Come Back to the FIVE & DIME - It Happened ToDay

Come Back to the "FIVE & DIME"

February 22, 1879 - First Woolworth's 5¢ Store Opens Its Doors

On this day in 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first Woolworth store in Utica, New York. The store offered a wide array of items ranging from household utensils to beauty products for five cents or less.

Though the Utica store was not successful, Woolworth opened another store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that proved to be a stunning success with its expanded price scale of 10¢ or less.

These "Five & Dime" stores proliferated quickly across the country and soon Woolworth was so successful that he was able to merge and acquire four of his competitors to continue the expansion of his retail empire.

Quote for ToDay:
"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll buy a funny hat. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you're a consultant." - Dogbert of the Dilbert cartoons by Scott Adams

Ansel Adams - It Happened ToDay

Ansel Adams - Conservationist, Pianist, and Photographer

February 20, 1902 - Ansel Adams Born on This Day

Ansel Adams, a pioneer in photography, was born on this day in 1902. When Ansel was 14 year old, he first visited Yosemite National Park with his family and discovered his innate passion and talent for photography. Adams would later collaborate with Fred Archer in creating the "Zone" system for Black & White photography.

However, Adams began his profession career as a concert pianist and did not turn to photography as career until his late twenties. He is best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, particularly scenes in the National Parks such as - El Capitan and Moon Over Half Dome from Yosemite.

After his death in 1984, a mountain in Yosemite National Park and a California Wilderness Area would be named in his honor to commemorate his lifelong contributions to the Parks system and conservation.

Quote for ToDay:
"Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy." - Nora Ephron

Mother Of Invention - It Happened ToDay

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

February 11, 1847 - Thomas Alva Edison - the Wizard of Menlo Park - was born on this day.

If necessity is the mother of invention, Thomas Edison may not have been the father, but he was most definitely one of her consorts. Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in history and received over 1000 major patents for his inventions. The inventor and entrepreneur was born on this day in 1847.

Edison's inventions and business acumen greatly influenced the telephony and entertainment industries, besides his best known creation - the incandescent light bulb. Edison's earliest inventions were related to the telegraph and stock-ticker, and he made many improvements to his contemporary Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. While creating a better speaker for the phone, he was struck with the idea of capturing sound and being able to replay it. This lead to the creation of the phonograph 1878. The Kinetoscope, a cabinet that displayed moving pictures from a reel of film, and the Kinetophone which incorporated a phonograph to replay sound with the Kinetoscope's pictures would be unveiled in 1894 to display pictures taken with special camera Edison had created 1889, and the motion pictures industry was born.

Edison, the light bulb, and electricity are forever joined at the hip. While both the generation of electricity and the arc-light had been previously invented by others, neither were practical for everyday consumer use. The generating dynamos of the day were terribly inefficient and expensive to operate, and the open arc of electricity of the arc-light created a luminous glare too intense for general lighting purposes. Many other inventors were trying to create a light bulb for practical use in homes and businesses. However it was Edison that received the patent for the carbonized filament and brought the incandescent light bulb to the public. Legend has it that someone boasted that Edison had failed over 2000 times in creating the light bulb, to which Edison replied that he did not fail, but had discovered 2000 ways not to make a light bulb!

Edison was a truly successful inventor because he was also a savvy businessman who realized early on that his inventions would need both marketplaces and manufacturing plants. He knew light bulbs would be useless without a consistent and affordable electric supply, so he made innovations to the dynamo and in 1882 built the Pearl Street generating station and created the first public electric utility in Manhattan.

Quote for ToDay:
" Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Alva Edison

No Strings Attached! - It Happened ToDay

No Strings Attached

February 7, 1984 - First Tetherless Walk In Space.

Life imitated art, or at least the comics, as NASA took another step towards the Buck Rogers image of mobility in outer space.

Bruce McCandless, a captain of the United States Navy, became the first person to fly freely in space on this day in 1984.

Captain McCandless had designed a rocket-pack that allowed him to fly over 100 yards away from the Challenger space shuttle. The rocket-pack apparatus powered McCandless at speeds as high as 17,000 miles per hour to keep up with the orbiting shuttle. His untethered space-walk lasted an hour and a half before he returned to the spacecraft.

Quote for ToDay:
"Dance like it hurts,
Love like you need money,
Work when people are watching."
- Scott Adams - The Way of the Weasel

Don't Walk! - It Happened ToDay

Don't Walk!

February 5, 1952 - The First "Don't Walk" signs appeared in Manhattan.

Busy Manhattan streets first displayed "Don't Walk" signs on this day in 1952. In response to a rapidly increasing number of pedestrian fatalities, New York City installed its first automatic "Don't Walk" signs throughout the Manhattan burrow. However, after fifty years of service, the city switched most of the signs from "Walk/Don't Walk" to the international symbols of a Walking Person and the Upheld Orange Hand. The process of changing all eighty-five-thousand signs began in 2000, at a cost of $28.2 million.

Quote for ToDay:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein