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 …
December 8, 1812: Henry Varnum Poor was born on this day and would lay the groundwork for the business information industry. As the editor of the American Railroad Journal, he became aware of the ways that businesses across states were becoming increasingly interconnected. Managers found a lot of value in information about companies and economics in partnering Read More …
December 6, 1889: Robert Winship Woodruff was the president of The Coca-Cola Company from 1923 until his death in 1985. Under his leadership, he transformed the struggling company into a world renowned brand. Through his many philanthropic contributions in health, education, and culture, he helped Atlanta evolve from “the small, bustling railroad town into Read More …
November 20, 1923: Patent #1,475,024 was granted to inventor Garrett Augustus Morgan for his automatic traffic signal. Morgan, who had a deep interest in public safety, was inspired to invent a device to control traffic after a tragic collision between an automobile and horse and carriage in his hometown of Cleveland. He sold the manufacturing rights to General Read More …
November 19, 1909: Peter Drucker, widely considered the inventor of of management, was born on this day in 1909. He described himself as a “social ecologist,” and wrote 39 books and numerous articles on how humans interact and communicate with each other. In 2002, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Source: The Drucker Institute Read More …
November 18, 1931: Roberto C. Goizueta is born in Havana, Cuba. He studied chemical engineering at Yale University and after graduating in 1953, returned to Cuba where he started out in an entry-level chemist position at The Coca-Cola Company. He and his family left Cuba after Fidel Castro’s rise to power and relocated in Miami, where Read More …
Nov 2, 1959: Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he was provided advance knowledge of the questions and answers he would receive on the TV gameshow “Twenty One.” These shows had become popular in the 1950s after the US Supreme Court ruled in Federal Communications Commission v. American Broadcasting Co., Inc. that Read More …
October 31, 1837: Two European immigrants, William Procter and James Gamble, happened to marry sisters Olivia and Elizabeth Norris in Cincinnati in the early 19th century. Their father-in-law Alexander Norris convinced Procter, a candle maker, and Gamble, a soap maker, to join their businesses since they used common raw ingredients. Starting with total assets of just Read More …
October 26, 1825: Although construction first began in 1817, the Erie Canal did not officially open until October 26, 1825. Connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, the Erie Canal helped transform New York City into the main port in the United States and greatly increased opportunities for trade and settlements. The Erie Canal lay Read More …
