19th Century Facts

The first baseball caps were made of straw.

In 1911, pigtails were banned in China because they were seen as a link with its feudal past.

Pocahontas appeared on the back of the $20 bill in 1865, making her the only Native American woman to be featured on U.S. paper currency.

The first person to go over Niagara falls was Annie Edson-Taylor. She made the trip in a wooden barrel and survived!

Ching Shih, once a prostitute, became one of the most powerful pirates to have ever sailed. She commanded one of the most formidable pirate fleets in all of China during the early 1800s, with hundreds of ships under her command.

In the 1800's, rum was considered excellent for cleaning hair and keeping it healthy. Brandy was believed to strengthen hair roots.

During his lifetime, artist Vincent Van Gogh only sold one of his paintings.

The first telephone book was one page long and had only 50 names in it.

There are still 5 people living who were born in the 1800s - and they're all women.

The winter of 1912 was so cold that Niagara Falls partially froze, creating a massive ice bridge that tourists could walk across.

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 1974, canned food from a boat that sank in 1865 was tested by chemists and was found to be still safe to eat.

In 1850, only 8% of the people in California were women.

The shortstop was not invented as an infielder. The hand-made balls of the 1840s were too light to throw 200 feet. So one man stood in the grass between the outfield and the pitcher, relaying throws in. Doc Adams played that spot and believed he was the first. In 1857 he also set the bases at 30 yards. The bases are still 90 feet apart. Every team still fields a shortstop.