February 22, 1878: The first F.W. Woolworth store was opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth on February 22, 1878 in Utica, NY. Marketed as “Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store” it had a less than stellar beginning and the store soon closed. Frank brought his brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth, into the business and the next store, located Read More …
February 15, 2010: February is an auspicious month for the company Warby Parker. In February 2008, 4 MBA students at the Wharton School of Business started developing their business plan to start an online eyewear company. According to Neil Blumenthal, one of the students (the others are Dave Gilboa, Andy Hunt, and Jeff Raider), the Read More …
February 14, 1913: Hall Bros. of Kansas City, MO (later known as Hallmark) offers its first valentine postcards. Two years later, a fire would destroy all of their inventory, forcing them to buy printing equipment to start mass producing their own valentine cards in 1916. No one knows the exact origins of the holiday, but it’s predecessors Read More …
Feb 4, 2004: Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook. By December 2004, 1M people were using Facebook. The social media network now has 1.49 billion daily active users on Facebook on average for September 2018. Becoming Facebook : the 10 challenges that Read More …
Jan 24, 1984: The Apple Macintosh computer first goes on sale, featuring a graphical user interface and a mouse. Two days prior to the sale, Apple announced the new computer’s launch via a dramatic ad during Super Bowl XVIII. In the first three months after the launch, Apple sold over 5,000 Macintosh computers. The One Device: The Secret Read More …
January 16, 1853: André Michelin, founder of Michelin Tire Company, is born in Paris. Michelin took over his family’s failing farm equipment company, which manufactured rubber parts such as belts and valves, in 1886. A few years later, he was approached by a cyclist who was having trouble with his tires. At that time, bicycle Read More …
Jan. 4, 2010: Burj Khalifa in Dubai, U.A.E., opens as the worlds tallest building at 2,717 feet (828m). At over 160 stories tall, it also has the highest occupied floor in the world. The building includes 900 residential apartments, office space and a 304 room hotel, as well as an observation deck. Sources: Burj Khalifa Read More …
January 1, 1958: The European Economic Community, known as the Common Market, becomes official. Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome in March 1957, which laid the plan for this trade community, and was later joined by the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Portugal,and Spain. East Germany also Read More …
December 31, 1935: Charles B. Darrow patented the real-estate board game, Monopoly (Patent Number 2,026,082). Although Darrow has been given credit for creating the now “ubiquitous winner-take-all board game,” it was actually invented in 1903 by Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie. Magie created the pre-cursor to Monopoly, The Landlord’s Game, as an educational tool to help explain Read More …
December 23, 1913: The U.S. Senate signed into law the Federal Reserve Act. Before this date, the United States was one of the only major financial powers without a central bank, having to turn to wealthy benefactors in 1907, particularly J.P. Morgan, to help bail the government out of financial crises. Realizing the nation could not Read More …
