History Facts About American History

The first coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914.

The last time American Green cards were actually green was 1964.

The first semi-permanent settlements appeared in Florida around 5000 B.C.

In 1999, Pepsi, Inc. paid $0.00 in income tax!

Only eight men were killed in the battle of lexington!

In the 1930's, American track star Jesse Owens used to race against horses and dogs to earn a living.

When pirate Jean Lafitte saw the governor advertising a $500 reward for his capture, handbills went up around New Orleans in his name offering the same $500 reward for the capture of the governor.

Originally, Du Pont, Inc. was a tiny gun powder mill in New Jersey.

In 1799, a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina and used it as a doorstop. It was actually gold.

In 2011, a couple bought a box of textbooks for $10. Inside, they found a 25-cent bill signed by the president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, and subsequently sold it for $63,250.

In 1971, a fellow farmer told Gary Vermeer he was quitting cattle because haying took too many hands. Vermeer set out to build a baler one person could run alone. The prototype took about six weeks. It rolled bales about 6 feet wide and 7 feet across. That helped pioneer the modern round baler. Vermeer still builds them in Pella, Iowa, and every summer farmers still roll them his way: one person, one tractor.

In 1930, six anonymous Chicago businessmen formed a secret vigilante organization to take on the city's rampant crime. They investigated bombings, kidnappings, and bank robberies — and Al Capone himself said they were responsible for bringing him down.

Michael Sparks paid $2.48 at a Nashville thrift store for a yellowed scroll he thought was an engraving. It was one of only 200 official copies of the Declaration of Independence, printed for John Quincy Adams in 1823. The previous owner had donated it by mistake after his wife cleared out the garage. It sold at auction for $477,650.

Sears sold up to 75,000 complete houses by mail-order between 1908 and 1940. You picked a model for $360 to $2,890, and a railroad boxcar arrived with 30,000 pre-cut pieces, 750 pounds of nails, 27 gallons of paint, and a 75-page manual. An estimated 70% are still standing, built by the company that later failed to adapt to e-commerce.

Harley-Davidson was bought in 1969 by AMF - a company best known for bowling equipment. They nearly quintupled output. Oil leaks, bad welds, and faulty electrics became routine. Riders called them "Hardly Ableson." Harley's market share fell from 80% to under 20%. In 1981, 13 executives led an $81.5 million buyout - and rode their Harleys to Milwaukee to celebrate. They rebuilt the American icon.

The Washington Monument stood unfinished for over 20 years on a foundation too weak to carry the rest of it. In 1879, Army engineers dug out 70 percent of the earth under its base and poured concrete beneath it while the stump stood right above them. Then they built it to 555 feet. The color line where work restarted still shows today, about a third of the way up.

The White House interior is a 1950s building. Engineers found it near collapse in 1948. Margaret Truman's piano leg had just crashed through the floor. Workers gutted every floor down to the bare exterior walls. A new steel frame went up inside the hollow shell, foundations dug 20 feet deep. To protect the 1817 walls, they disassembled a bulldozer and rebuilt it inside.

The Statue of Liberty once had no body. For six years, just her arm and torch stood in Madison Square Park. France paid for the statue - Americans had to fund the pedestal. Visitors paid 50 cents to climb inside the arm. Wealthy New Yorkers living right beside it refused to donate. Pulitzer shamed them publicly, and the full statue arrived in 214 crates.

George Washington's cherry tree story is a myth invented after he died. But archaeologists just found real cherries hidden in his actual home. In 2024, workers at Mount Vernon uncovered 35 glass bottles buried in the cellar. Most still held whole cherries and berries, preserved for 250 years. When one bottle was opened, it still smelled like cherry blossoms.

The Pony Express lasted only 18 months before the telegraph replaced it in 1861. But volunteers never let it end. Every June, more than 750 riders saddle up for the Pony Express Re-Ride, carrying real, postmarked mail 1,966 miles across eight states from Missouri to California in ten days, day and night. Riders still gallop the trail, passing the mail pouch horse to horse, just like 1860.