Survey of Community

Community: Looking at Transportation and Communication

Bullet points in Bold are potential questions for final exam.

1639 First Colonial Printing Press used at Harvard
1685 Maps of colonies printed
1734 John Peter Zenger arrested for libel, because of New York Weekly articles, acquitted, leads to idea of freedom of the press
1756 Philadelphia and NYC develop stagecoach line
1787 John Fitch launches first steamboat on Delaware river after buying exclusive rights to build and operate steamboats on the waterways of NJ, PA, NY, Delaware and VA
1795 Robert Fulton patents first power shovel for digging canals. First toll road opens between Philly and Lancaster
1800 Robert Fulton creates first economically viable steamboat, traveling the Hudson river .
1817 construction of Erie Canal begins.
1821 Saturday Evening Post is first published (by 1855, 90,000 circulation, by 1908, 2 million)
1823 The first macadam (paved road) in Maryland
1825 the first steam locomotive
1826 the first railroads, originally powered by horses, sails or cables
1829 the Encyclopedia Americana first published in Philly. William Burt invents prototype of typewriter.
1830 the first viable steam locomotive tested against horse, loses.
1832 NYC, the first streetcar operated, the first penny daily newspaper
1837 Samuel Morse patents Morse Code.
1839 Charles Goodyear makes rubber resistant to heat and cold
1843 Morse receives federal funds to build telegraph line from Baltimore and DC
NY News Agency founded (becomes Associated Press)
1852 Baltimore and Ohio begins operating (connects Chicago )
1858 Cyrus Fields builds first undersea telegraph cable between US and Europe
1860 Pony Express begins from Missouri to California
1862 Congress grants 100 million acres of public lands to railroad companies
1864 George Pullman builds first sleeping rail car, 1866 first refrigerated railroad car
1867 first subway system in NY, hidden from politicians until 1912, forgotten tunnel was then used in current system
1868 typewriter invented
1869 first successful telegraph cable from US to Europe
1870 first asphalt paved road in US is created in Newark
1872 first mail-order house: Montgomery Ward & Co
1873 free mail delivery in cities established
1874 T. Edison develops telegraph system with four simultaneous messages
1876 Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
1877 first phone purchased
1877 In Newark , first electric streetlight
1878 T.E. shows phonograph (Mary had a little lamb)
1879 George Selden patents gasoline motor driven vehicle
1880 George Eastman process photographic dry plates (do not require immediate development) 1883 T. Edison devises trolley that runs off electric third rail (still used by NYC subways)
1885 American Telephone and Telegraph formed for long distance phone network
1888 Herman Hollerith devises first successful computer, (tabulating 1890 census). Eastman invents box camera (roll film)
1893 Edison patents kinetoscopic camera, taking moving pictures
1894 edison Labortatories builds film studio in West Orange .
1896 Henry Ford constructs his first gasoline powered car.
1897 Boston has first subway
1897 More than 300 Norman Rockwell paintings on covers of Sat. Evening Post
1900 1 million miles of telephone line in US
1902 AAA founded
1903 Kitty Hawk NC, Orville and Wilbur Wright make first sustained manned flight in gas-powered aircraft, 852 feet

1903 US/Panama Treaty, purchase land for Panama Canal , $10 million, plus $230,000 per year for 99 years.

1903 Harley Davidson motorcycle, first license plates in MA, Ford founds Ford Motor Company
1905 first movie theater in Pittsburgh , charging 5 cents, called Nickelodeon. AT&T introduces rotary dial
1906 construction of Panama canal costs $300 million
1907 first taxis imported from Paris
1908 Model T Ford introduces. Cadilla Auto Company introduces interchangeable parts for cars.
1908 Glenn Curtis first American flight over 1 mile. Mutt and Jeff first daily comic strip with same characters
1911 cell system created for animation. C. Kettering electric self-starter for cars so they don’t have to be cranked.
1912 Howell invents continuous printer for copying motion pictures
1913 Ford Co builds 9 thousand cars a day.
1914 first red/green/yellow traffic lights in Cleveland .
1915 1 millionth car made by Ford
1917 invention of design for AM radios.
1923 Hertz Drive Ur self system created. Pan American Airways purchases seven float planes from navy. Iconoscope patented (early prototype of TV)
1924 Computing-Tabulating-Recording CO renamed International Business Machines. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer formed.
1926 Byrd and Bennett make first flight over North Pole. National Enquirer begins publishing (400 million weekly circulation by 1975)

1927 Lindbergh completes first non-stop solo transatlantic flight.

1927 Jazz Singer, first motion picture with sound is released.
1928 Schenectady , General Electric broadcasts first regularly scheduled television program
1932 first walk-talkie made by US Army Corps and Motorola. Amelia Earhart, first woman to make solo flight across Atlantic .
1933 Edwin Armstrong refines Frequency modulation radio (FM). First World’s Fair in Chicago
1935 George Gallup finds American Institute of Public Opinion
1938 Chester Carlson invents xerography. Haloid Company purchases rights to invention in 1947 and named….?
1947 Television overtakes movie theaters in popularity. (movie theaters were mostly in cities)
1948 MIT builds first chess playing computer

1949 Department of Justice breaks up AT&T charging monopoly

1950 NYC Port Authority opens, as world’s largest bus terminal first transcontinental tv broadcast
1952 the first videotape invented. CBS uses UNIVAC computer to predict results of the presidential election
1954 RCA produces first color television set and first video recorder.
1958 National Aeronautics and Space Administration is formed, and first satellite launched.
1961 Alan Shepard Jr. makes first American manned space voyage.
1962 Congress forms private company Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), to formulate role of US in worldwide satellite communication.
1963 Touch-tone service begins
1964 BASIC invented, becoming the main programming language for personal computers.
1965 Ralph Nader writes Unsafe at Any Speed, the result is new congressional safety regulations for automobiles.
1966 Freedom of Information Act is passed.

1969 Neil Armstrong becomes first human to walk on the moon.

1969 Cigarette advertising eliminated from TV and radio over 3 years.
1970 Floppy disk invented.
1971 the Picture Phone invented by Bell Telephone.
1974 Nationwide speed limit of 55 established.
1975 Sony markets the Betamax Video Cassette Recorder (VCR).
1977 RCA introduces Video Home System (VHS).
1981 AT&T develops cellular phones (by 1981 national use)
1982 Compact Discs introduced
1985 Bell laboratories transmits 300,000 simultaneous phone calls over single fiber optic .
1997 IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess.
2000 Y2K bug does not live up to expectations
2001 wireless telephones reach 100 million in US