-
Levi Strauss & Company sells its first pair of riveted blue jeans.
Levi Strauss & Company sells its first pair of riveted blue jeans. -
Alexander Graham Bell receives the first telephone patent.
-
Procter & Gamble launch Ivory bar soap.
Procter & Gamble launch Ivory bar soap. -
J. L. Hudson opens his first department store in Detroit, Michigan.
-
Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invents the Coca-Cola formula.
-
The first successful Kodak camera appears on the market.
-
Candy maker Milton Hershey sells his first milk chocolate bars.
-
Olds Motor Vehicle Company is started by Ransom E. Olds.
-
Caleb Bradham invents Pepsi-Cola.
-
J. P. Morgan combines ten separate companies, including Carnegie Steel, to form the United States Steel Corporation.
-
Ford Motor Company is founded.
-
The Warner brothers show their first film at their home in Youngstown, Ohio.
-
W. K. Kellogg starts the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.
-
The Ford Model T is introduced.
-
L. L. Bean is formed in Freeport, Maine.
-
Ford introduces the assembly line.
-
William Boeing renames his aviation company The Boeing Airplane Company.
-
Eddie Bauer's Tennis Shop opens; name soon changes to Eddie Bauer's Sports Shop.
-
Henry Luce forms Time, Inc.
-
With his brother Roy, Walt Disney forms Disney Brothers Studio, which later becomes the Walt Disney Company.
-
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is formed, with General Electric a part owner.
-
The first DC-3 airplane flight occurs on December 17.
-
The United Auto Workers stage their first sit-down strike.
-
Earl Tupper forms the Earl S. Tupper Company (later Tupperware, Inc.) to create industrial plastics.
-
All Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors plants convert to military production.
-
Richard and Maurice McDonald open their first fast-food restaurant in San Bernadino, California.
-
The first Japanese car, a Toyota, is sold in the United States.
-
Bank of America launches the first credit card.
-
Bell Labs scientists invent the laser.
-
Berry Gordy launches the Tamla and Motown record labels after borrowing $800 from his family.
-
The first Wal-Mart store opens in Rogers, Arkansas.
-
The first Kmart store opens in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.
-
The Instamatic, Kodak's most popular camera ever, appears in stores.
-
Blue Ribbon Sports's (later renamed Nike) first best-selling shoe, the Cortez, takes the United States by storm.
-
Donald and Doris Fisher open the first Gap store in San Francisco, California.
-
Children's Television Workshop broadcasts the first episode of Sesame Street.
-
The first Starbucks coffee shop opens in Seattle, Washington.
-
From its hub airport in Memphis, Tennessee, FedEx begins service to twenty-five U.S. citites.
-
Wally "Famous" Amos begins baking cookies to sell commercially.
-
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form the Apple Computer Company and sell their first personal computers.
-
Former model and stockbroker Martha Stewart starts a catering business in her Westport, Connecticut, home.
-
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield start Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., and open their first ice cream scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont.
-
Ted Turner starts CNN, the first twenty-four-hour cable news station.
-
Apple introduces the Macintosh computer, which includes such features as a mouse and graphical user interface.
-
AT&T is divided up into seven regional phone companies.
-
Nike signs basketball player Michael Jordan to promote its shoes.
-
Microsoft Bookshelf is Microsoft's first product on CD-ROM.
-
Time, Inc., and Warner Communications merge, forming Time Warner.
-
Dayton Hudson Corporation buys Marshall Field's. Vera Wang Bridal House Ltd. opens on Madison Avenue in New York.
-
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen join forces to form a new entertainment company, DreamWorks SKG.
-
Jeff Bezos opens Amazon.com on the Internet, offering one million titles.
-
The U.S. Justice Department accuses Microsoft of violating antitrust laws.
-
Netscape is bought by America Online for $4.2 billion.
-
Reflecting the growth of its discount stores, Dayton Hudson changes its name to Target Corporation.
-
Children's Television Workshop changes its name to Sesame Workshop.
-
Amazon.com posts its first profit, $5.1 million in the fourth quarter.
-
Kmart Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
