Historically Yours

MAY 23

The residents of Chestertown, Maryland, were just as upset with the tea tax as the rest of the British colonies. After the famous Boston Tea Party in December 1773, Chestertown made it illegal to buy, sell, or drink tea that came from England. These “Chestertown Resolves” were printed in the Maryland Gazette and are a matter of public record. The rest is undocumented tradition. A shipment of tea docked in the local harbor and on Mary 23, 1774, a group of townsmen forcibly boarded the ship and had their own Tea Party by throwing the cargo overboard. A Chestertown Tea Party Festival is celebrated every year on Memorial Day weekend.

MAY 22

On May 22, 1906, Orville and Wilbur Wright of Dayton, Ohio, received U.S. Patent #821,393 for their “invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine’s surfaces.” It was their belief that controlling a flying machine in the air was the first step in building a successful aeroplane.

MAY 21

The United States has almost 800 lighthouses and 28 of them are in Maryland. But one, and only one, has ever been powered by nuclear energy. On May 21, 1964, a nuclear reactor was activated at the Baltimore Lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay. A private company paid for the reactor, installation, and maintenance while they ran tests. In 1966, when the test period was over, the lighthouse went back to a conventional power source.

MAY 20

There are three things in this world that just scream “American”—baseball, apple pie, and Levi's. Born in Germany on February 26, 1829, Levi Strauss immigrated to America when he was eighteen and began the first company to manufacture blue jeans in San Francisco in 1853. In 1872, a tailor named Jacob Davis designed a unique way of making pants by using metal rivets at the points of strain, but didn’t have the money for a patent. Davis wrote to Strauss and suggested a partnership. On May 20, 1873, U.S. Patent #139,121 was issued to Davis and Strauss. Today, Levi’s are more than work clothes, they’re a fashion statement.

MAY 19

Johns Hopkins was born in Maryland on May 19, 1795, and was a financially successful businessman. He died on December 24, 1873. His bequests provided for the founding of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

MAY 18

Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens began in March 1980. By the end of the month there was a 250-foot wide vent on top of the mountain. A hazard watch was issued for a 50-mile radius and the National Guard set up road blocks attempting to keep people out. Many residents evacuated the area. On the morning of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens went from 9,600 feet high to 8,300 feet high in seconds. Ash spewed out for nine hours and winds carried it as far away as Minneapolis, Minnesota. An area of 230-square-miles had been destroyed.

MAY 17

Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. In Washington, D.C., it was known as the Department of Alaska. On May 17, 1884, the federal government changed its designation to the District of Alaska. It wouldn't become a territory until 1912 and statehood would take an additional forty-seven years.

 

MAY 16

 Half Dime or Nickel

On May 16, 1866, Congress authorized a 5-cent coin to replace the silver half-dime. It was called a “Nickel” because of the main component of the alloy and to differentiate it from the Half Dime which was made of silver.

MAY 15

Everyone has a birth day, even cartoon characters. Mickey Mouse was born on May 15, 1928, when Plane Crazy was given a test screening to a theater audience. Unfortunately, the silent film was unsuccessful in obtaining a distributor. Mickey's first successful release came in November of that year with Steamboat Willie, complete with sound. The following year, sound was added to Plane Crazy and it was released on March 17, 1929.

MAY 14

On May 14, 1904, St. Louis, Missouri, hosted the first Olympic Games to be held in the United States. The third Olympic Games in modern times, it was overshadowed by the world’s fair and not a huge success.

MAY 13

The world’s first airmail stamp was issued in the U.S. on May 13, 1918. It featured a Curtiss Jenny plane and cost 24 cents. Today, a used Jenny with minor flaws is worth about $70.

MAY 12

Although ice cream has been around at least since Marco Polo returned from the Orient, Philip Lenzi was the first to advertise the frozen treat in the May 12, 1777, edition of the New York Gazette.

MAY 11

Before we became a nation, we had fire insurance. “The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insuring of Houses from Loss by Fire” was the first fire insurance company in what would become the United States. Over seventy prominent citizens from Philadelphia “subscribed” to the new company and elected a Treasurer and Board of Directors on April 13, 1752. The first board meeting was on May 11.

MAY 10

Paul Revere was an American patriot during the Revolutionary War. He was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.” Because of the poem, not many people know there were actually two riders on the night of April 18, 1775—Revere and William Dawes. Revere survived the war and died on May 10, 1818.

MAY 9

Long before we were a nation, Ben Franklin's The Pennsylvania Gazette published the first cartoon on May 9, 1754. 'Join or Die' was the title of the woodcut drawing of a snake cut into eight pieces, each representing a colonial government. The cartoon visualized Franklin’s editorial about "the present disunited state of the British Colonies."

MAY 8

Dr. John S. Pemberton sold the first Coca-Cola at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia,on May 8, 1886. Pemberton, a pharmacist and inventor of patent medicines, came up with the product, but it was Frank Robinson, his bookkeeper, who named it and penned the now famous trademark.

May 7

Edwin Herbert Land, co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, was born May 7, 1909, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A scientist and inventor, he held 535 patents and is best known for the Polaroid instant camera. Land died on March 1, 1991, at the age of 81.

MAY 6           

On May 6, 1941, Bob Hope (born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903) performed his first USO show at March Field in California. In 1997, with the help of the USO, Congress designated Hope the “first honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces.” Hope died of pneumonia on July 27, 2003, at the age of 100. 

MAY 5

On May 5, 1891, the cream of New York society arrived in horse-drawn carriages for the opening night at Carnegie Hall. Bishop Henry Codman Potter presented the dedication speech. The Symphony Society was led first by Damrosch, then Tchaikovsky. It was the beginning of a tradition of the very best in classical and modern music.

MAY 4

On May 4, 1959, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States held their first annual Grammy Awards ceremony. Originally called Gramophone Award, the awards were designed to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. Four people won two awards each—Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Mancini, and Domenico Modugno.