated with President Theodore Roosevelt, declaring he had endowed $10 Million (in today's dollars that would be almost $300 Million) "to found... an institution which...shall in the broadest and most liberal manner encourage investigation, re...

On today's date, January 27th, 1880, Thomas Alva Edison received a patent for his incandescent electric lamp (pictured above), but he did not invent the light bulb. After many experiments, Edison improved previous inventors lamps and created "the first commercially practical incandescent light". ...

Happy Birthday Michigan! On this date in 1837, Michigan became a state. At the time, Stevens T. Mason (above) had already been the territory's acting Territorial Secretary, appointed at the age of 19 by Andrew Jackson, (gaining Mason the nickname "Boy Governor") becoming the acting territorial go...

In 1915, one year after Texana Bank opened it's doors, Alexander Graham Bell (pictured with his family above) made the first official transcontinental telephone call from New York to his former assistant, Thomas Watson who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph...