1990s Facts

In the 1990s, about 9 out of 10 American children visited a McDonald's restaurant at least once per month.

Until 1990, the deadly poison mercury was used in about 30% of latex paints!

Kermit the frog delivered the commencement address at Southampton College located in the state of New York in 1996.

In 1999, Pokémon was the second most searched topic on the internet. The first was pornography.

In the mid-90’s, Coca Cola recalled an advertising poster due to a hidden sexual image.

Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and later said it was 90 days from going bankrupt. He struck a deal with Apple's biggest rival - Microsoft - to survive: they invested $150 million in non-voting preferred Apple stock. When Jobs announced it at Macworld Boston, Bill Gates appeared live via satellite on a giant screen above the stage. The crowd booed. Jobs later called it his worst staging mistake ever.

Winnipeg was about to disappear under floodwater in the spring of 1997. Tens of thousands of volunteers, including students bused from their classrooms, filled more than 8 million sandbags by hand. Crews then raced to build a 26-mile wall of earth and sandbags across open farmland in just four days. The wall held, and the city stayed dry.

Those giant wooden castle playgrounds from the 1980s and 90s were designed by kids. Architect Bob Leathers visited local schools, collected children's drawings, and turned them into blueprints. Then the town's own parents and volunteers built it by hand, usually in about five days. He did this in more than 2,000 communities.

Willie Nelson helped start Farm Aid in 1985 to raise money for family farmers. In 1991 the government put his own 44-acre Texas ranch up for auction over back taxes. More than 40 farmers, some from South Dakota, came to the courthouse and asked bidders to stay away. A lawyer for a farm group bought the ranch and held it until Willie got it back. At 93, he played Farm Aid again in September.