This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Famous Firsts From Early American Innovations and Feats
A survey of historical firsts includes Maspero’s free lunch in New Orleans in 1838, a 1654 ill bridge by Richard Thurlow in Rowley Massachusetts, and the Cumberland Valley Railroad’s 1836 sleeping car. It notes Mary Kies’s 1809 patent, a bare knuckle prize fight near St Louis in 1869, Barney Flaherty the first newspaper boy in 1833, and a 1905 forest fire lookout. Also mentions a taxonomic insect monument in Alabama 1919 and a shift to crop diversification.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pierre Maspero
City Exchange
St Louis Street
New Orleans
Newbury River
Rowley
Mass
Richard Thurlow
General Court of
Massachusetts
Cumberland Valley Railroad
Harrisburg
Chambersburg
St. Louis
Mike McCoole
Tom Allen
England
Barney Flaherty
New York Sun